The worlds of Robert A. Heinlein

I have read and loved other Heinlein works, though this is the first collection of short stories I have read. I have to say, I was unimpressed.

The introductory essay was likely the best part of this collection for me, as an exploration of what science fiction is in terms of extrapolation and speculation, and why prediction should not play into a story teller's hand.

"Searchlight" was perhaps the most human to me, the story of a lost little girl who sees with her ears. Though, whereas in the other stories, I felt as though Heinlein was providing all sorts of details I cared nothing about, this one felt as though it was written with a word limitation in mind, where many things could have been expounded upon, I felt just as in the dark as show more Betsy must have been. show less

(Original Review, 1980-07-26)

Although Clarke was far ahead of his time in regard to synchronous communications satellites, even here he missed a few beats. Although I have not read his science article detailing the suggestion, his early fiction always had the satellites MANNED. He did not foresee the fantastic reductions in size of electronics (semi-conductors were yet to be invented) or their corresponding increase in reliability.
Heinlein is another author who made some good conceptual predictions. He broached the concept that nuclear power plants might entail serious hazards in 'Blowups Happen' (although the specific danger he was talking about never really materialized). He also 'predicted' the nuclear stalemate in 'Solution show more Unsatisfactory', although here his technical details concerning the bomb were off (he considered radioactive dust, a version of fallout, as the primary weapon, not nuclear bombs).

Just goes to show that even though people have correctly predicted a CONCEPT on occasion, they have seldom correctly predicted the eventual implementation (and thus many of the major economic, social, and political implications). As a matter of fact, I cannot remember a non-trivial prediction that really predicted the full implications of several novel ideas interacting (like satellites and electronics). To do so seems to be a task an order of magnitude harder than simply predicting a single concept.

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.]

NB: In my blog this was a review only for "Blowups Happen", show less

A 24 page Introduction called Pandora's Box. And 5 Short Stories. FREE MEN, BLOWUPS HAPPEN, SEARCHLIGHT, LIFE-LINE, SOLUTION UNSATISFACTORY

Indeholder "Introduction: Pandora's Box", "Free Men", "Blowups Happen", "Searchlight", "Solution Unsatisfactory".

"Introduction: Pandora's Box" handler om ???
"Free Men" handler om ???
"Blowups Happen" handler om ingeniører, der bryder sammen, fordi de arbejder på eksplosionsfarlige a-kraftværker. Da en af dem opdager at Månen engang har været beboelig og at nogle af de store kratere passer med et eksploderende kraftværk tvinges de til at finde en bedre løsning og det gør de så. De regner også på hvordan man får en organisation til at acceptere en ændring - i stil med Asimovs Stiftelse.
"Searchlight" handler om en snedig måde at finde Elizabeth Barnes på. Hun er strandet et sted på Månen og er blind, men god til at kende show more toner.
"Solution Unsatisfactory" handler om ???

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