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For Us, the Living
Robert Heinlein destroyed his copy of this manuscript, his first attempt at a novel, but his biographers rescued it from oblivion after his death. The Heinlein fan will find many familiar elements of Heinlein's philosophy and stock characters but practically nothing of the great story-telling he delivered as a mature writer.
For Us, The Living marks the beginning and end of...more
For Us, The Living marks the beginning and end of...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
January 1st 2005
by Robert Hale Ltd
(first published 2003)
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Feb 15, 2009
Stven
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Heinlein fans only
Heinlein's unpublished first novel has been rescued from the dustbin, and we easily see why it was never published. There is almost no action in the story, and instead we get pages and pages of lecturing about politics and economics. Of course, as Heinlein fans, we've enjoyed his unorthodox illuminations on politics and economics for decades, but thank goodness he learned to give us more actual STORY than he does in For Us, the Living.
Bump on the head. Mr. Regular Guy wakes up in the future, spe...more
Bump on the head. Mr. Regular Guy wakes up in the future, spe...more
We listened to this book on a long road trip.
This book was found and published long after Heinlein's death, and probably for good reason.
It reads like a lecture in economics(with boobs). There are several books of his that read more like lectures than novels. It's not the political or economic or social philosophies of Heinlein that I object to, not at all. It's chapters and chapters of philosophy and economic theory, that do nothing to serve the plot. In the "Moon is a Harsh Mistress" there a...more
This book was found and published long after Heinlein's death, and probably for good reason.
It reads like a lecture in economics(with boobs). There are several books of his that read more like lectures than novels. It's not the political or economic or social philosophies of Heinlein that I object to, not at all. It's chapters and chapters of philosophy and economic theory, that do nothing to serve the plot. In the "Moon is a Harsh Mistress" there a...more
What I like about this book is the economic theory. I've read a lot of science fiction, and I love it. This has some future speculation that is more or less brilliant, as far as predicting technology goes, though it feels a little antique because most of the stuff he was pie-in-the-sky fantasizing about came off in a slightly different direction. But as science fiction, well, eh. As fantasy, well, eh. I can't wait for my rocket-gyro-car, whatever that is! The author has a maybe-we-can-all-just-g...more
Feb 10, 2011
Joe Barnett
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
for seasoned Heinlein readrers
This title was written in 1939, but found and released in 2003 after the authors death. It presents an alternative future based on the events that took place just prior to the outbreak of World War 2. In classic Robert Anson Heinlein style, the characters are very detailed and you can identify with them easily; however, this book is a "dialog" of all the events that have taken place since the main characters reentry to the world. In this book, most likely his first work, the plot is nowhere near...more
Although I did enjoy reading this novel, it was not for the usual reasons. This is one Robert Heinlein first novels and it dates back to 1939. It was never publish during his life. This all shows in the novel, so I would therefore caution casual reader to beware this is not the best example of his work, however after say that there is allot in here to be interested about. Heinlein die hards and people who enjoy Utopia stores would probably really enjoy this.
"For us the living" is sort of Roberts...more
"For us the living" is sort of Roberts...more
This is a book that every politician should be required to read. The story is very simple, a man from 1939 (when the book was published) wakes up in 2086. Little explanation is given to how this happened, instead the man starts to look at reasons this future Utopia is superior to his own time. What results is a series of discussions withe experts of 2086 about how the country has turned itself around since 1939, in areas like politics, religion, commerce, sexuality, etc. The story does date itse...more
Mar 30, 2009
Mary JL
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
die hard Heinlein fans
Recommended to Mary JL by:
Found by self
Shelves:
main-sf-fantasy
I would recommend this only for the Henilein completist or diehard Heinlein fan. It was an early effort and never published and it is easy to see why!
When I first heard about it I said "Wow! A new Heinlein I've never read!" After I read it I was disssappointed. The only reason this got published was it had Heinlein's name on it so the publishers porbably felt many Heinlein fans would grab it, as I indeed did.
I did give it 2 stars because I found a few ideas interesting.
When I first heard about it I said "Wow! A new Heinlein I've never read!" After I read it I was disssappointed. The only reason this got published was it had Heinlein's name on it so the publishers porbably felt many Heinlein fans would grab it, as I indeed did.
I did give it 2 stars because I found a few ideas interesting.
Robert A Heinlein book written in 1938, buried in a garage and first published in 2003. Over the years Heinlein wrote a number of future history books. In some he was quite cogent (Man goes to the moon, then essentially gives up human space travel). This one is in the same vein but not particularly accurate. For one thing it has the United States sitting out WW II. It also reveals many of his sociological prejudices that we see in later works.
Heinlein wrote a variety of works, the most famous o...more
Heinlein wrote a variety of works, the most famous o...more
For Us, the Living is one of Heinlein's early works which I have typically enjoyed. That is not say that this book was a throw-away, indeed as a description of the author's dream future it worked quite well. As a story however, where qualities such as plot and character figure in, For Us, the Living is lacking.
To be specific, the plot is a variation on the "sleeper awakens" theme, where a Navy man from 1939 gets into a car accident and mysteriously wakes up in 2086. The mechanics of this is fuz...more
To be specific, the plot is a variation on the "sleeper awakens" theme, where a Navy man from 1939 gets into a car accident and mysteriously wakes up in 2086. The mechanics of this is fuz...more
This was Heinlein’s first novel, but it was rejected and went unpublished until 2003, many years after his death. I understand completely why the publishers rejected it. For one, it isn’t really a novel at all, but a collection of lectures jammed together and covered with a thin plot. I would explain the plot but I believe Wikipedia does a better job: “Perry Nelson, a normal 1939 engineer, is driving his automobile when he has a blowout, skids over a cliff, and wakes up after the car accident in...more
From what I can gather from various sources (the jacket of this book, reviews of SF writers), Heinlein was one of the foremost science fiction writers of the 20th century. However, this book does little to bolster those claims.
What at first seems to be a time-warp tale with endless possibilities morphs into a series of soliloquies, lectures and endless drivel. Some of the ideas and concepts are amazing (national credit, the emergence of television and e-mail) considering the time in which the bo...more
What at first seems to be a time-warp tale with endless possibilities morphs into a series of soliloquies, lectures and endless drivel. Some of the ideas and concepts are amazing (national credit, the emergence of television and e-mail) considering the time in which the bo...more
This book is not science fiction in the classic vein, though at first glance it does appear to have the conceit of a science fiction plot. Instead, it is a "philosophical dialogue" in the Socratic tradition, with dialogue serving to illustrate principles rather than move forward the plot. Indeed, there is not much to the plot, if taken on its own merits, but the ideas illustrated - they are worth looking into. As our country falls more and more into debt, Heinlein's Social Credit system looks mo...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is really a lecture on a future Utopia hidden in the narrative of a science fiction. Not much happens by way of story, where we find our protagonist woken in 2086 after being in a coma since 1939. A lot of the details are cursory at best, so it is a bit like a sketch for a novel rather than a complete novel in itself.
First, the good: Heinlein first fleshes out his interesting, madcap view on human society (which reaches its spiritual and literary peak in 'Stranger in a Strange Land'). It is...more
First, the good: Heinlein first fleshes out his interesting, madcap view on human society (which reaches its spiritual and literary peak in 'Stranger in a Strange Land'). It is...more
Enjoyed this, but I may need to say that it is best for Heinlein fans, not one of his great works, but appreciable for true followers. Begun in 1938, (though not published until 2003) this could be one of, if not actually, his earliest work. The discerning reader can find glimpses of his later vision and brilliance amid a fairly minimalistic setting and storyline. At times I had to remind myself that this visionary narrative was writtem in 1938, other times it was painfully obvious that this was...more
This wasn't really a comedy like "Job: A Comedy of Errors" was. It was an excellent critique of the modern social customs and economic system, though. He spent far too much time explaining the ins and outs of the "bad" (modern) and the "good" (future-world) economic systems. Those details may have been better left to an appendix, or as an essay in a separate publication.
His female characters were also, as usual, weak, airheaded, and too submissive to men. Having read a number of his other novel...more
His female characters were also, as usual, weak, airheaded, and too submissive to men. Having read a number of his other novel...more
I was a bit chagrined when I found that my local library only had two Robert A. Heinlein books on the adult shelves. I was happy, though, that one was this one. This is Heinlein's first novel, never before released. It was rejected a couple of times and he moved on to other projects. The book is a bit rough, and overly preachy. He did, in fact, write it to present his ideas on politics, finance, and society in general.
I enjoyed it, however. It was fun to see the seeds of his later "future histo...more
I enjoyed it, however. It was fun to see the seeds of his later "future histo...more
This book was a slow starter but holy cow did it get good! Bear with it and realize going into it that the style you may be used to with Heinlein is not fully developed here. This was his first full length novel and was written in 1938.
I'm sorely tempted to shelve this as one of my Professional Development books as well as Science Fiction but I don't think I will. That said, this book will make you think about everything you thought you understood in our society as Heinlein challenges our conce...more
I'm sorely tempted to shelve this as one of my Professional Development books as well as Science Fiction but I don't think I will. That said, this book will make you think about everything you thought you understood in our society as Heinlein challenges our conce...more
It's perhaps easy to see why this was not published when first written. As a novel it doesn't really work, having only a tenuous narrative drive, existing primarily to connect a series of monologues and conversations in which various ideas are explored and examined. But, many of those ideas are worth exploring and examining, especially those derived from the theory of Social Credit. I find it particularly interesting that in the future history portrayed in this book, global capitalism has essent...more
This is Robert Heinlein's first novel. It was written in 1939, but only published in 2004 after his biographer tracked down the manuscript. Heinlein used many of the themes in this book in other stories, so he felt that he had already published it. I'm glad it was published in its entirety.
The book is about a man, Perry, who has an automobile crash in 1939 and when he awakens, a few minutes later, is in 2086. Perry meets Diana who nurses him back to health and tries to help him understand the wo...more
The book is about a man, Perry, who has an automobile crash in 1939 and when he awakens, a few minutes later, is in 2086. Perry meets Diana who nurses him back to health and tries to help him understand the wo...more
This was my first Heinlein book, and I really wanted to like it. I loved the title, and the concept sounded interesting.
I barely got through it. I found the characters thin and fairly uninteresting, and am too old fashioned (I suppose) to enjoy the ending at all. Struck me as a man's sexual fantasy for the future (although without the gratuitous sex that would be in the modern equivalent) rather than the type of tale I thought it would be.
Perhaps it is a mismatch between my tastes (love hard hit...more
I barely got through it. I found the characters thin and fairly uninteresting, and am too old fashioned (I suppose) to enjoy the ending at all. Struck me as a man's sexual fantasy for the future (although without the gratuitous sex that would be in the modern equivalent) rather than the type of tale I thought it would be.
Perhaps it is a mismatch between my tastes (love hard hit...more
As a novel, not very good: minimal plot, whole chapters devoted to rather tedious lectures on government, finance, etc., etc., blah blah blah.
As the unpublished first novel by Robert A. Heinlein, somewhat more interesting: For Us, the Living is full of scenes, characters and ideas that appear (greatly expanded) in Heinlein's later fiction, so it was amusing to play spot-the-story: The Roads Must Roll, "If This Goes On--", even Lazarus Long's discussion of currency in Time Enough For Love.
For Us,...more
As the unpublished first novel by Robert A. Heinlein, somewhat more interesting: For Us, the Living is full of scenes, characters and ideas that appear (greatly expanded) in Heinlein's later fiction, so it was amusing to play spot-the-story: The Roads Must Roll, "If This Goes On--", even Lazarus Long's discussion of currency in Time Enough For Love.
For Us,...more
On the whole, I enjoyed it.
I think one important thing to keep in mind while reading it is that this isn't a novel in the normal sense. In a normal novel, you have characters and a plot. The plot and the characters both push each other in particular directions, and themes and messages develop in the process.
In this book, the message drives the plot and characters. In that sense, it's much like Edward Bellamy's novel "Looking Backward" and various other utopian novels of the period.
If you remembe...more
I think one important thing to keep in mind while reading it is that this isn't a novel in the normal sense. In a normal novel, you have characters and a plot. The plot and the characters both push each other in particular directions, and themes and messages develop in the process.
In this book, the message drives the plot and characters. In that sense, it's much like Edward Bellamy's novel "Looking Backward" and various other utopian novels of the period.
If you remembe...more
There is a reason that this book was rejected for publication in 1939 and has not seen the light of day till now---it's boring! The only intriguing thing about the book is where Heinlein thought the world would be in 2080 and where it is even now. Particularly with the latest economic crisis his thoughts after the last big economic crisis are interesting--not as interesting as the number of pages he spends on them but mildly interesting. There are three extensive lectures in the book that could...more
My third Heinlein book of the year and my least favorite of the three. This was his first novel from 1938 and you can tell. The first half of the book I actually liked as it has a young guy shot through time from 1938 to 2086 and kind of going on an adventure. The second have is seriously bogged down in recreating what has happened socially, historically over that span of time and it pretty much ruins the book. That sort of thing isn't what I've enjoyed in the Heinlein books I've read this year....more
Il primo romanzo in assoluto scritto da Heinlein, rimasto inedito fino a pochi anni fa, pur risalendo alla fine degli anni '30.Eppure definirlo romanzo è assolutamente azzardato, dato che la vicenda portante è senza ombra di dubbio né timore di smentita un semplice giustificativo per un qualcosa di ben più grande: la descrizione, o per meglio dire la PRIMA descrizione, che l'autore fa di ciò che ritiene un futuro ideale, la sua personale Utopia.In questo libro si trovano i semi di tutta la produ...more
Oct 28, 2009
Andrew
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Heinlein, not for those just getting into him.
Recommended to Andrew by:
My brother.
Fairly decent read, if you can forgive the author for preaching and lecturing throughout most of it. While Heinlein does present some pretty interesting ideas, he really didn't implement them well into the story. This can be forgiven, however, since it was his first novel, and was published after his death. In fact, Heinlein never wanted the book to be published, and burned what he thought to be the last copy. Knowing this, you can easily forgive this book for what it got wrong, and enjoy it for...more
Dec 27, 2007
Mike
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bottom-shelf,
sci-fi-fantasy
Talk, talk, talk...
Blah, blah, blah...
Nudity...
More Talk
Blah, blah, blah...
Nudity...
More Talk
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Aug 26, 2011
Jane
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
political-commentary
Interesting find--a posthumous Heinlein written in the 1930's. Great set-up with a man from that time period being transported to 2086--a set-up for a political/economic/social reinvention of the future. Once you grasp that the book is more about government policy and a different vision of incentives and societal values and wealth and...it's quite fascinating, especially since we know what's happened in the decades since it was written. However, the story disappears in the midst of economic mode...more
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Robert Anson Heinlein was an American novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction".
He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into mainstre...more
More about Robert A. Heinlein...
He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into mainstre...more
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“You were probably educated in the conventional economic theories of your period which were magnificent and most ingenious, but--if you will pardon my saying so--all wrong.”
—
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“He became convinced that ordinary commercial financing could be done for a service charge plus an insurance fee amounting to much less that the current rates of interest charged by banks, whose rates were based on supply and demand, treating money as a commodity rather than as a sovereign state's means of exchange.”
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