Declare Containing Books Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22)
| Title | : | Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22) |
| Author | : | Robert A. Heinlein |
| Book Format | : | hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 276 pages |
| Published | : | November 1st 1986 by Baen (first published 1958) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. Fantasy. Classics. Speculative Fiction. Adventure |
Robert A. Heinlein
hardcover | Pages: 276 pages Rating: 4 | 18427 Users | 285 Reviews
Explanation In Pursuance Of Books Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22)
After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All.No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them: nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality...
Describe Books As Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22)
| Original Title: | Methuselah's Children |
| ISBN: | 0671655973 (ISBN13: 9780671655976) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22, Lazarus Long |
| Characters: | Lazarus Long, Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby |
Rating Containing Books Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22)
Ratings: 4 From 18427 Users | 285 ReviewsWeigh Up Containing Books Methuselah's Children (Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #22)
Heres the latest in my re-read of Heinleins Future History series.This one is slightly different, in that it is more of a novel than a short story, which is what the previous elements have mainly been. The background is that Methuselahs Children was first a long story published in Astounding in 1941, but, like some of the other elements of the Future History, was revised and expanded into a novel in the late 1950s.However, this is, at least in its updated form, perhaps the most retrofitted into'The Howard families were the product of a genetic experiment, an interbreeding program which had produced one hundred thousand people with an average life-expectancy of a century and a half.Now, at last, their existence was known on Earth, and the entire world demanded to share the secret of eternal youth.'Blurb from the 1971 New English Library paperback edition.Originally serialised in a shorter form in Astounding in 1941, Methuselahs Children has an interesting premise, in that in the
Yet another of my collection of "S-F from long ago." This one is from the mid-50's, and tells the story of a clan (the Howard Families) who tend to live a LOOOOOONNNNNG time), and who garner a LOT of negative attention from those who DON'T live a long time. The main character, Lazarus Long, is the oldest of them all, having lived some 375 or so years. Well, these people are given a choice: Be tortured until they give up their secret(there is none, it's just in the genes) or go off onto another
3.5 stars. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Not being much of an RAH fan, I was not expecting much beyond his using the story as a thin veil for his political rantings and ravings. To be sure, there was some of that, though it mostly took a backseat to a genuinely fun, engaging story with minimal kitsch and some interesting, unexpected twists. The story, and much of the science it expounds, holds up, in my inexpert opinion, quite well today, many decades after it was first published in 1958.
Robert A. Heinlein's Future History is a collection of short stories, novellas and novels. Quoted as "One of the Greatest Achievements in The History of Science Fiction"...uh, NOT! I found the short stories to be wooden, clunky, and anticlimactic. However, this novel Methuselah's Children was just simple fun...and I enjoyed the hard boiled, get-er-done, kilt cladden main character of Lazarus Long. However, I won't be reading the other Future Hstory stories as my life is getting shorter and my TR
Heinlein details the exodus from Earth of the Howard Families, long-lived individuals who suddenly find themselves persecuted for not revealing their non-existent secret of longevity. Lazarus Long gets a lot of action here as the Howard Families hijack the the starship New Frontiers and look for a place to live out there ... they find that the galaxy is going to be a more challenging and ultimately, more rewarding place to live for this new breed of human. Much more will be revealed in
I read the Signet paperback (with the inappropriate Gene Szafran cover) of this one many years ago and have just revisited it via my excellent local library's audio selection. I was surprised to have remembered it quite well; Lazarus and Andy and Mary were all quite well and waiting for me, just as fresh and thought-provoking as I remembered and not at all as distressing as I'd feared from my last memories of Time Enough For Love. If there is such a thing as an overlooked classic by Heinlein, I
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