ef553c94   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   Bill Patterson wrote:   
      
   	First -- Dear lord, Bill, what's wrong with your quoting? It adds all   
   sorts of garbage characters...   
      
   > On Sep 30, 3:12�pm, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"   
      
      
   >> � � � � I would never introduce anyone to RAH by trying to select   
   "significant"   
   >> books. Only the books that I think by their nature would grab you by the   
   >> throat and force you to read them, if you were at all likely to enjoy   
   >> Heinlein at all.   
      
   >   
   > Tactical difference.  I initially suggested discovering why people   
   > might think he was impotant enough to discuss frequently by looking at   
   > his two major essays on sf technique and considering where they were   
   > positioned in the history of the field.  Then I suggested goign to the   
   > three books that have been broadly socially influential in the world   
   > outside SF, which are also three books Heinlrin thought were   
   > personally special.   
      
   	The problem is that this is a scholar's approach. Which might work, for   
   one out of a hundred, or a thousand, "new to Heinlein" candidates. A   
   number of others it would drive away, by the implication that he might   
   be a highfalutin' "lit'ry" SF writer of the sort that has a loud,   
   outspoken following but really isn't READABLE by ordinary people.   
      
   	If I were to ask about "where should I start" on some author, and   
   someone recommended I read essays, I'd hope someone else would quickly   
   counter him with actual readable recommendations.   
      
      
   > I hesitate to make blind recommendations about what *you'll* like or   
   > not like, because it depends on where you are individually at the time   
   > you encounter then, what you need to hear at this moment, how you are   
   > positioning yourself.  You'll tend to like things that speak to issues   
   > you're concerned with when you're reading them.   
      
   	This paragraph makes almost no sense to me. I don't read books because   
   they "speak to issues". I have no idea what "speaking to issues" means.   
      
   	I read books because they're fun. I write them for the same reasons. No   
   fun, no read.   
      
      
   --   
                         Sea Wasp   
                           /^\   
                           ;;;	   
         Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)