adi_pie wrote:I would recommend either Cat's Cradle or The Ocean at the End of the Lane, they're both tragic, heartbreaking, yet, ultimately, hopeful, and uplifting books.
Out of all those, I would have to say Stranger in a Strange Land, while still an influential book that people should definitely read, is my least favourite. Then again, my opinions on Heinlein might colour my thoughts on the book somewhat.
I'm leaning toward The Ocean at the End of the Lane, since it's been waiting in my collection the longest.
Heinlein is certainly a controversial figure; I've read plenty about him as an author, but it seems to me that he's a bit of somewhat that you can't unequivocally oppose. A lot of his beliefs were among the earliest signs of progressive forward thinking. To my understanding, he'd always been a strong advocate of racial equality and sexual freedom. The main issue that seems a bit sticky with him is gender equality, and again, it seems based on what I've about him as an author, is that he felt that he felt that women were equal, and tried to reflect a progressive stance on the matter, but his attempts were betrayed by writing that showed an ignorance to the true nature of the issue.
All in all though, he's certainly not the worst out there. Partially because I believe if Heinlein were alive today, where society has advanced to better articulate how Heinlein had gone wrong in his ideology of female characters (I say ideology, because he
did write female characters that he portrayed as strong. He simply did so in a manner that to the modern reader still seems backwards.), I believe if he were alive today, he'd acknowledge this issue with some of his work, and use his influence to try to make it better.
Compare to, say, Orson Scott Card, who I really very strongly disagree with on his stance on homosexuality, and he seems pretty firmly planted where he stands with regards to it. I'd still recommend reading Ender's Game.
Sometimes I read to enjoy fiction, but just as often, I'll read something I know I probably won't agree with, just so I
can question my own ideals, and form my own opinions. For instance, as a pretty freaking liberal person, I have every reason to believe I'll hate
Atlas Shrugged, but I still feel it's a book I should probably read someday. Hell, if someone plopped a copy of
Mein Kampf in front of me, I'd have to read it, just because, while I may not agree with a single word written within the book,
I feel these words are still thoughts produced by a human being, and therefore worth acknowledging. If I am too afraid to be presented with a contrarian viewpoint, how can I trust myself to remain open-minded and to continually expose myself to new ideas?
I suppose it comes down to this:
Which is worse, Public Hate Speech, or Public Censorship?
I feel like censorship is always the greater of those two evils. It doesn't resolve any issues; it sweeps them under a rug to make them taboo. Hate speech, as bad as it is, at least gives us a platform upon which we may open a dialogue to allow humanity to come together to bridge these divides, and look at how far we've come! Compare the world now to the 1950's! I feel like this is largely due to the abandonment of censorship, which I feel is one of the greatest evils of the human race. There are very few things I'd consider worse than honestly believing that anyone does not have the right for their voice to be heard.
And wow, I've gotten off-topic. But yeah, I suppose those are my thoughts.
it after all."
