To sail beyond the sunset

What Hacker News says

1. nsantosMar 2022
   - The Dune books. The depth of everything in it awes me. Every time I re-read them, I find some nuance I missed from the last reading. The way it portrays politics, religion, and basically the entangled web of life in general blew my mind when I first read it, and still does.

   - Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony. I'm not sure I can put into words how it has impacted me, though, but it has. I guess it's more of a visceral reaction? I can't honestly say I can relate to the protagonist, since I've never been in his shoes (and I hope to never be; having every one in your family---save for one of your sisters---murdered, raped, or raped-then-murdered by pirates isn't exactly something to ascribe to). I love how Hope (the protagonist) can empathize with pretty much anyone, though---at least eventually; and I guess I relate to how deeply he feels things.

   - Pretty much everything by Heinlein. It has once again become fashionable (I think it goes on in cycles) to shit on Heinlein's works, and I get where naysayers are coming from. Heinlein himself always maintained he wrote primarily to entertain, even though he can get kind of preachy at times.

   The very first Heinlein I got my hands on was The Number of the Beast--, while I was a teenager. Flying cars, non-benevolent Other Beings, multiverses possibly made manifest through the sheer act of imagining it... For a kid who dreamt of one day becoming a nuclear physicist after having watched ST:TOS (Scotty is mah boy), that book was revelatory. Every Heinlein I've read after that has just gone on and contributed to who I am as person today: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land (both editions), To Sail Beyond the Sunset, et al.

   It's almost literally impossible for me to overstate how much Heinlein's works has shaped who I am as a person, regardless of whatever flaws others might ascribe to his work.

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2. TMWNNJul 2021
   Thanks for the profile; it's one I hadn't read before. I thought the wording of the discussion of Heinlein's previous marriage was hinting at his actual first marriage, which no one knew about until after long after his death, but it doesn't.

   I grew up reading Heinlein. I've read it all; the short stories, the juveniles, the late-period novels, the early and late nonfiction essays, the recently published "lost" works. I consider him and Asimov among my formative influences. I disagree with the critics the article cites about the quality of his post-surgery work; Friday is fantastic and Job, the book the profile is putatively about, is also great. They're just different from the Scribner's juveniles. In turn I like the juveniles, but they don't stick with me as much as his short stories, or his late novels like Friday (which did cyberpunk two years earlier and better than Neuromancer did), Job, or (as weird as they are) The Cat Who Walks Through Walls/To Sail Beyond the Sunset.

   I very much think, however, that Stranger in a Strange Land can only be read with vicarious embarrassment.

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3. jelliclesfarmFeb 2019
   I think his views on nudity would have been the least offensive. Example..To Sail Beyond The Sunset was really weird and awkward in so many ways but at the same time, it is a book that I have read and re read many times. He certainly empowered many young female readers..but at the same time, there was also Friday which dealt with the difficult subject of rape. He was a feminist no doubt but he also had some antiquated ideas (like women’s role in society l and the glorification of procreation). He was a femininist without doubt.

   My favourite wrt his treatment of gender is I Will Fear No Evil. Was he sci fi writer or writer of social commentary? He was a legit sci fiction writer and one of my favourites is All You Zombies where he deals with the paradox of time travel and ideas like when you are your own grandparent was definitely different. His juvenile series (Have Space Suit, Will Travel) were all benign enough for young kids without any ‘corrupting’ thought seeds and upsetting parents. His stories about parallel worlds and lives could be said to border on metaphysical. His all encompassing free love themes might have been scandalous and pornographic at his time altho it might merely invite eye rolling or nervous dry laughter now.(I don’t know..I can only imagine how it was in those times)

   You are right about his contradictions but he had lived long enough to see waves of changes in society. (I might be wrong about the timeline of his various works pre and post 1950s) He was a military man and likely was always a libertarian. And likely an atheist. He was also from an entirely different era. But this theme was always to question authority and not accept what’s handed to you..and always strive for freedom as a personal goal. As a girl, that was important to me and to be able to place freedom over everything else.

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4. JaruzelAug 2016
   ...and then of course you end up with To Sail Beyond The Sunset.

   Heinlein, both during his early sane and latter mad years, was an utter genius story-teller.

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5. mystified5016Jun 2025
   This is a story that all nerds should read.

   Heinlein was shockingly thorough and accurate with his depictions of the computer systems in play. I've always thought the build-up to the final battle was incredibly detailed and exactly how I would solve those problems today.

   The book was written in 1966, and I think it really holds up to modern technical scrutiny, except for a few very specific and very obsolete technologies.

   Honestly I just love this story. It has all the charm of a quaint midcentury story, but is still technically competent and compelling to a modern reader. I don't think any of his other stories pull this off quite so well.

   Mike is a major plot point in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. He never actually appears though. Not sure I'd recommend that book honestly. He went real heavy on inserting his personal politics, to the point of standing up strawman characters just to give the main character a communist to berate and harass. It really ruined the experience for me.

   I have just now learned that there's a sequel to The Cat, To Sail Beyond the Sunset. The Wikipedia summary sounds.... really bad, but Mike has at least a few lines so I guess I'll go read it now.

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6. jelliclesfarmJun 2024
   Elon Musk is easy to read for anyone who is a Robert Heinlein fan. He is creating his own version of ‘Howard Families’.

   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_families

   [..]The books Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset tell the stories of two famous Howard Family members: Lazarus Long and his mother, Maureen Johnson. Lazarus Long also appears in The Number of the Beast and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.[..]

   To understand Elon Musk (and predict future trajectory), Stranger In A Strange Land is a good start.

   He is a textbook nerdy sci fi loving teenager trapped in an adult’s body. Turns out it’s that not bad for humanity.

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