Maggie's Farm

One of my most cherished possessions is a letter written to me from RAH in reply to one I wrote him as a 15 year old fan. Two pages long, it explained in detail his thoughts with respect to the following quote from "Glory Road" and it truly had a profound effect on my life. To wit:

"Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is — so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group."

When I read "Glory Road", that one just jumped out at me because I was an awkward teenager at best, moderately inept socially (I was never comfortable with other kids my age - except for my wife, but that's another story), but I was a math prodigy so it made me think a little better of myself. I asked why mathematicians would be more important than, say a plumber, and his answer was truly interesting.

In any case, his letter is framed and hanging on my office wall right next to my Captain's license and the pictures of the boats I've owned over the years.

Just as an interesting sidebar, most of his best quotes, and the ones most often referred to, come from his 1973 novel "Time Enough for Love" or "The Further Adventures of Lazarus Long" (I made that up, but that's basically what the book is). One interesting factoid about TEoL is that the animated series "Futurama" stole lock stock and barrel the concept of Phillip J. Fry becoming his own Grandfather - which was something that Matt Groening and David Cohen admitted, from the novel.

He had a reputation of being a rather gruff, impatient and demanding fan icon, but I found him to be friendly and outgoing - in particular to a teen aged kid who basically asked "I'm a math wiz, but I have trouble with other subjects - am I still superior?" :>)

His misunderstood novel, "Starship Troopers", shows how much he valued individual responsibilities to the group (state) and what the group (state) owed the individual.

The whole idea of "anybody can serve - we will find a place for you" and at the end of your service, you are a full citizen with full voting rights because you contributed to society isn't a novel one (no pun intended), but he explained the concepts in a way that was perfectly understandable.