That's quite a story!
But I should admit, despite having swallowed tons of sci-fi books as a
teenager and post-teenager, I had to look up Poul Anderson.
I am not sure if I just missed the name or his books as well...
However, The Snows of Ganymede and Virgin Planet sound familiar...
Being a kid, I always felt that all great writers lived long time ago.
That feeling continued for a while into adulthood.
Around 1995-96, I was surprised to meet Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite
sci-fi writers (and writers in general) during his visit to
Urbana-Champaign, IL. I thought he had been long gone by that time.
Igor
Larry Colen Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:04:16 -0800 wrote:
I don't remember what I was reading specifically, but I think it was the
Tom Swift, Jr series. My older brother loved The Hardy Boys, but I was
more into science fiction. The first books I took out from the Public
Library at age seven were "Two for the Stars" and "Have Space Suit, Will
Travel" by Robert Heinlein. I've not returned yet... ;-)
Heh! In first grade I went through all of the spaceship under the apple
tree books, and when they were exhausted asked Dad to point me to more
stuff like that. The public library had Rocket Ship Galileo, and when I
finished that I found Have spacesuit will travel in the school library. It
didn't take me long to go through all the Heinlein juveniles and start in
on Asimov, Heinlein etc. in the adult section.
I will say that I sure missed a lot reading Stranger in a Strange Land
when I was ten years old.
I've heard this story, told pretty much the same from two people who know
the girl involved ...
In the late 1960's Astrid, a young girl 13 or 14 years old, who lived in
the East Bay had chosen SiaSL for a book report assignment. The teacher
also asked a bunch of other questions for the students to answer. When the
teacher handed back the reports he asked Astrid to talk to him after
class.
After class, he commented that he noticed her answer to "why did the
author write this book?" was "To make money". "I'm sure you realize that a
lot of people find this book really inspirational, and your answer seems
rather cynical for someone your age. I'm curious why you chose that
answer"
"Oh, that's what he told me."
Knowing how reclusive Heinlein was the teacher was a bit surprised by this
answer and asked how she had asked him.
"On the phone" she replied matter of factly.
Certain that she was making things up he asked her how she had gotten his
number, waiting for the inevitable confession that she was making things
up.
"My dad's phone book", as if it was the obvious answer.
The teacher had had enough of her spinning her yarn further and further
finally started to get hot under the collar and angrily started to launch
into a tirade. "Astrid Anderson!" he started. Then he stopped, thought for
a second and asked "What's your father's first name?".
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