Time Enough for Love

Robert A. Heinlein

Aug 1987 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The capstone and crowning achievement of  the Future History series, from the New York Times bestselling Grand Master of Science Fiction...

Time Enough for Love follows Lazarus Long through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Heinlein's longest and most ambitious work, it is the story of a man so in love with Life that he refused to stop living it; and so in love with Time that he became his own ancestor.

Ratings and reviews

Most reviewers of this book seem polarized into the love-it or hate-it categories. I seem to be one of the rare ones that falls right in the middle. There are some great stories spread throughout the book, but I found that the overall encompassing narrative dragged on at times. I also had difficulty connecting with the supporting characters and their "enlightened" views on relationships. The main character, Lazarus Long, was easier to connect with throughout the book, but as he took on more of the views of the other characters, he became less relatable for me. Additionally, I felt like the chapters which attempted to prove Lazarus's views on learning how to love demonstrated the exact opposite values the author held up as ideal. I'd recommend this book for readers that can set aside their own views on sex and relationships, and enjoy the sub-plots in the context of the values the author sets up. If that's not possible, then it's probably best to avoid this book.

Heinlein’s exploration of time and existence is both grand and intimate. Through Lazarus’s adventures, readers encounter a multitude of characters, societies, and ideas, each contributing to a larger tapestry of understanding about what it means to live and love across the ages. The novel is a testament to Heinlein's imaginative prowess and his capacity to address complex questions about human nature and the universe.

Maybe I'm reading too much Heinlein too soon; the general plot and theme are the same as others and it's getting a little boring. Kind of like science-fiction porn. What makes this book tolerable, though, are the side stories and anecdote sections.

About the author

Robert Anson Heinlein was born in Missouri in 1907, and was raised there. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1929, but was forced by illness to retire from the Navy in 1934. He settled in California and over the next five years held a variety of jobs while doing post-graduate work in mathematics and physics at the University of California. In 1939 he sold his first science fiction story to Astounding magazine and soon devoted himself to the genre.

He was a four-time winner of the Hugo Award for his novels Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Starship Troopers (1959), Double Star (1956), and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966). His Future History series, incorporating both short stories and novels, was first mapped out in 1941. The series charts the social, political, and technological changes shaping human society from the present through several centuries into the future.

Robert A. Heinlein's books were among the first works of science fiction to reach bestseller status in both hardcover and paperback. He continued to work into his eighties, and his work never ceased to amaze, to entertain, and to generate controversy. By the time hed died, in 1988, it was evident that he was one of the formative talents of science fiction: a writer whose unique vision, unflagging energy, and persistence, over the course of five decades, made a great impact on the American mind.