Generational

[supergee]

Old guy who had his life changed by reading Stranger in a Stranger Land points you at matociquala's discussion of why kids nowadays don't do that and it's OK. It's OK with me too.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

I agree with that post. I'm 3-5 years younger than matociquala is (based on the high-school arithmetic problem included there). Stranger and a few other SF novels were on my high school's recommended list, but I'd met Heinlein's work already at the local library. (And I was one of probably a handful of kids in nearly 500 who actually read any of the recommended summer reading.) But when I taught college-level English comp more than ten years ago, I skipped Heinlein for Delany, Willis, Sturgeon, Butler, and Chiang (different semesters) because I couldn't figure out how I would teach a Heinlein novel without supplying a bunch of half-apologetic context to help his work make sense to the students. I mentioned him, Clarke, and others in class, in case of that one student who does outside reading by their own preference....

[micheinnz]

My sixteen-year-old daughter is reading it as part of her studies for Year 12 (junior year?) English.

I has a proud.