**spoiler alert** Excellent. Almost perfect. To all of those that say that this is Heinlein's best work: I agree, and would go so far as to say "by fa**spoiler alert** Excellent. Almost perfect. To all of those that say that this is Heinlein's best work: I agree, and would go so far as to say "by far".
A few thoughts:
(1) Chapter twenty-six is probably one of the best single chapters in science fiction literature. Maybe all literature.
(2) Heinlein prevents this from being a five-star work with (surprise!) how he portrays women. Hamstrung, they are, when they ought to be in power. He drops hints that the Lunar society has the most empowered women in history, and yet the families are not matriarchal; and though the Revolution seems to start with Wyoh, she quickly fades into the background (politically); and tben every other little detail (one of the kickers for me being during the climactic War Cabinet meeting when our narrator refers to one of the women as "a good little fem that knows when to stay quiet" [or something like that:]). Sigh.
Deep geekery. Let's build logic from its component parts. And then after by-hand fabricating that nomenclature, we'll use it to talk about intelligencDeep geekery. Let's build logic from its component parts. And then after by-hand fabricating that nomenclature, we'll use it to talk about intelligence, problem-solving, heuristics, etc. building up to general intelligence (generally) and artificial intelligence (specifically). Deep, heavy, at times extremely fun. Took me five years to read it.
And so somewhat in the spirit of the text:
GEB is like this incredibly attractive, incredibly smart, incredibly funny/witty woman that you meet through a friend. The early part of the relationship is a little tentative—what with both of you trying to get a feel for each other, and both of you not quite knowing what to make of each other—but the time you spend together is lots and lots of fun. And after a little while, you're both very comfortable with each other and the time passes quickly. Perhaps too quickly. You just can't get over how lovely she is, how funny, how brilliant... But then out of the blue she gets heavy. Even your light-hearted conversations end with your head spinning. What happened to the woman you thought you were falling in love with? So you walk away. But she doesn't seem heart-broken in the least. You walk away, and you stay away for a while. Until one night you realize that even if she was getting into deep and heavy subjects that it was YOU who was afraid; she'd asked nothing of you but to listen. And like a coward you walked away. But when you return to her, she takes you back—like nothing ever happened. And before you know it, you really have come to the end of your journey together. But you feel so enriched for it.
And yes that's a terrible and cloying analogy that takes it way too far. But I couldn't help myself....more
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