“How I first encountered Heinlein…”

David Silver, Heinlein Society Past President

Past President Silver on his introduction to the works of Robert A. Heinlein:

“When I was eleven in 1954, bored tearless one smoggy summer with the books in the children’s library in Los Angeles that I was ‘allowed’ to read, a librarian handed me a copy of Rocket Ship Galileo, classified as a ‘juvenile,’ for ages twelve and above, told me to take it home and ask permission from my parents before reading it. I did, and my dad gave me permission. I heard him tell my mother it was the first juvenile he’d ever looked at, or heard of, that had a Jewish boy as one of the principal characters. I read it, loved it all (and could have cared less that one of the boys was Jewish—that was only normal I thought), and returned it to the librarian the next day. She issued me a ‘juvenile’ card with a pass to any adult science fiction as well, and I then proceeded to read every Heinlein, juvenile or not, in the library within a week or two.”

“I’ve never stopped reading Heinlein since.”