A short book filled with uncommon wisdom and common sense. ( )

Wow. I know it's a classic, and required reading for several of Heinlein's other character arcs, but the middle of this was a slog. ( )

The compiler, David G. Hartwell, introduces the Notebooks and Lazarus Long. Lazarus first appeared in 1941, the Golden Age of Science Fiction, as a central character in "Methuselah's Children", by Robert Heinlein. Lazarus did not appear again, as the oldest living member of the human race, until "Time Enough for Love", the longest and most unifying of Heinlein's novels.

Lazarus is lovable and wily, with a finely-tuned sense of self-interest and a zest for life. He appreciates irony. The notebooks are entertaining and intelligent, if not always "deep" or sometimes too deep. The Notebooks were written in the course of a well-traveled life of a thousand years, by a veteran of fifteen interstellar wars who survived lynch mobs and many wives, to father a progeny which numbers in the billions. ( )

You'll find most of this in "Time Enough for Love" & other books. Having all that preaching together in one place is just too much. Lazarus is the oldest man alive & while he's entertaining, he's overbearing & full of himself. After "Time Enough for Love" he was a major figure in other books & it all got to be too much for me. Too little story, too much 'father figure' preaching.I absolutely love a lot of the sayings attributed to Lazarus Long, though. They're witty & very often true. Stuff like (paraphrase) 'An elephant is a mouse built to government specs.' or 'A committee is the only animal that has 6 or more bellies & no brain.' ( )

I consider this the single greatest work of Heinlein. Take that as you will. ( )