Talk:Glory Road

Review

I know of an off-site review of this page at http://srehn.com/books/rh_gloryroad.html but I feel it would be dishonest for me to link to it because it's on my site.

If anybody else feels it's appropriate to put that link there, do so, but I won't.

Tesseract, or Banach-Tarski?

In the Tesseract article, it's claimed that the box in Glory Road that is much larger unfolded than folded, is some sort of four-dimensional object. I always took it to be a reference to the Banach-Tarski paradox. Can anyone settle this? --Trovatore 05:37, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

The book involves unvolding a special box into a much larger (and non-empty) object. While this does seem to go along with the Banach-Tarski paradox, there is nothing in the book to suggest that this is what the author had in mind. It might be the case, but it is simply not made clear. -swelke

Designation as hard science fiction

Several of the plot elements, such as the folding box mentioned above, are quite possibly explicable by real-world scientific principles, again as delineated above: however, the technology is never explained in accordance with real-world scientific principles (only the results of the miraculous technology is shown), and never becomes the focus of the story, which to me are both defining elements of hard science fiction. Admittedly, the 'magic' used in the book has a bit more of a technical air to it than most fantasy novels, but it remains magic- unexplained and miraculous. Is the designation truly appropriate in this case? -Toptomcat 13:59, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Who ever said it was hard science fiction? It is and always has been soft. Nothing Heinlein ever wrote really qualifies as hard. 173.61.135.70 (talk) 06:10, 14 February 2015 (UTC)

Editions

Surely the listing of the Gregg Press edition is wrong wrong wrong. The first edition was Putnam's, the leading publisher of Heinlein's adult fiction from this period. Signinstranger 14:55, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Cover illustration

I've replaced the ugly paperback cover with that of Part One of the magazine serial. However, a low resolution image of the first edition can be found as GloryRoad_1st_ed.jpg. Signinstranger 14:55, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

"Pure Fantasy"

I just read this book, and I think it's inaccurate to call it "pure fantasy." While there are plenty of fantasy elements, it's more of a science fiction spin on fantasy. The book opens on (then) contemporary Earth, and the denouement takes place mostly on the super-scientifically advanced administrative hub of twenty universes. I'd hazard to classify it as "science fiction," but unless my understanding of the genre is faulty, I don't see how Glory Road can be called "pure" fantasy. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 160.39.214.146 (talk • contribs) .

I agree with you, and so did Heinlein. In 1973, he made this comment to J. Neil Schulman: "You've read Glory Road? Well that's both science fiction and fantasy all mixed up together." -- Jim Douglas ^(talk) _(contribs) 18:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it's fantasy only because it's got magic—in the Clarke's Third Law sense of magic.

—wwoods 01:29, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

"several weeks"

"Heinlein himself reported that the book only took several weeks to write..."

That was true of virtually everything he wrote; Stranger in a Strange Land is the exception. -- Jim Douglas ^(talk) _(contribs) 19:22, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Vietnam

If the author never says Vietnam, should the article say it? Lots42 04:55, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Probably not, since the book was published in 1963! Lkleinow (talk) 02:24, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

The Korean War is clearly not the war mentioned, since Korea is not in Southeast Asia.--DThomsen8 (talk) 23:57, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Don't forget the Viet Nam war was already quite active and ongoing in 1963, having started in 1955. The US wasn't involved except with "advisors", which you may recall is what Oscar says he was. According to (ahem) [[1]] "By 1963, there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors." I think Oscar was clearly in Viet Nam, but Heinlein rubbed out the serial numbers. -- Charlie (Colorado) (talk) 04:12, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Annapolis ≠ USNA

I went to college in Annapolis in the 1960's, and started learning to fence... at St. John's College, across the street from the Naval Academy. We would line School St. (IIRC) and heckle the middies as they marched out to the stadium for their games, and they would give as good as they got. (And it was their fencing teacher who came over once a week to teach us.) Thnidu (talk) 03:18, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

The Never Born

It's pretty clear that the fight with Cyrano *is* the fight with the Never-Born. One could probably get a term paper out of how Oscar beating Cyrano has deep psychological meaning. -- Charlie (Colorado) (talk) 04:14, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Meaningful

I was in high school when I read 'Glory Road' and fell completely in love with Star - lol. I really dug Oscar, too. I was in a small town and I was yearning for some kind of adventure and this book fulfilled that yearning, at least mentally, at the time. I didn't care if it was science fiction or fantasy, just that it was engaging. I was a voracious reader in my younger days. I gobble up almost any kind of book I could get my hands on. Science fiction was my daily diet - lol. 'Glory Road' was a truly sweet morsel. I can certainly appreciate the scientific and fantasy aspects now, however. I did connect with Oscar's ability to always be able to 'feel' in what direction he was headed. I think that's a real ability some people have.

Alfred L. Long III — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.76.241.87 (talk) 04:54, 7 May 2012 (UTC)