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jokoloyo's review against another edition
3.0
I stopped reading after I read "Waldo" story.
I didn't expect the story is about magic-based speculative fiction. There are technological-based factors in the story (I read about the waldoes in this story from a few articles years back), but the main factor is energy from Other World.
The main plot is not so easily to see at first. I see this short story is generally about the main protagonist's character growing.
I didn't expect the story is about magic-based speculative fiction. There are technological-based factors in the story (I read about the waldoes in this story from a few articles years back), but the main factor is energy from Other World.
The main plot is not so easily to see at first. I see this short story is generally about the main protagonist's character growing.
ratbaggy's review against another edition
3.0
Two novellas collected in one volume. Early 50's they were collected. Written earlier. Waldo is an excellent piece, tying environmental concerns and handicapped issues into a space novel. Interesting and way ahead of its time. Magic is about magic and boring as hell. Maybe the worst Heinlein story I have ever read. 4 stars for Waldo and 2 stars for Magic, Inc.
miss_tricia's review against another edition
2.0
Neither of these novellas was anything groundbreaking. Waldo maybe is trying to make the point that we are all essentially good, or that overcoming our weaknesses makes us good, or something. But mostly it's not that interesting. And Magic, Inc. is a none-too-engaging tale about the problems with mega-corporations.
chan_fry's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is two long novellas mashed into one book. The second ("Magic, Inc.") is surprisingly diverse, considering it was written by a white man in 1940. Both stories feature magic, but were written by a guy known for hard sci-fi.
shanehawk's review against another edition
4.0
Before reading the preface I hadn’t known these were two separate short stories. It was funny to read Doubleday approached Heinlein to publish these two together and he asked what the hell, those two go together like mustard and watermelon. 😂
Waldo was a really cool read. Did Heinlein envision remote-controlled surgical manipulators in the 40s? The da Vinci Surgical System was approved by the FDA in 2000. Crazy if so. Magic, Inc. was a little fun, but I’m not a fan of fantasy so my enjoyment was limited. Still, I think it’s worth reading these novellas written in 1940 and 1942. It’s a different flavor of Heinlein for sure.
Waldo was a really cool read. Did Heinlein envision remote-controlled surgical manipulators in the 40s? The da Vinci Surgical System was approved by the FDA in 2000. Crazy if so. Magic, Inc. was a little fun, but I’m not a fan of fantasy so my enjoyment was limited. Still, I think it’s worth reading these novellas written in 1940 and 1942. It’s a different flavor of Heinlein for sure.
morgandhu's review against another edition
3.0
This is a reread. In the course if doing some reading for the 1943 Retro Hugos, I really had to check out Heinlein’s novella Waldo, which meant that I might as well read the other novella in this collection, Magic, Inc, as well.
Waldo is the story of an isolated and eccentric genius, Waldo F. Jones, with severe myasthenia gravis who invents and relies on such instruments to do the things he cannot. The set-up of the novella: 15 years after the transition to the use of radiant power, and the elimination of all physical means of power transmission, something is going wrong with the system. Unexplained failures, breakdowns in equipment that should not break down, findings that go against all the science that resulted in radiant power being adopted in the first place. No one can explain the problem, let alone solve it. The last option is to seek the help, if it can be obtained, of Waldo, the crippled, misanthropic genius who lives in a self-contained orbital satellite and generally refuses to interact with anyone unless it serves his interests and is on his terms.
This time around, I felt a strong connection to the title character in Waldo that is new, and connected to the severe degeneration of my own physical state since my last reading; now, I perceive Waldo as “crip lit” and a fairly sensitive example, for something written by a man who likely perceived himself as able bodied. I was struck by the unifying metaphor of the waldo, the device that allows Waldo to manipulate objects on scales that would be impossible, not just for his crippled self, dealing with severe myasthenia gravis, but in some cases, for any human. This concept is recapitulated in the concept of the Other World which Waldo learns from a traditional hex doctor, the other dimension in which mind resides, and from which mind extends to influence, direct, manipulate the material world through its connections with brain and body.
There are other interesting and very modern ideas in Waldo - including the concern about untested long-term consequences of exposure to new technologies. All in all, a fine example of Heinlein’s early work.
Magic, Inc. is a contemporary fantasy, a forerunner to the modern and burgeoning genre of urban fantasy. It takes place in a world where magic works according to recognised laws and principles, and is fully a part of everyday life. Our protagonists flag down a flying carpet, not a taxi. Restaurants offer “vanishing meals” - you experience all the sensation of eating, but the food magically dematerialises once it reaches the stomach. Most industries run on a combination of technology and magic.
The protagonist, Archie Fraser, runs a building supplies and construction business. He employs licenced, professional magicians on a contract basis, just as he does any other tradespersn or specialist needed to do any given job. But his freedom to hire whom he wishes is being threatened, first by an organisation that purports to be a professional standards body, that wants to regulate contracts and fees, then by a gangster who threatens serious damage to his business unless he only hires magicians they recommend, and pay protection bribes on top of that.
Being a rugged individualist, Fraser refuses, and soon there are consequences. The situation escalates, with curses, hexes, and depredations by gnomes and salamanders on his business properties, and the emergence of a heavily funded lobby that seeks to enact regulation that will put all practising magicians under control of an organisation called Magic, Inc, and compel every business using magic to negotiate only with them. Fortunately, Fraser has a friend, who is a bit of a witch himself, and who knows some very powerful allies who are willing to help Fraser fight this massive attempt to take over the practice of magic.
This is a fun romp through a very well conceptualised fantasy Earth, with some very sympathethic characters and a tight plot. Vintage Heinlein.
hammard's review against another edition
2.0
There is a definite plot construction for Heinlein's early work, with great skilled individuals being kept down by THE MAN (whether that be government, corporations, unions etc.) and them working out how to solve the problem. This is very much in this vein, simply replacing science with magic. It is interesting that this one ties it to politics (specifically the gun control debate and The Sullivan Act), however the later reveal makes it rather incoherent. At that same time, the romance plot is just odd. Another one just for his fans.