“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Heinlein was a Golden Age sci-fi author who began writing in the 1940s, when men were real men1, and science fiction mostly a repackaging of American mythology about Western Expansion, and the wagon train to the stars.
This is the context for Heinlein’s most famous quote. It often makes the rounds on social media, and is widely admired as a tough-minded little piece of frontier wisdom. However, it is also obviously a bit silly when taken literally.
Being a Competant Man sounds good on paper, but does anyone believe a computer programmer has the free time to learn to expertly butcher a hog or con a ship? If you made a Venn diagram of people with all the skills listed, it would intersect with no-one. Everyone knows this.
In addition, since Heinlein’s peak years, society has become increasingly complex. Historian Bret Devreaux pointed out on X2 that specialization is necessary to contribute to human knowledge at all. Isaac Newton could get away with being an physicist, a chemist, a literary scholar, an alchemist, and a conspiracy theorist, but a similar person in the 21st century would be hopelessly lacking in focus.
Nevertheless, there is a core of truth in the quote for one profession: writing. An author should be a generalist, because writing, when you boil it down to its essentials, is the process of translating thoughts and experiences into a form other people can understand. The more fields someone knows about, the more convincingly they can write.
Heinlein was an engineer and naval officer, and he drew on his expertise in both fields for writing, particularly his earlier work. It is common for authors to have entire, alternative careers.
Some of my favourite authors’ professions, and the age they broke through as writers
George Orwell: colonial policeman, volunteer soldier, waiter, journalist, BBC employee. (29- Down and Out in Paris and London)
Vladimir Nabokov: Professor of Russian Language. (56- Lolita)
Terry Pratchett: journalist, press officer for several nuclear power plants. (35- The Colour of Magic)
JRR Tolkien: soldier, academic. (45- The Hobbit)
Stephen King: high-school teacher, laundry worker3 (26- Carrie)
Agatha Christie: wartime volunteer nurse (30- The Mysterious Affair at Styles).
Life experience is fuel for writing. Agatha Christie drew on her knowledge of poisons and medicines to create murder mysteries. Terry Pratchett’s work with nuclear power helped inspire the mercurial, dangerous, and oddly radiation-like magic of the Discworld series.
Orwell’s experiences directly led to his novel Burmese Days, as well as nurturing his anti-colonial and anti-capitalist ideas. And Tolkein’s experiences on the Western Front most likely influenced his depictions of bureaucratic and vicious Mordor and Isengard, the Marshes of the Dead, and the horrifying splendor and slaughter of war in Middle Earth.
There are also a few prodigies like Mary Shelley, who wrote the first draft of Frankenstein at the age of 18, who seem to need less fuel to drive their creative engine. My personal belief is that they exist to make everyone else jealous.
- Competent men, for the most part. Competent women were less of a priority for Heinlein, although spunky ones who enjoyed spanking were very much more encouraged. ↩︎
- https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1551598276834623489.html. Incidentally, look me up on Bluesky, the only good social media network https://bsky.app/profile/mediapundit.bsky.social ↩︎
- Check out his short story, The Mangler, and the film of the same name, based on his time working at a laundry! Or better yet, don’t ↩︎
Chris Barker 
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