@flo I’ve never read much of Stranger in a Strange Land, but Heinlein’s heroes make for pretty good role models. They’re intelligent, resourceful, broadly skilled, and generally have a good attitude to them.—They also all bear his philosophical positions, which can be pretty useful, too.
One of the big shots in Stranger is typical: pragmatic, witty, at home in his skin (Heinlein’s characters tended to embrace a… minimalist approach to future fashions, so this is literal), and above all else: self-reliant.
I have often considered memorizing Gandalf’s incantations so that when I am asked the impossible, I can chant one, wait a minute, and then do the darn-it-didn’t-work finger-snapping.
What ever happened to @Stranger_In_A_Strange_Land? I haven’t seen him – or @dpworkin, but I think that he announced a sabbatical – around lately.