Yes they are definite logic holes. This is also one of his 1950s pulp pieces (I think originally published in serial form) and has all the flaws that writing in that style usually has... he just didn't put as much careful time and effort into the novel.
I never considered it a 'classic' really.... I found most of his early work fairly klunky, and often lacking characters with real personality (something many of the pulp SF writers had, unlike the Pulp Action/Adventure). SF writers had a tendency to avoid complex plots with twists or personality conflicts among characters (and zero romance), and it made many of them either into 'puzzle masters' (like Asimov) or 'poly-sci' or 'Anthro/Tech Sci' examinations of how technology is accepted or not or concepts are reacted to in society.
Heinlein liked to play not with the tech but the 'how will the world act politically or on a large scale to introducing a specific situation or technology'. The Lazerous Long stories are all based around 'How would people react to Eugenics for longevity and disease elimination'; Stranger in a Strange Land is actually half 'How do people react to a new religion that has real temporal 'power' over the universe'... a cross between a Buddha/Christ figure introduced into our skeptical slightly-futuristic world.
Until he finds his author's voice characters (like Jubal) in his works, Heinlein can be a rather poor read, in my opinion. I've read a lot of his stuff over the years, thought some had some interesting ideas others some interesting characters (all later stuff) but all of it had some flaws in logic or how history says people react to things.
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I never considered it a 'classic' really.... I found most of his early work fairly klunky, and often lacking characters with real personality (something many of the pulp SF writers had, unlike the Pulp Action/Adventure). SF writers had a tendency to avoid complex plots with twists or personality conflicts among characters (and zero romance), and it made many of them either into 'puzzle masters' (like Asimov) or 'poly-sci' or 'Anthro/Tech Sci' examinations of how technology is accepted or not or concepts are reacted to in society.
Heinlein liked to play not with the tech but the 'how will the world act politically or on a large scale to introducing a specific situation or technology'. The Lazerous Long stories are all based around 'How would people react to Eugenics for longevity and disease elimination'; Stranger in a Strange Land is actually half 'How do people react to a new religion that has real temporal 'power' over the universe'... a cross between a Buddha/Christ figure introduced into our skeptical slightly-futuristic world.
Until he finds his author's voice characters (like Jubal) in his works, Heinlein can be a rather poor read, in my opinion. I've read a lot of his stuff over the years, thought some had some interesting ideas others some interesting characters (all later stuff) but all of it had some flaws in logic or how history says people react to things.