Here's a specialized request for the libertarian sci-fi fans out there...
I have just discovered the wonderful world of Robert A. Heinlein (I'm slow. Sue me). I've been slowly devouring his body of work, starting with Starship Troopers (ah, now I see why the movie sucked so mightily), then Stranger in a Strange Land, moving on to The Cat Who Could Walk Through Walls and finally The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
With so many books to his credit, I'm wondering just what I should tear into next.
Any thoughts on which way to go? I've liked everything I've read so far, with Stranger in a Strange Land my favorite so far (which, mind you, is akin to saying that out of my Colt Gold Cup, Smith & Wesson Model 17, and SigSauer P226, the Gold Cup is my favorite...) I'll most likely wind up getting pretty much everything he's written (when I find an author I enjoy, I tend to do just that...), but it'll be a bit at a time.
Thanks in advance.
That is all.
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Mmmmm, Heinlein. Good for you :) I liked Starship Troopers and I loved Stranger in a Strange Land, but actually I think my favorite might be The Puppet Masters. MAYBE. Quick read, too :)
do not bother with Time Enough For Love. One of the worst things i've ever read.
I'm much mmuch more of a Ray Bradbury kind of girl... but I do remember enjoying Starship Troopers and a few of his other novels... man who sold the moon.
good luck.
Hmm. I'd say it's a good time for a leavening of his juveniles - Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is a sterling example of the type. Rocketship Gallileo is his first, IIRC. Both are thumping good reads. The Puppet Masters is, as Lissa points out, darn good too.
Avoid "I Will Fear No Evil" as well.
Jay,
Congrats on discovering Heinlein! It's safe to say my thinking about government, individualism, and responsibility were most influenced by reading Heinlein and by growing up in the Reagan years.
Glory Road is excellent and nicely quirky. You can't go wrong with any of the so-called "Heinlein Juveniles," the series of books for young audiences that he wrote. I'm particularly fond of Space Cadet, Starman Jones, Tunnel in the Sky, and Citizen of the Galaxy. (They're lighter than some of his other novels, sort of like spending a fantastic afternoon plinking with a .22 rather than firing the classic M1A.)
Friday is one of my absolute favorites, and his vision of individualism and self-reliance is strong in that.
I pretend to despise To Sail Beyond the Sunset, but it has stuck with me through the years. Even the Heinlein books that I do not care for are worth reading.
I particularly like The Man Who Sold the Moon and The Green Hills of Earth among his short stories.
Happy reading--I've passed much pleasant time in RAH's company!
Job A Comedy of Justice has always been one of my favorites
Ok, my first, primary suggestion - hold off on reading Number of the Beast until such time as you have read as many of his other books as possible. Unfortunately, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is something of a sequel to Number, but it will work out in the end.
I heartily second the recommendation of Job, A Comedy of Justice. Most definitely my favorite Heinlein book, still. My second would have to be Beyond This Horizon (just for the 'verse created), and you already found my third, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Time Enough for Love was... interesting, but not "normal" Heinlein - I would not bother with it until you run out of other titles.
Glory Road, on the flip side, is interesting as well, but is also a must-read. Also not "normal" Heinlein, and almost the better for it.
As for the rest... well, a lot of them are classifiable as "pulp fiction", and a lot of them are definitely classifiable as children's stories (The Rolling Stones, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Star Beast, etc.).
Hm, this reminds me, I need to hit up my local Friends of the Library, and see if they have any I do not... And, yes, I have read a lot of his :).
Semi OT, as this isn't Heinlein, but if you are looking for libertine SciFi, then you have to read The Probability Broach, by L. Neil Smith.
ROTFL...
A little late to the party eh?
I love Heinlein's description for a legislative body in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (which is one of my two favorite Heinlein novels).
His idea was one body of congress needs a 2/3 majority to pass a law. Because if you can't get two-thirds to say it's a good law. Then it's probably not.
The second body, doesn't pass laws. Only rescinds them. And they only need a 1/3 majority to rescind a law. Because if only one third of the populace thinks a law is bad - than it probably is.
***
Recommendations...
- Time for the Stars (my favorite of the juveniles)
- The Red Planet (another good one)
- Green Hills of Earth ( a great collection of shorts)
Glory Road was actually my least favorite of Heinlein's.
I caught a "Heinlein collection" that had the story Double Star in it.
Interesting, in that the protagonist was an actor hired to double for a politician. But the internal guts of the way a politicians' office works is described fairly well.
The story isn't bad.
I haven't read everything Heinlein, but I will say that if you haven't read Puppet Masters, you should.
Ok, I'm a Heinlein Fanatic, so I'll give you some ideas not already on the list:
1. "Time for the Stars"
2. "Methuselah's Children" (Read this before Time Enough for Love)
3. "Beyond this Horizon"
4. "The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein" (terrific compilation of short stories)
5. "Revolt in 2100" (If you liked Troopers you'll like this)
6. "Farmer in the Sky" is excellent, particularly if you're a fan of Boy Scouting (former scout and scoutmaster here:P)
7. "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" (sp?) (Another compilation)
8. "Time Enough for Love" this is frankly one of my favorites. It's very long, some of it is not so hot, but overall it's a terrific read with several mini-novels included in it. Read this before you read "To Sail Beyond the Sunset."
9. "Tunnel in the Sky" is another favorite of mine
And Lastly I would say "Citizen of the Galaxy." It's one of Heinlein's better works and one of his least well-known.
As for Number of the Beast, it's the one and only Heinlein book I ever gave up on. I read the first few chapters, concluded that Heinlein was indulging his sexual fantasies at the expense of an interesting story and called it a day.
I liked Farnam's Freehold.....
mmmm, Heinlein. Somehow, I figured you'd long ago discovered him.
Some of my absolute favorites are Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Friday. I've yet to really read any of his books that I didn't at least enjoy, if not love. All his juveniles are fun little romps. (mmm, brain candy)
my fav is Methuselah's Children, and the whole Lazarus Long series.
I've been looking for some good reading, your post might send me back to read the bunch. plus my home town library only carries books from before the 80"
B
Farnham's Freehold is the only one of his books that got me all pissed off and worked up. In a good way, mind you.
Friday is also pretty good.
I tend to like his stuff after 1960 better; the juveniles don't do it for me, really. TMIAHM and SIASL are bona-fide classics. Job is quite a romp. I Will Fear No Evil is the only one I've put down without completing- it's on hold for now.
All the Lazarus Long novels are must-reads.
Regards,
Rabbit.
Don't miss some of his shorter fiction like "Waldo," "Magic, Inc," and especially, "...and He Built a Crooked House."
I read my first Heinlein story when I was 10. You know about how old I am so you know how long ago THAT was. It was "If this goes on".
I was such a SF geek (never say Sci Fi) that there is not one book or story on that list that I have not read at least once, some I've read several times.
My suggestion is to try to read them in roughly chronological order. That way you'll have a better idea of the progression of his writing style.
Some of his short story collections are among the best every written. He wasn't called the Dean of Science Fiction writers without reason.
A couple of notes and a link.
His "juveniles" were just that. They were written for boys (for the most part) and timed to be released for Christmas. They were all pretty successful and made him gobs of money. Which is why he became a writer.
One thing that will strike you is how well he predicted not only science and technology, but social trends. That includes terrorism, although he didn't identify who it would be, just that they would be and the type of tactics they'd use.
He wrote about technology very like the Internet, well before Al Bore invented it.
Speaking of which, "Stranger in a Strange Land" was his least favorite. He wrote because he needed the money. He didn't like it and that's why there was no sequel.
One book you might want to read out of order is "Expanded Universe". First, it has the entire text of "The Worlds of Robert Heinlein". Second, each story has a forward and afterward that tells a bit about the story and his life. Third, it has some interesting original non fiction.
His later stuff, from the late 1970s until his death, was ... different. From what I read, at that point he was so big in the industry that he was essentially "uneditable". That meant that his writing got published as he wrote it and sometimes he lost focus. Which is why you should read his early writing first.
I think you'll like Citizen of the Galaxy, Glory Road, and Tunnel in the Sky.
bill's list is excellent and I expect you'll find your own likes and dislikes.
Here's the link,
http://tinyurl.com/2yhl8p
Centenary a modern sci-fi giant
OK, two links. This one is about Waldoes, from the story to real life.
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=23
Since you asked, here is a bibliography from Wikepedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein_bibliography
I envy you because you've got a lot of good reading ahead of you.
Jay, another good one is published as "Revolt in 2100", but the actual title is "If This Goes On -". Read it. It's a corking good read, and it will send chills up your spine as you think of today's society.
Some of my other favs are Starman Jones, Have Spacesuit - Will Travel, and Farmer in the Sky. Double Star is an excellent read for an older audience (not a teenager such as I was when I first read it). Sixth Column (or The Day After Tomorrow) was written at the height of the Cold War and is pretty dated yet still interesting. Puppet Masters is NOT a comfortable book to read after dark - it's the closest thing to horror the master has ever written, and the movie actually WAS pretty close to the book (as such things go!).
Tunnel In The Sky is a great read about initiative & personal responsibility.
Aw, hell... ANY of them are great. I'll second the suggestion that you keep books like Number of the Beast, Sail Beyond The Sunset, Job, I Will Fear No Evil and Time Enough For Love for last - read the earlier works, including the collected short stories first. A great omnibus volume is The Past Through Tomorrow - lots of good stuff in there.
I think my favorite short story of his is The Green Hills Of Earth - makes me tear up every time.
2 of the Books by Hienlein that inspired me to a more prepared lifestyle are Farnham's Freehold and Tunnel in the Sky. A book by someone else I can't rmember who but is about living off the land is My Side of the Mountain.
Oh heck... As a female, Friday was the book that got me to actually remember the name of an author and go looking for more works of the same. Heinlein - where the men are smart and strong, the women are also smart and strong, and if you're not learning things, you're a blooming idiot.
Stranger in a Strange Land was also one of the books that had to be reissued, with almost half of the book having been cut in the first place. I've read both versions (and have the "true" version in my ebook reader currently), and the book is good, but even expanded, it's not the emotional gripper of earlier works.
Podkayne of Mars has two endings - first published with the 'happy' ending, then reissued with the true sad ending. It's a gripper.
Between Planets was part of the juvenile series, and is interesting. I also wear out Have Spaceship, Will Travel, Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and Tunnel in the Sky on a fairly regular basis - gotta introduce the kidlets and all, yeah?
And, if you want more author names you might enjoy, when you've had a chance to catch up a bit with Heinlein, do let us know. We've got TONS of names to suggest to you as your next reading project! ::laugh::
Well as a Next Book I would suggest either Job a Comedy of Justice or The Number of the Beast.
I have just used Abe Books to get the last 17 books I was missing from his works. Definitely get one or two of the Compilations of his early work it gives an insight slowly into how the more complex worlds in his mind were built.
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