I’ve introduced a fair number of people to RAH, and have put some thought into the sequence of books to read.
I avoid giving a newbie anything too “heavy”, if such a word can be applied here. Rather, I give them something entertaining and relatively light for their first foray, usually The Puppet Masters. After that maybe Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, and if they are enjoying it, then it’s on to some classics like Starship Troopers and TMIAHM.
Stranger In a Strange Land is pretty far down the list of books I give to people. Not that it isn’t a great book - on the contrary! But I consider it a complex book of its type, and not that representative of RAH’s work on the whole. But if a person stays with RAH, eventually I give a strong admonishment to read it carefully, and draw out every drop.
Gee, no one mentioned “Methusalah’s Children”, the first (and best) appearance of Lazarus Long, aka Woodrow Wilson Smith. For my money, this was Heinlein at his most enjoyable. A solid action/SF novel with some interestig ideas about longevity.
I believe you can find MC as part of the anthology “The Past Through Tomorrow,” which I HIGHLY recommend. Not only is a good intro to Heinlein, it also has just about all of his “Future History” stories.
I don’t have too much to add other than to say not to start with The Number of the Beast as I did! It confused the hell out of me and much didn’t make sense outside of the context of the future history, though I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it more rereading it after reading several other novels.
Oh, and if you’re going to read “Stranger in a Strange Land,” get the uncut version that came out a few years ago. I feel that, by not censoring some key scenes, it adds more depth to the story.
Of course, if you are under 16, forget what I said…
Have Space Suit, Will Travel was for many years my ideal candidate for introducing someone to science fiction.
One thing most readers under 45 or so will have to take into account is that most of his works were published before the Sixties – and so were required, by the editors and publishers, to kowtow to the customs of the time. (E.g., sex didn’t exist; it was invented in 1963, by two experimenters in an attic. :rolleyes: ) Seriously, the characters will often seem naive – in some cases, because it suited Heinlein’s plot line to have the viewpoint character a naive young person who learns the truth in the course of the novel; in others, because by a rather strange custom of the time, what everybody knew about, nobody spoke about. This leads to some rather goofy behavior indicating what was supposed to be a happy marriage by mock insults, etc., since the characters were no permitted to show affection “onstage.”
There is a school of thought that identifies Stranger as one of the prime mechanisms bringing us out of that hypocritical era.
Fenris, a small gift for you, but one I know you’ll treasure: In Robinson’s The Best of All Possible Worlds, guess which Heinlein story Heinlein himself identified as his own favorite? (Hint: the primary non-human supporting character is named “Bindlestiff.”)
Absolutely do not, not, NOT start with Stranger in a Strange Land. Everyone who reads that book will either love it or hate it. If you love it, you’ll probably like some of Heinlein’s other works, but if you don’t, you’re liable to be turned off to all of Heinlein, or even all of science fiction, forever. After you’ve read about a half-dozen other Heinlein books, pick up Stranger. You might like it, but even if not, you’ll know that he wrote other stuff as well.
To start with: Definitely his juveniles. If you’ve read and disliked Lord of the Flies, you’ll love Tunnel in the Sky. Space Cadet is very good… Believe it or not, the title wasn’t a cliche at the time it was written. I’d also recommend Red Planet and Farmer in the Sky
Slightly more mature, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and The Door into Summer are my favorites. Pick one of them as your second read.
Alright…this is getting scary. You’re the only other person I’ve ever met who’s gotten a copy of that anthology. It’s rare!
So…Fenris and Polycarp: psychic twins seperated at birth by different parents and several years?
And I agree with Chronos. I really didn’t like Stranger the first time I tried to read it. I loved the first third, got to the second third and tossed the book. I came back to it years later (age may have been a factor too. A 19 year old Fenris could deal with some of the tone and philosophical shifts that happen in the second third, when a 12 year old Fenris couldn’t.) and loved it.
I’d say, much as I like Moon better, I’d say that Door or Puppet Masters is a better first book. (Door is more representative, but Puppet Masters is better
I knew Dopers were a smart lot. The best Heinlein novel has got to be “Time Enough For Love”. (can’t believe it wasn’t mentioned before) Probably not the first book to read, but DEFINATELY one to check out. PROPSKI was right, read " Methusala’s Children" first then enjoy thae further adventures of Lazarus Long. Your money back if not enjoyed completely.
I’d recommend Farmer in the Sky as a good first book. This seems to me to be the classic Heinlein story: an interesting situation (overpopulation on earth, colonization of a strange world) and a young man learning to be an adult.
Second, probably Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, although the ending is a bit too cliched (but maybe it’s just become a cliche since the book was written?). However, the protagonist is interesting, as is PeeWee, and I’m always a sucker for stories in which the protagonist, galvanized by something that happens, strives to improve himself.
Third, The Door Into Summer. There just aren’t that many books out there where the hero is an engineer, since we’re usually too darn dull to interest a reader. And Pete the cat is wonderful, and the villains are believable and human. The only thing that makes me nervous about this one is the odd romance; it seems almost like pedophilia to me…
The later stuff, like Friday and I Will fear No Evil is almost unreadable. What RAH needed was a brutal editor to force him to prune these babies down to the essential ideas. The Lazarus Long stuff is okay, but smells too much like wish-fulfillment on RAH’s part to interest me. The whole idea of an immortal hero does not appeal to me, and it seems that immortality removes a major theme and source of dramatic tension.
I just realized I didn’t mention my actual first Heinlein. Between Planets, the story of the Venerian revolution. I didn’t know who Heinlein was and didn’t realize he had written the book until years later when I found it again. Not a bad starting place. Actually, any of his juveniles are great starting places.
Fenris–I, too own a copy of S. Robinson’s “The Best of All Possible Worlds.” I also have “6xH” (aka “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag”), which, IIRC, also contains “The Man Who Travelled in Elephants.”
Cool! It and Antimony are Robinson’s rarest. I always wished that Robinson did the sequel he’d promised for All Possible Worlds. Sigh. Great anthology and great concept.
And 6xH: what a horrible title! What where the people at Ace(?) thinking?
I used to own a copy of Antinomy – the American Dell printing. Unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend, who left it at his parents’, who threw it away when they moved out of state.
Held for another few years, it would have paid for their move.
