# Which Robert Heinlein Books Are The Best? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088 "2011-11-06T19:15:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8797f3/32.png) [@Weston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weston)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/1 "2011-11-06T19:15:48Z")
I’ve never read anything by Robert Heinlein before, but I’m trying to broaden my reading a little and I’ve heard good things about the guy. The only problem is that he seems to have written _a lot_ of stuff, and I don’t know where to start. Are there any Heinlein fans on the boards who could give me some recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/2 "2011-11-06T19:25:44Z")
_The Moon is a Harsh_ Mistress and _Starship Troopers_ were his best, IMHO. His “juveniles”, books written with younger protagonists and less mature themes are good too. Try _Rocketship Galileo_, _Red Planet_, and \*Have Spacesuit, Will Travel \*for a good feel of them. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/3 "2011-11-06T19:35:56Z")
I think \*The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress \*is the best. \*Starship Troopers \*can be controversial. \*Stranger in a Strange Land \*was his crossover book; it was ground-breaking when written but I think many people would find it quaint today. However, his short stories should not be missed. There is a collection, _The Past Through Tomorrow_, that has a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/4 "2011-11-06T19:37:45Z")
Which Heinlein do you want to read? There’s the Heinlein who wrote some pretty good golden-age short stories, the pedantic, Libertarian Heinlein who wrote thinly-disguised treatises on how awesome libertarianism is, mostly featuring himself as Lazarus Long and some sap for him to preach to, and the dirty old man Heinlein who typed with one hand while apparently masturbating furiously with the other. In the Heinlein universe, incest is apparently okay but BDSM is just bad and wrong. Heinlein has a certain charm that stems from the time he wrote in: astronauts carrying slide-rules around their necks, spaceships with smoking- and non-smoking sections, the strange mix of equality and sexism that seems to come from an author who wants to regard women and men as equals but doesn’t exactly know how. Having read a bunch of his work, I’d recommend the collection ‘The Past Through Tomorrow’. There’s some stuff that isn’t too eye-rolling in there, his older short stories and the novella _If This Goes On . . ._ are pretty good. And Starship Troopers is okay. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/5 "2011-11-06T19:45:28Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > I think \*The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress \*is the best. \*Starship Troopers \*can be controversial. Agree. _TMisHM_ is pretty universally cited as among his best, but _ST_ is not. I, for one, place it in the “OK” pile. _Stranger in a Strange Land_ only works for me in the first third, then I rapidly lose interest. After _Moon…_ I’d say his [juveniles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles) ( of which _Starship Troopers_ originally was written as one ) give the best taste of why he became popular. Of the list in the link, I think the last two are usually the most recommended and certainly among my favorites. I’d avoid _Time for the Stars_ myself. ETA: Oh and my personal favorite collection of his is _The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag_, which is not only quite good, but also the opening novella is a little less typically Heinleinian IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/6 "2011-11-06T19:53:39Z")
I’ve read 'em all. I agree that “The Past Through Tomorrow” is a good place to start, with a smattering of both longer and shorter short stories and a novella or two. Of his novels, I think “Time Enough For Love” (a loooong one) is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/7 "2011-11-06T19:57:08Z")
Let the battle begin! Accept that all of us have very strong opinions on this, and that everything stated is prefaced by a whole lot of IMO… _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Starship Troopers Glory Road Double Star Tunnel In the Sky The Door Into Summer Methuselah’s Children Time Enough For Love The Puppet Masters The Rolling Stones_ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/8 "2011-11-06T20:00:18Z")
Oh, how could I forget “Glory Road”??? While not a typical Heinlein book, it is certainly one of his best and funniest. Thanks, **silenus**. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/9 "2011-11-06T20:01:48Z")
Dum vivimus, vivamus! ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/10 "2011-11-06T20:05:05Z")
I’ve not read much Heinlein, but I have to second _The Door into Summer._ I really liked that one. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/11 "2011-11-06T20:07:46Z")
> [@ryan](#): > > _The Moon is a Harsh_ Mistress and _Starship Troopers_ were his best, IMHO. His “juveniles”, books written with younger protagonists and less mature themes are good too. > Try _Rocketship Galileo_, _Red Planet_, and \*Have Spacesuit, Will Travel \*for a good feel of them. I think _Citizen of the Galaxy_ is his best juvenile. I just pulled it down last month and it still holds up. \*Have Spacesuit, Will Travel \* is pretty good. I read _Rocketship Galileo_ and never felt an urge to read it again. I’ve found that **Time Enough for Love** is much improved if you skip the parts that take place on Secundus and Teritus. _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ is the very best and _Glory Road_ is a good fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/12 "2011-11-06T20:10:05Z")
Start with _The Rolling Stones_ to get acquainted with REH. Then, _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/13 "2011-11-06T20:12:50Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > I’ve not read much Heinlein, but I have to second _The Door into Summer._ I really liked that one. This one is fun. I also liked Starship Troopers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel. Rocket Ship Galileo is fun, but it is horrendously out of date and may be hilarious now. 1. A bunch of kids with a scientist sponsor can build a ship to go to the moon on their own. 2. They find a Nazi base there. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/14 "2011-11-06T20:12:50Z")
Almost everyone in this thread will tell you to read _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, myself included. It deals with a political revolution on the Moon, and a self-aware supercomputer that wakes up. Some people are put off by the fact that the book is written in a “Lunar” accent that takes a moment to adjust to. It’s usually quoted as his best. People either love or hate his late work. I wouldn’t recommend starting with _The Number of the Beast_, _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_, _Time Enough For Love_, _Friday_, _Job_, and _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_. You may love them; I think they’d bloated, arrogant, and in desperate need of an editor to say “No” to the long, long, _long_ political rants. Others count them among his finest work. By all means try them, but don’t start there. His earlier novels are really aimed at teenage boys, and lots of modern science fiction writers were introduced to SF through these stories. [Here’s a rough list.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles) I’d recommend _Red Planet_, _Farmer in the Sky_, and _The Rolling Stones_ (look for the progenitors of Tribbles!). There is no one stand-out among the so-called “Juveniles” that garners praise the way _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ does, and people have very different feelings about them. He won Hugo Awards for _Double Star_, _Starship Troopers_, _Stranger in a Strange Land_, and _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. He never won a Nebula. Those are all pretty good books. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/15 "2011-11-06T21:02:58Z")
_The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ is quite possibly the best science fiction novel ever written by anyone. After that, my second-favorite is _The Door into Summer_. All of the juveniles except for _Time for the Stars_ are good. Don’t be put off by the “juvenile” label: The only difference between them and the “adult” books is that they have less sex and politics. And since, when Heinlein goes bad, it’s often by including too much sex and politics, this is a good thing. My favorite among the juveniles (though this is a minority opinion) is _Space Cadet_. After that, it’s harder to say, but probably _Tunnel in the Sky_, _Citizen of the Galaxy_, _The Rolling Stones_, or _Farmer in the Sky_. As with any science fiction writer, his short stories are also great. “By his Own Bootstraps” is, for my money, the best time-travel story ever written, with “All You Zombies” the second-best ever written. There’s also _The Past through Tomorrow_, a compilation of most of the “Future History” stories (all of which fit in to the same continuity), which includes such gems as “Lifeline”, “The Man who Sold the Moon”, “Blowups Happen”, “The Long Watch”, and “We Also Walk Dogs” (though this last one isn’t actually part of the future history). Whatever you do, meanwhile, do _ **not** _ start with _Stranger in a Strange Land_. Everyone who reads that book either loves it or hates it. If you love it, fine, but if you hate it, it has the potential to turn you off to all the rest of Heinlein’s work, most of which you probably wouldn’t hate. Save it for after you’ve read a few others of his works, so you’ll have a baseline for comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/16 "2011-11-06T21:23:33Z")
Of the things that I’ve read of his, I’ve only enjoyed _Stranger In a Strange Land_. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/17 "2011-11-06T21:58:16Z")
Skip the one about the rich old guy that has his brain transplanted into a hot young woman. I think it’s called _I Will Fear No Evil_. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/18 "2011-11-06T22:08:15Z")
I read a ton of his stuff when I was in high school, and at least to me, the later in his life the writing is from, the worse it is. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/19 "2011-11-06T22:10:10Z")
It is, and I agree. He wrote that one during his brain surgery period, and it shows. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088/20 "2011-11-06T23:29:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ is quite possibly the best science fiction novel ever written by anyone. After that, my second-favorite is _The Door into Summer_. My username shows the depth of my agreement with that statement. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-robert-heinlein-books-are-the-best/602088.md?page=2)