Best Robert Heinlein novel?

[Brian G Turner]

I'll start a list of books to choose from.

Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Glory Road

...

Am I getting close?

 

[Foxbat]

Personally, my favourite is Stranger In A Strange Land (and that may be a biased opinion - let me explain why):

Stranger was the first Heinlein novel I read - and I enjoyed it immensely. Then I went on to others (I Will Fear No Evil, The Number Of The Beast, Job, etc.) and I noticed a disturbing pattern. It seemed to me that all the main characters in each book were merely transplants of the last. It felt that, despite the name changes, I was still reading about the same people with the same traits and similar resources (they all tend to be reasonably attractive, sexually uninhibited and financially sound enough to go on whatever advunture was required of them).

I stopped reading Heinlein because every book just seemed to blend into the next until the whole body of his work became a massive blur. Hence my choice (and probably because it was the first, it is my favourite).

 

[BlueSkelton]

Friday is my favorite. It has very pertinent comments on the dangers of Global Economy. But it not only good in a political sense but it has some action and adventure. Friday was on sexy Artificial Girl lol

 

[cymric]

my fav is starship troopers. Heinlen accurlately predicts the problems of juvenile crime that we now face in society and offers a well thought polotical system.

 

[mellobiafra]

"Stranger" is far too seminal to be anything but the most important! However I enjoyed "Friday" more. I think it was the bean-stalks that sold me on it. I always thought they were a great idea. I don't know which would pip it to the BEST novel award?

But what about "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls?"

 

[Leto]

But what about "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls?"

Nice choice. My personal favorite still is "Time enough for love".

 

[bnelson]

As short as it was I would have to say The Tunnel in the Sky is my favorite. Although the Lazarus saga is firmly entrenched on my shelves.

 

[pearce]

I'm not just saying this to round out the discussion -- Moon is a Harsh Mistress is my favourite. The whole revolutionary plot and the AI helping them were very memorable, and Heinlein played with his line/clan marriage ideas without being as mmmm weird? about it as he was in some other books.

 

[clareabella]

Have just finished 'Tunnel in the Sky'.



One of his books for younger readers but I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed it immensely!

Has anyone else read this?

 

[Leto]

Yep. Next try : "Have spacesuit, will travel". Same target audience as "Tunnel in the sky", and a great story with lots of laughs.

 

[Preston]

I really loved Tunnel in the Sky as well. I just finished Starship Troopers, enjoyed it, but not as much as Tunnel. The later half of Starship Troopers deals with quite a bit of military conventions such as differerent rank variations (which I don't know one from the other).

Looking forward to Have Spacecuit, Will Travel. Maybe my next Heinlein read.

 

[laznlor]

Well, I have to go with Time Enough for Love in combination with Methuselah's Children. Job is a close second. And to the person who didn't like the apparent character rehash, yeah, that is definitely true, but they are SUCH GREAT characters.

 

[Drake Leon]

This is one of the most difficult questions I have ever come across. Heinlein has had my utmost respect for ages as very nearly the found of Modern Science Fiction- if you could patent ideas, 95% of SF authors there today would be paying royalties to his heirs to this day. I find it rather impossible to choose... Nearing the top of the list would be A Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough For Love, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel(A bias, as it was my first Heinlein novel, at the age of 5.) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Citizen of the Galaxy, and The Door Into Summer. For someone with a mindset like mine, one novel is probably impossible. Ah, well. I tried!

 

[George Potter]

Time Enough For Love hands down, no contest.

 

[lazygun]

"Poddy".....

 

[steve12553]

I haven't read it in many years but I still have impressions of "Citizen of the Galaxy" to this day. I suspect the reading level way probably young adult but the concepts hung with me for decades.

 

[The DeadMan]

• Glory Road
• Citizen Of The Galaxy
• Have Space Suit Will Travel
• Red Planet

 

[hugo]

double star

 

[Carolyn Hill]

Well . . . (without rereading any of them, mind you), I think that Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is the one that I enjoyed most out of the four that Brian listed. But that's because I was so taken by the struggles of the AI to be perceived as human. That theme pushes my happy-sappy button.

As far as "best" goes, I really can't say. I'm never sure what the criteria is for best, especially when--in Heinlein's case--you have to decide whether to consider things like expository political polemic and the retread characters that some of you have mentioned.

I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that one of the Heinlein juvenile novels might actually be his best.

 

[Opeth]

Im a new commer in this community and to Heinlein's novels, but I did like Job, for it was an interestin interpretation of the book and an equaly interesting story