[Zsinj]

I've never read Robert A. Heinlein, and I don't really know what his style is, but recently I've become interested in him by things some of my friends and fellow sf readers have said about his books. I know he's a classic sf author.
I've heard that his works take a more socialogical angle than the traditional lasers and starships Star Wars-style sci-fi. I've tried socialogical-slanted style sci-fi before with C.J. Cherryh and absolutely despised it, but I've heard that Heinlein's writings are far more deep and epic.
So could someone here please help me by telling me where exactly to start with Heinlein's works and what his style is like? Thanks. :)

[psikeyhackr]

Novels:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Stranger in a Strange Land

Citizen of the Galaxy

Anthologies:

The Past Through Tomorrow · The Man Who Sold the Moon · The Green Hills of Earth · Orphans of the Sky · Revolt in 2100 · The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein · Expanded Universe

I can't say I like everything by Heinlein, I didn't care for Glory Road much, but the vast majority of his stuff I have liked.

psik

[owlcroft]

I've heard that Heinlein's writings are far more deep and epic [than C. J. Cherryh's].
Have I entered The Twilight Zone?

[Hobbit]

One of the difficulties with Heinlein is that his style changes. I know readers who hate his more famous novels but love his short stories, like his juvenile novels but not his later and vice versa.

You have to take his earlier work with a pinch of salt: they can be very much of their time! - yet a lot of his older stuff has dated better than, say, Asimov or Clarke.

Might be worth trying some of his older SF first.

Try: Red Planet; Time for the Stars; Door into Summer

For the short stories try The Past through Tomorrow, which is a collection of most of his short stories.

then try
Citizen of the Galaxy;
Starship Troopers;
Moon is a Harsh Mistress;

and if you want to move up to Advanced Heinlein, try Glory Road (a step between older and newer Heinlein: wrote about it HERE (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=535739&postcount=211)) then A Stranger in a Strange Land. ( My experience is that for many Stranger is a love it or hate it experience.) Of his later novels I like Friday best. Podkayne of Mars is an older book that harkens back to the juvenile style. You might like that.

Am currently waiting for my new copy of Number of the Beast which has a lot put back into it. Evidently it helps the book make more sense, which might help.

Mark

[Michigan]

A Stranger in a Strange Land. ( My experience is that for many Stranger is a love it or hate it experience.)

Hard to argue with this as I absolutely loathed it, yet i've heard many people who somehow loved it.

[Zsinj]

Hard to argue with this as I absolutely loathed it, yet i've heard many people who somehow loved it.

Well I love the Iron Maiden song at least. That will never change regardless of what I think of the book when I read it! :D

[psikeyhackr]

Hard to argue with this as I absolutely loathed it, yet i've heard many people who somehow loved it.

I could see how plenty of people that take Christianity very seriously could really dislike SiaSL.

psik

[Chuffalump]

I didn't like SiaSL either but I'm not religious at all. Am I the exception that proves the rule?:D

I've enjoyed most of the rest of his stuff that I've read though.

[MsBatt]

I've always felt that Heinlein writes great beginnings and great middles, but often keeps the story going too long and therefore writing some pretty bad endings. SinSL, for instance, is exactly one-third too long.

Start with the juveniles, but certainly try The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Glory Road. Hopefully the new version of Number of the Beast will make more sense---that was the ONLY SF book I've ever failed to finish. I made it nearly to the end, but got so disgusted with it I threw it in the trash.

[Window Bar]

A long time ago, I read Stranger in a Strange Land. In spite of the fact that it was part of the cultural realignment of the 60's, as a novel I thought it was mediocre. Those were different days, though -- a "message" (especially if it was the one people wanted to hear) was often enough.