Heinlein

[Horace Slatz]

Is Number of the Beast worth reading?

 

[Lowlander]

In my humble opinion it's his very worst novel.

Try Orphans of the SKy, Door into Summer, Glory Road,
Star Beast. I'am not a Heinlein expert but I have the impression everything he wrote after 1970 was not his very best.

 

[Ward]

i haven't read it but, as a great lover of his early stuff, i've been bitterly disappointed with his later novels and just reading the blurb for NotB is enough to convince me i want no parts of it: life is short and libraries long, there's always something better to read.

 

[UberDarkLord]

If you want Heinlein, check his most famous and best novels: Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers and of course The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

 

[phil_geo]

/agree uber

The three Uber mentions are excellent and I will throw in Double Star and The Puppet Masters. They don't seem very original when you read them, but remember that he was the guy who came up with the idea in the first place, and every other story like it that you've heard is ripping him off.

I liked Number of the Beast, but it did seem like he was just rehashing a lot of his theories and philosophies from his other books in it. He get progressively worse about doing that until when you read his really late stuff you can't even distinguish one book from the other.

 

[Archren]

Read "Number of the Beast" as RAH's homage to fiction that he has known & loved throughout a lifetime of reading and you should do fine. As phil_geo pointed out, there is nothing new in this philosophically speaking. Don't expect anything resembling a plot, either. All that said, I love this book for what it is: a fun romp through some wonderful literature.

 

[Horace Slatz]

Read "Number of the Beast" as RAH's homage to fiction that he has known & loved throughout a lifetime of reading and you should do fine. As phil_geo pointed out, there is nothing new in this philosophically speaking. Don't expect anything resembling a plot, either. All that said, I love this book for what it is: a fun romp through some wonderful literature.

The glib dialogue is a trifle maddening.

 

[Grey Sea]

I tried NOTB as my first Heinlen, and made it within one hundred, maybe seventy-five pages of the end and gave it up. Not to be daunted, I picked up Stranger In A Strange Land. Once again, I managed only a partial read before abandoning it. I read All You Zombies, included in Masterpieces offered by Orson Scott Card, and enjoyed it, probably because of it's brevity.
A short, included in a compilation, controlled environment. Best of luck, if you decide to try it.