Robert Heinlein was one of the most important American science fiction authors of the 20th Century. Reading the Robert Heinlein books in order means picking up lots of his standalone novels, as well as his Future History collection of short stories.
Some of the best Robert Heinlein books include Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. However, the entire Robert Heinlein book list is given below for his numerous sci-fi works written between 1907-1988.
New Robert Heinlein Books
Robert Heinlein Book List
It includes the order to read the Robert Heinlein Future History main adult books and young adult books.
- For Us, The Living, 1938
- Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
- Beyond This Horizon, 1948
- Space Cadet, 1948
- Red Planet, 1949
- Sixth Column, 1949
- Farmer in the Sky, 1950
- Between Planets, 1951
- The Puppet Masters, 1951
- Starman Jones, 1953
- The Star Beast, 1954
- Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
- Double Star, 1956
- Time for the Stars, 1956
- Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
- The Door into Summer, 1957
- Have Space Suit—Will Travel, 1958
- Methuselah’s Children, 1958
- Starship Troopers, 1959
- Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961
- Podkayne of Mars, 1963
- Glory Road, 1963
- Farnham’s Freehold, 1964
- The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, 1966
- I Will Fear No Evil, 1970
- Time Enough for Love, 1973
- The Number of the Beast, 1980
- Friday, 1982
- Job: A Comedy of Justice, 1984
- The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, 1985
- To Sail Beyond the Sunset, 1987
- Variable Star, 2006 (fleshed out by Spider Robinson)
- The Pursuit of the Pankera, 2020
Robert Heinlein Biography
Born in 1907 Butler, Missouri, Robert A. Heinlein moved with his family soon after his birth to Kansas City, Missouri, where he spent a large part of his childhood. He had a great love for sci-fi from a very young age.
He was often seen in the Kansas City Public Library reading books until late in the day. At some point, at around the age of 16, he said that he had so far read everything published in the sci-fi genre that he could find.
His hometown of Kansas City would feature prominently in some of the Robert Heinlein books, including Time Enough for Love, as it had a great impact on his writing style and type of stories he would craft later on in life.
He went to the Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri, from where he graduated at the age of 17. Next, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from where he graduated in 1929 with a degree in naval engineering, following which he continued working as an officer in the navy. He spent a lot of time aboard the USS Lexington, working as a radio communications officer.
During this time he was briefly married to Elinor Curry, and after his divorce, in 1932 he married Leslyn MacDonald. Two years later, in 1934, he left the Navy due to having a weakened immune system after contracting tuberculosis and being seasick all the time.
Following his discharge from the Navy, Heinlein enrolled at the UCLA where he attended a few classes on mathematics and physics. He didn’t continue his studies for very long since he decided that he wanted to play in the political arena. During those years he also held various jobs in the real estate and silver mining business.
He did have some money from his time in the Navy, however, the money was not nearly enough, and he had a mortgage to pay off, so Robert Heinlein decided to become an author.
The Robert Heinlein bibliography includes several standalone novels and his Future History novella book series, plus numerous short stories.
His first written work was a short story called Life-Line, which was published in the Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Soon he wrote several other stories that he sold to the same magazine. In 1942, he worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania as an aeronautical engineer. While being there, he also fellow sci-fi writers Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp to work along with him at the same base.
A few years after the end of WWII, Heinlein wrote several science-fiction short stories and started writing young adult novels.
In the meantime, he divorced his second wife who had become an alcoholic, and he married Virginia “Ginny” Gerstenfeld, whom he met while working at the shipyard. She was a fellow chemical engineer. Virginia would become Heinlein’s last wife, who would stand by him until the moment he would pass away.
In 1959 Robert Heinlein received his first Hugo Award for his short story Double Star. Just one year later, his best-known work to date, Starship Troopers would get awarded another Hugo Award. Starship Troopers was also the book that I first read from this author, and while I love everything else he has written, this novel has been always with me ever since. In 1974 he was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master.
Robert Heinlein continued writing books with several interruptions due to severe health issues. The last Robert Heinlein book, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, was published on his birthday in 1987, a date which was just a few short months before he died. Some books have also been published posthumously.
The author is credited with bringing the science fiction genre to a fresh perspective and a new standard. Robert A. Heinlein used a technique called indirect exposition, which would allow readers to learn about the world he would build up in his books without them actually realizing he is doing so.
Robert Heinlein is also credited with his own five rules of writing, which are listed below:
- You Must Write
- Finish What You Start
- You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
- You Must Put Your Story on the Market
- You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold
The famous author passed away in 1988 at the age of 80 of cardiovascular heart disease (basically heart failure) and emphysema. He died in his sleep on May 8.
Praise for Robert Heinlein
Not only America’s premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world. (Stephen King)
There is no other writer whose work has exhilarated me as often and to such an extent as Heinlein (Dean Koontz)
One of the grand masters of science fiction. (The Wall Street Journal)
Heinlein wears imagination as though it were his private suit of clothes. (The New York Times)
One of Heinlein’s best (Friday), which is to say one of the best in all of Science Fiction—terrific story with a superbly realized heroine and world. (Poul Anderson)
References
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My first book of his was Stranger in a Strange Land (about 1962) and have read it so many times over the years that it is literally falling apart. Am getting a E book so I can read it better and larger because my eyes are going. I’ve read every one of his books that I could find. Love that man!
I have been a voracious reader since I learned how at the age of four. I didn’t discover sci-fi until I was ten and it was Glory Road. My world changed. Just as surrealism changed how I interpreted art, science fiction changed how I viewed and understood writing. The Door into Summer still has me thinking. Farnham’s Freehold was a book I didn’t read until I was fourteen which was 1976. I’m Canadian but I remember the racial tensions that simmered across the border. It was the end of the Vietnam war, blaxploitation films were showing in theatres and drive-ins. Even at that age I had wondered what was going on in Heinlein’s head when he wrote this. He would have been fifty seven when he published the book in 1964. It felt as if he was writing as if he wanted to be the protagonist and that they shared a similar outlook on existence. It touches on many uncomfortable subjects and maybe opened him up to scrutiny most would try to avoid. So many subjects that it has been said that the Farnham family were the most dysfunctional in all of science fiction. It may not be your cup of tea but you won’t be bored. I also recommend Stranger in a Strange Land, Friday, Starship Troopers and Job.
Heinlein has written quite a bit in his eighty years and it will take a while to read it all. I envy you if it’s your first time.
Robert Heinlein is the writer who gave me my lifelong love of Science Fiction. He had a wonderful style of writing that still resonates today.
Revolt in 2100 first read as a 10 year old, Still rings true, Neahmiah Scudder lives!
I was nine years old when I read “Rocket Ship Galileo”. From that beginning, I began my lifelong affection with and for the author, his musings, and his inimical style. His legacy will always be his impact on many of my other favorite authors, his inspirational example to further one’s education, and his ability to imagine realistic scenes in wholly imagined worlds. There seems to be a temptation to evaluate past authors through a lens of current sensibilities. This is a monumental mistake. People are as much a product of their times as any of us are and our quaint notions will be reviewed critically when we are gone too. Finally, I watched Elon’s “Starship” take off, fly to the stratosphere, and return to its launch pad with a perfect vertical soft landing. Mr. Heinlein would’ve been gratified to see this accomplishment. R.I.P. R.A.H.
You’re missing quite a few of his books. There were a number of short story collections too. Waldo & Magic Incorporated. Assignment in Eternity. Many others. I reread many of these frequently.
I also noted that “Rolling Stones”, which I believe was serialized in ‘Boy’s Life” is missed by most lists. I don’t think I am mistaken. Include my e-mail,
My CB handle was Starship Trooper. I worshipped Robert as soon as I began my journey down the Sci-fi wormhole.
Everything Robert Heinlein wrote was plausible. He never used the fact he was writing fiction as an excuse to insult the reader’s intelligence with faulty mathematics, engineering or chemistry
I’m 76 years old and I first read “Double Star” when I was a boy. I was hooked and have since read everything I could of Robert Heinlein’s stories and books. I wrote him once, before he passed, but never heard back.
He was my favorite author growing up and I still enjoy his books, old as I am.
As a reader of your age, I agree. I think that my first book may have been “rolling Stones”. At this time I am not sure.
I was introduced to science fiction when I was in the US Navy aboard ship in about 1969, and read my first book by Robert Heinlein while in Vietnam. I continued reading and collecting Heinlein’s works and considered them so important to me that I still have all of them fifty years later although I have moved many times and have given away many other books. I am having a great time re-reading them now. It was a blow to me when I read that Robert Heinlein had passed away. I so looked forward to his next book.
I just completed The Cat Who Walks Through Walls last night. I am taken by the many issues of science, technology and psychology his characters portray or speculate about during the course of the book.
Orphans of The Sky was very very thought provoking by its portrayal of the eternal Us vs. Them human problem, and the issue of what happens when knowledge is forgotten from generation to generation. I am glad they found a second earth. It is what we are all contemplating today as scientists come up with improved ways to locate earth like exoplanets. I don’t suppose they will remember not to wreck the planet as they eventually over-populate it.
I read a story called “AND HE BUILD A CROOKED HOUSE” in a Weekly Reader excerpt in the mid 70’s that had left me with a curiosity for science fiction and science in general. It wasn’t until recently that I attempted to track down the story and author. Turned out it was a reprint of Robert Heinlein from Feb 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction Magazine. Consequently it also contains short stories by Anson MacDonald, L.Sprague de Camp, and other notable authors. Followers of Heinlein will recognize the MacDonald significance.
My favorite has always been ‘Glory Road’, but I’ve enjoyed virtually all of his stories.
My first Sci-Fi book was “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.” I was in third grade, and the NASA program had everyone’s attention, plus the TV show referent caught my eye. Publishers. But once I figured out the author’s name, moved to a city with a good library, I began to read everything of his and others in the genre. I believe I own at last all the works published in his lifetime. Ginnie keeps putting out things, but it is not the same. I do praise her for releasing the unedited version of SIASL. It is full of similes that needed to be cut, but the scenes restored are wonderful. He pulled no punches, tried to show our absurdities, prejudices, and threw them all upside down. He was so scandalous that I couldn’t check out his newer books in the library. But somehow I managed to buy them anyway.
Poul Anderson has it right. Friday is the best of the best. If you want to hook them, start with Friday. The parallels with the current state of the world are staggering.
Then maybe Job, which i just finished for the 4th time tonight. How one can be a believer after reading it escapes me.
After that start on the future history which builds slowly (because short stories are short) but is spectacular by the end. Note: Look for the Future History order elsewhere.
I have read Heinlein books since age 10. I am 73 and just read Stranger in a Strange Land for the fourth time. It was as good as the first time. I miss his work greatly.
I just read a stranger in a strange land and it was truly one of the most enjoyable books I have read…excited to read the rest of his stories.
I have read ALL of his writings, several times. He is definitely my favorite author and I have read most of all classic and a lot of modern literature, as I have a B.S. in English and am a voracious reader.
Don, I beg a favour!
I would like to re-read a story he wrote but can’t remember the title.
Every adult carried a weapon, exemptions were available but not socially desirable and, subsequently everybody was very, very polite.
Can you help?
Regards,
Ed.
Beyond This Horizon, from what I remember
Robert Heinlein has been my favorite author for over 50 years, but I recognize that some of his works are pure gold while a few should never have been published.
You have given us a book list in the order in which they were written, not a logical order in which to read them.
If someone followed your suggestion to read For Us, the Living first, I would never expect them to read another of his books. I remind you it was never published while he was alive.
An order to read list should begin with one that is fun and typical of his style such as Double Star or one of the juveniles such as Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Time for the Stars, or Starman Jones.
Revolt in 2100
The day after tomorrow
The menace from earth
The unpleasant profession of Jonathan Hoag
The past through tomorrow