The Number of the Beast

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1. nsantosMar 2022
   - The Dune books. The depth of everything in it awes me. Every time I re-read them, I find some nuance I missed from the last reading. The way it portrays politics, religion, and basically the entangled web of life in general blew my mind when I first read it, and still does.

   - Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony. I'm not sure I can put into words how it has impacted me, though, but it has. I guess it's more of a visceral reaction? I can't honestly say I can relate to the protagonist, since I've never been in his shoes (and I hope to never be; having every one in your family---save for one of your sisters---murdered, raped, or raped-then-murdered by pirates isn't exactly something to ascribe to). I love how Hope (the protagonist) can empathize with pretty much anyone, though---at least eventually; and I guess I relate to how deeply he feels things.

   - Pretty much everything by Heinlein. It has once again become fashionable (I think it goes on in cycles) to shit on Heinlein's works, and I get where naysayers are coming from. Heinlein himself always maintained he wrote primarily to entertain, even though he can get kind of preachy at times.

   The very first Heinlein I got my hands on was The Number of the Beast--, while I was a teenager. Flying cars, non-benevolent Other Beings, multiverses possibly made manifest through the sheer act of imagining it... For a kid who dreamt of one day becoming a nuclear physicist after having watched ST:TOS (Scotty is mah boy), that book was revelatory. Every Heinlein I've read after that has just gone on and contributed to who I am as person today: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land (both editions), To Sail Beyond the Sunset, et al.

   It's almost literally impossible for me to overstate how much Heinlein's works has shaped who I am as a person, regardless of whatever flaws others might ascribe to his work.

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2. johnoharaSep 2011
   I liked the idea of outfitting Zeb Carter's Ford with a "continua" device in Heinlein's Number of the Beast and programming it so it would move through parallel universes via voice command to the onboard computer.

   Can't tell you how many times I've sat in traffic and wished I could say "jump deety" and immediately be in the parking lot.

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3. branonDec 2025
   The Gulag Archipelago is on my shelf, when I rotate back to Russian authors (big fan of Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Bulgakov) I will hopefully get to it.

   Here's my log for 2025, most recent at the top. Currently I am slogging my way through Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast" which I'm not a fan of. Halfway done with it though!

   Gabrielle Zevin, "The Hole We're In" (not my usual genre, enjoyed this though)

   Robert A. Heinlein, "Stranger in a Strange Land" (pretty good)

   Robert A. Heinlein, "Time Enough for Love" (PHENOMENAL, highly recommended)

   Robert A. Heinlein, "Methuselah's Children" (pretty good, required to understand "Time Enough for Love")

   Richard K. Morgan, "Altered Carbon" (very good)

   Robert A. Heinlein, "The Rolling Stones" (young adult, but good all the same)

   Robert A. Heinlein, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (very good)

   Piers Anthony, "On A Pale Horse" (very good, never got very far into the series though)

   Lincoln Child, "Full Wolf Moon" (okay, not great)

   Lincoln Child, "The Forgotten Room" (pretty good)

   Lincoln Child, "The Third Gate" (very good)

   Lincoln Child, "Terminal Freeze" (okay, not great)

   William Gibson, "In the Beginning… Was the Command Line" (good, but outdated, look up what he's said about it more recently)

   Lincoln Child, "Deep Storm" (very good)

   James Patterson, "Along Came a Spider" (not my usual genre, okay though)

   Jules Verne, "Around the World in 80 Days" (from childhood, revisited)

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4. gsf_emergency_2Jul 2025
   https://www.respublika.lt/lt/naujienos/pasaulis/kitos_pasaul...

   Google translate on desktop didn't seem to work for this one but I suspect you might manage

   Edit: "If This Goes On--" was the story that got me into Heinlein.. I'd started on "Number of the Beast" but that was too long..

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5. clbrmbrMar 2023
   Ditto on the timeless appeal.

   Watching this auto pilot reminded me of landing Getaceiver on Barsoom in Heinlein’s Number of the Beast, which has a very long passage describing the (fictional) orbital mechanics landing on (a fictional alternate reality version of) Mars.

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6. samatmanMay 2021
   Agreed, I would place the onset of 'late career' Heinlein at Number of the Beast.

   Which it turns out Wikipedia agrees with, when I went to check the bibliography, so there's that.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein_bibliograph...

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