After playing around yesterday trying to find ways to see how popular science fiction was, I decided to use the same techniques to identify Robert A. Heinlein’s most loved stories. The results, gathered on 1/22/8, were both predictable and surprising:
|
Starship Troopers |
176,000 |
|
Stranger in a Strange Land |
130,000 |
|
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress |
96,700 |
|
“Gulf” |
61,300 |
|
Time Enough for Love |
58,900 |
|
The Puppet Masters |
44,200 |
|
Red Planet |
34,500 |
|
Tunnel in the Sky |
27,900 |
|
Double Star |
27,400 |
|
The Door into Summer |
24,200 |
|
Citizen of the Galaxy |
22,500 |
|
The Number of the Beast |
20,400 |
|
The Rolling Stones |
20,300 |
|
Space Cadet |
20,200 |
|
Glory Road |
19,400 |
|
Have Space Suit-Will Travel |
19,300 |
|
Methuselah’s Children |
19,000 |
|
I Will Fear No Evil |
16,400 |
|
Destination Moon |
15,400 |
|
To Sail Beyond Sunset |
14,100 |
|
Time for the Stars |
13,700 |
|
The Green Hills of Earth |
13,500 |
|
Podkayne of Mars |
13,400 |
|
Starman Jones |
13,100 |
|
Orphans of the Sky |
12,800 |
|
Beyond This Horizon |
12,400 |
|
Farmer in the Sky |
12,100 |
|
Farnham’s Freehold |
11,400 |
|
The Star Beast |
11,100 |
|
Between Planets |
10,500 |
|
“The Menace from Earth” |
9,390 |
|
Assignment in Eternity |
9,090 |
|
The Past Through Tomorrow |
8,970 |
|
“All You Zombies—“ |
8,170 |
|
Sixth Column |
6,910 |
|
“By His Bootstraps” |
4,800 |
|
Rocketship Galileo |
2,250 |
|
“Life-Line” |
864 |
|
“Jerry Was a Man” |
744 |
|
“—And He Built a Crooked House—“ |
717 |
It’s not surprising that Starship Troopers is #1, that’s because it was also a successful movie, and it probably also explains the success of The Puppet Masters in the rankings. And you’ve got to expect Stranger in a Strange Land to be at the top because of its cult status. I have a love-hate relationship with that novel. My favorite Heinlein book, Have Space Suit-Will Travel is disappointingly far down the list. I’ve written extensively why it’s my favorite, so many of those 19,300 pages are mine – I guess I need to write a whole lot more.
I really don’t understand why Time Enough for Love has 58,900 pages on the web that mentions it. I find Heinlein after 1965 unreadable. Rocketship Galileo seems to be his least favorite novel, and it’s my least favorite Scribner juvenile, but I’ve read it a number of times, and recently bought an audio book edition. It’s still fun.
I can’t tell if Red Planet is really the highest rated Scribner juvenile because the phrase “Red Planet” may have come up on other pages about Heinlein’s stories set on Mars. I’d like to think Tunnel in the Sky is the top Scribner juvenile because it’s my second favorite Heinlein book.
I tried to gauge some of the short stories, but I’m not sure about the results from “The Menace from Earth” since it was also a book title. “Gulf” is rated very high, but that’s probably because it was a proto-story for Stranger in a Strange Land and might be mentioned in conjunction with that famous novel. I’m guessing “All You Zombies—” is his most popular story.
JWH