I Will Fear No Evil

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

As startling and provocative as his famous Stranger in a Strange Land, here is Heinlein’s grand masterpiece about a man supremely talented, immensely old, and obscenely wealthy who discovers that money can buy everything.

Johann Sebastian Bach Smith was immensely rich—and very old. Though his mind was still keen, his body was worn out. His solution was to have surgeons transplant his brain into a new body. The operation was a great success—but the patient was no longer Johann Sebastian Bach Smith. He was now fused with the very vocal personality of his gorgeous, recently deceased secretary, Eunice—with mind-blowing results! Together they must learn to share control of her body.

Once again, master storyteller Robert A. Heinlein delivers a wild and intriguing classic of science fiction. Written at the dawn of the 1970s, this novel is the brilliantly shocking story of the ultimate transplant.

©1970 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Magnificent. A science fiction masterpiece.” ( Galaxy)

Memory Lane

I read this book years ago. It is very dated and the view for the future is interesting. This story was much more sexual then I remembered and does not view the various STDs that are now in our society. It is a trip down memory lane for me.

A whimsical look at gender through the eyes of a great male writer.

This is my favorite book of all time. Unlike many of Heinlein’s other works, the book is quirky, whimsical and overall delightful. The depiction of Eunice and the post-op Johann are somewhat mono dimensional in terms of their depiction of a woman’s mind. They lack the true emotional complexity of a real woman. That being said the book is thoroughly enjoyable and entirely too brief. :-)

Very goos, as to be expected from Heinlein

I've read this book many times, first time I've listened to it.

The story line is definitely written in the 60s as can be seen by much of Heinlein's beliefs of the times. Progressive for it's time although in today's society it would probably be seen in a negative light.

Well done!

Disappointing Heinlein

This Heinlein book started out good, but about one third of the way through, it changed into a really bad book. I make it a point to try to finish every book I start, and it was very difficult to grind on to the end. Usually I finish a book in a few days, but this one took a month.

didn't get very far...

Would you try another book from Robert A. Heinlein and/or Anthony Heald?

probably not - didn't get far enough into it to tell. this one was over the line for me.

What could Robert A. Heinlein have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

used his talent as a writer to be descriptive without so much sexual content.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

heinlein is talented, who doesn't know that? but this one disappointed me. i know he can make any story great - without going ... too far.

Any additional comments?

a content rating system of some kind would be nice. movies are rated, music is rated, why can't we have a rating system here so we can make choices without wasting credits?

ugh

What disappointed you about I Will Fear No Evil?

Can't bring my self to finish it, not even close to the other heinlein books i've read

Would you ever listen to anything by Robert A. Heinlein again?

yes

I was a diehard Heinlein fan until this book.

I loved, the premises of the future history series, stranger in a strange land, moon is a harsh mistress etc, so much that I dismissed many of the unfortunate/unnecessary cringe-inducing sexual themes and sci-fi that was essentially magic. I had run across a couple duds of his over the years, stuff that kinda tipped over the line to be mostly content that makes you cringe. But so far I've been able to finish all of them.

Not this one. The first few hours, and judging from some of of reviews I wrongly ignored,, the rest of the book, read like a heinlein-esque transsexual fan fiction.

That's cool, if that's what floats your boat, but its not even done well. Its just bad writing.. on top of that this book highlights why many women refuse to read heinlein.

The dude just did not get women, like at all.

Ridiculous

I heard this wasn't the author's best work as it wasn't polished up before his death. But this is just ridiculous. An old man fantasy where every woman is turned on by being spoken down to by old men. Give me a break.

My first return

Very disappointing, It was hard to finish the book, and it felt more like a cheap paper back sex story than science fiction.

Awful. I'm a big Heinlein fan,but this was a turd.

I couldn't finish this book, it was terrible. I only listened to 3/4 of it because I paid 8 dollars for it.