The Number of the Beast

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Emily Durante, Malcolm Hillgartner, Sean Runnette, Richard Powers, Tom Weiner

Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The wickedest, most wonderful science-fiction story ever created in our - or any - time. Anything can begin at a party in California - and everything does in this bold masterwork by a grand master of science fiction.

When four supremely sensual and unspeakably cerebral humans - two male, two female - find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies - and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller-coaster ride of adventure, danger, ecstasy, and peril.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) was the dominant science-fiction writer of the modern era, a writer whose influence on the field was immense. He won science fiction's Hugo Award for best novel four times.

©1980 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“One of the grand masters of science fiction.” (Wall Street Journal)

“The most influential science fiction writer of all time!” (Locus)

“[A story] about two men and two women in a time-machine safari through this and other universes. But describing The Number of the Beast thus is like saying Moby-Dick is about a one-legged guy trying to catch a fish.” (National Review)

Enjoyed as a teen...adult...and as a Senior

I have always enjoyed Heinlein and have reread him throughput my life. They usually have a nonspecific sexual overtone and become more adult oriented as you proceed through his series of books. Early fiction definitely teen oriented ; later books more adult oriented.

Enjoy. Read as many times as you can.

good way to go

very nice and I am not so sure how to get to the bottom of this email

Love this book, but.....

I love this book, but the narrators are horrible. If I could find different narrators for this title I would exchange it. Other than that, not bad.

Super writing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Don't have many friends and of them I am the only Sci Fi buff. They are more interested in fantasy like shape shifters and Vamps.

What other book might you compare The Number of the Beast to and why?

Stranger in a Strange Land comes to mind. Great character developement. Could have stretched the ending out a bit more. Heinlein brought together many of his heroes from other stories that could have gone on longer to develop relationships between characters.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Narrator didn't skip over words like I am prone to.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't laugh or cry, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will again.

This book is all over the place. Intentionally.

This book suffers from too many narrators. Instead of getting a specific narrator to voice each main character, this audio recording gives me six different narrators switching off chapters doing all the voices. I would have enjoyed the book more if it was done with only one narrator.
Heinlein certainly packs a lot of every sci-fi plot and thought imaginable into this book. It's long and very entertaining.

Great Book, good cast of narration too.

This is definitely one of my favorite Heinlein novels. The deeper you take your reading with this one, the more you get out of it. But then again, that’s life right?

Long falls apart at the end

The voice actors were terrible. It was hard to follow the characters. Story was good but fell apart at the end, To long, drug out. The last section made very little sense with the story line.

One Aching Pain Short of Heaven

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I love this book - BUT I really recommend waiting until they delete the passages narrated by Emily Durante. I'm so sorry to say it - but her segments are so terribly awful that I have to skip them. It is NO FUN listening with my hand on the button to "Scram" when I hear that voice. It interrupts the flow of the book - abruptly break the mood. It distracts me with thoughts like "nepotism, training wheels" and "at my expense". There is at least one passage where she is actually inoffensive. Thank Goodness I know the book so well. So I just imagine through those parts. We who purchased it should get a credit for the corrected version with Ms. Durante excised and replaced by...Ms. Dunne for example. It pains me to say that of someone's narration - but it pains me to listen to Ms. Durante. For those who've read the other Lazarus Long novels and stories - this entire book is memorable and rather important. Like me, readers may have been waiting for its audio format. I call it Hands-Free reading. It is a torturous shame that they allowed one poor narrator to ruin the overall experience. As may be...the book and the other narrators are all such a pleasure!

What other book might you compare The Number of the Beast to and why?

I compare it to...other Heinlein books, especially the Future History works: The Cat Who Walked Through Walls...Time Enough For Love... pick one and insert title here. Why? Because they are part of a larger opus, their elements: content, tone, narration/listening experiences, make comparison to this nearly automatic for me.

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

I might listen to Mark Twain, and other books with a cool, scratchy, country/Southern US twang, by Mr. Runnette; perhaps very short children's books by Ms. Durante, after she's trained up; and Anything by the other Narrators.

Do you think The Number of the Beast needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

YES!!! A REVISED, CORRECTED VERSION as described above!!! YES!! Follow-up with an APOLOGY! And...Yes - the rest of the Future History Books - and Short Stories. Wake up RAH - rejuvenate him and give him a stiff infusion of modernity and set him back to joyful work!!

Any additional comments?

USE NARRATORS THOUGHTFULLY - Example: If Zeb is clearly described to have a deep, resonant voice - don't use the one male talent with the higher-pitched, cool, yet scratchy/twangy, elder sound to voice him. It's not fair to them or to the text. Heinlein's books are Smart - even with his certain "off" views and socio-sexual anachronisms. But they are ultimately smart as all h=ll - and that makes the not-smart choice of any narrator even more off-putting. I truly hope it will be amended.

A Triumph of a Sci-fi / Fantasy Adventure!

Far and away the BEST of the BEST from an acknowledged Grand Master of Science Fiction!
Fast paced, almost none stop, action and fantastic plot twists, coupled with some of the most memorable Characters ever envisioned!

Heinlein wrote women thin.

Heinlein 's women where always written light in the personality heavy in the loins. When narrators voice there woman to sound like a fawning dits, those characters collapse completely.