Many people consider Heinlein's magnum opus to be the group of interconnected stories called Future Histories.

However, there are plenty -- and by "plenty" I mean dozens -- of Heinlein tales that don't fit within the Future History framework. It would be a shame to miss them, and, if you're new to Heinlein, you might prefer to start with stories that more readily stand alone to warm you up for the Future Histories.

The discussion below covers a higly selective list of the non-Future History stories I consider essential:

• Space Cadet (1948)
• The Puppet Masters (1951)
• Revolt in 2100 (1953 collection)
• Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
• Glory Road (1963)
• Farnham's Freehold (1964)
• I Will Fear No Evil (1970)
• Friday (1982)
• JOB: A Comedy of Justice (1984)

Others I endorse but don't discuss here include Citizen of the Galaxy, The Door into Summer, Farmer in the Sky, Have Space Suit -- Will Travel, Podkayne of Mars, The Star Beast, Starman Jones, Starship Troopers (yes, the movie is based on it!), and Time for the Stars.

Please note that I'm not ranking these books against each other; because I enjoy them all, I'm providing a brief description of each (and trying not to give away any secrets) in hopes you'll want to read all of them yourself.

Incidentally, it's not always clear what belongs in the Future Histories category and what doesn't. While some of the "nons" have no overlap at all, there are plenty of minor characters, families, and situations that show up more than once. Many of these, in my opinion, aren't necessarily prominent enough to count them as part of the series. Opinions on this matter vary greatly, though!

For example, one of the potentially unpopular decisions I made was to include Revolt in 2100 on this page, even though the short story Misfit appears in that book, and it is in Misfit that Andy Libby makes his first appearance. Even though Libby becomes a major character in the Future Histories, and thus his introduction is significant, I just didn't feel that the brief story itself warranted inclusion as a Future History.

One of the first Heinlein books I enjoyed was Space Cadet (1948). Beginning in July, 2075, it's the story of Matt Dodson from Des Moines, and his new buddies Tex, Pete, and Oscar, who all have just joined the Interplanetary Patrol.

The story follows them through "basic" training (in which Matt has to contend with whether he wants to be in the service badly enough to make it and the discovery during his first leave that he's no longer at home dirtside) until Matt, Tex, and Oscar face their first real, life-and-death emergency together on Venus. (Pete's assigned elsewhere.)

Although this might be classed as a juvenile book, I still enjoy it quite a bit. Typical Heinlein skills are displayed in the excellent job he does of developing Matt gradually from a naive, inexperienced Earth kid into a competent Patrol member. This book would serve as an excellent introduction to Heinlein (hint, hint).

The Puppet Masters (1951) is a book I like a bit less, although I think it's still an important work of Heinlein's and is one of the few Heinlein books to be made into a movie. We're told the story begins in '07, and based on evidence from various places I think that means 2007 rather than 2107. (It's certainly not 1907!)

The Puppet Masters is the story of an alien invasion. The aliens, who turn out to be from the neighborhood of Saturn, are evil little intelligent parasitic creatures that take control of people's bodies, reproduce by fission, and are small enough to hide under clothes or long hair. The victim is aware of some of what's going on while he's controlled, but is incapable of anything but obedience.

The narrator is a government agent called "Sam" for most of the story. Sam's Department is deeply involved with the battle for Earth, which is by no means a sure thing.

One of the little details I find interesting is that this book explains the roots of the commonplace nudity we find in many books about the future -- in the course of the story it becomes suspect to wear too much, since the clothing could be hiding one of the aliens.

The 1954 collection Revolt in 2100 consists of three stories, "If This Goes On --," Coventry, and Misfit.

The longest story in the collection, "If This Goes On -- " takes place in an America in which a religious dictatorship won the election of 2012. The story is told from the point of view of John Lyle, a naive young man raised to believe in The Church (and the militaristic Church-State) who, as the story begins, is a devout soldier in the Angels of the Lord.

When Johnnie falls in love with a member of the Sisterhood that serves the Prophet, he doesn't realize that the Sister's duties are supposed to include sleeping with the Prophet. What begins as a small revolt against one specific piece of the corrupt system leads Johnnie, one step at a time, into a full-fledged underground revolution against the Prophet and everything He stands for.

Heinlein's usual thorough development of a naive young person into a competent adult gets even more depth when he throws in the transition from unthinking, blind obedience to intelligent self-reliance. The struggles Johnnie has as his mores progress from "repressed" to "liberated" are interesting as well.

Coventry is a short story about a man driven to heroism while imprisoned for violent, irrational behavior in a society that no longer tolerates rugged individualism.

Misfit deals with a young man in the Cosmic Construction Corps. Although quite short, Misfit is notable for what I believe is the first appearance of mathematical genius Andrew Jackson Libby, the longtime partner and friend of Lazarus Long, hero of the Future Histories.

As Tunnel in the Sky (1955) begins, high school senior Rod Walker is preparing to take his final examination in "Advanced Survival."

A scientist trying to invent the time machine instead came up with a gateway for jumping to other planets; colonization is a huge industry, but high schools and universities also use some of the newly discovered worlds for survival testing. (Courses like "Survival 101" are particularly useful for those who want to become colony leaders when they grow up.)

Naturally, something goes wrong. The high school and college students are stranded and have to join together to survive while they wait for rescue and figure out the quirks of their new world.

Glory Road (1963) begins in our century. E.C. Gordon, soon to be known as Oscar, is a young veteran of an undeclared war in southeast Asia. Fresh from the jungle, Oscar has been figuring out that he wants more adventure and romance out of life than the American dream provides for.

While visiting France on the way back to the U.S., he meets Star, the most beautiful woman in twenty universes; she whisks him away into a virtual fantasy life of monster fighting, swashbuckling, good-over-evil fun and adventure, with a number of twists and turns along the way.

Farnham's Freehold (1964) is another book that begins in our century. The hero, Hugh Farnham, is a pessimist who has thoroughly prepared for the worst by building a carefully planned bomb shelter.

The worst does happen, of course, and Hugh hustles his household into the shelter just in time. Those present are Hugh, his horrid wife, his lovely daughter, his surly son, his daughter's wonderful friend, and the Farnham's young African-American servant.

When it's all over, the group emerges from the shelter to find they've apparently been bumped forward in time -- to a world in which "white" people are slaves and "black" people control society. This is a fascinating story about loyalty, love, and how power corrupts and hardens.

I Will Fear No Evil (1970) is another book with a fascinating subject for speculation. It's also the nearest thing to a romance novel the master ever wrote.

In the beginning, the main character, Johann Sebastian Bach Smith, is a 95-year-old filthy rich man who is unable to die with dignity because of life support. Johann uses the unlikely idea of an experimental brain transplant as his escape -- he figures it'll kill him. It doesn't.

When he wakes up, Johann finds he's in a young, healthy new body! He basically revels in sensual pleasures he hasn't been able to enjoy in years -- smell, taste, mobility, and, of course, *ahem* other things, too.

This might sound a little corny -- it is pretty corny -- but there are a number of interesting ideas and plot twists that I won't give away that make it worth reading, in my opinion. Many Heinlein fans don't think much of this book, and many believe that Heinlein's ill health while writing it explains why it's so bad and that he'd have never written such a story when well. I don't think it's quite fair to excuse the book that way -- it stands as one of Heinlein's works, like it or not -- and I think his exploration of human sexuality in what's almost a cyberpunk dystopia, although it has its flaws, still makes interesting reading.

Friday (1982) is the story of a young woman who is an elite courier for a private intelligence agency.

The main character, Friday Jones (one of her aliases), is verging on the obsessed with the futuristic version of racism -- she's an "artificial person," one designed (and enhanced) in a laboratory, and her people have no civil rights.

Although she has an inferiority complex about them, Friday's enhancements are what make her a great agent -- she's intelligent, athletic, deadly, and gorgeous, and about to accept an assignment that will totally change her life.

JOB: A Comedy of Justice (1984) is the somewhat wacky adventures of Alexander Hergensheimer, a repressed young married fundamentalist minister who, while on a cruise, finds suddenly that the whole world has changed completely.

Everyone now calls him Alexander Graham. He finds out he's been having a passionate affair with Margrethe, a stewardess. Then he finds out he loves her. Then he finds out that the world keeps changing, and changing again.

Everything is bafflingly different every time he turns around. He can only conclude that the end of our world -- Armageddon -- is approaching. But his beloved Margrethe isn't a Christian!

JOB is a book stuffed full of alternate-universe confusion and misadventure -- with lots of theology that seems goofy at first, but stands up to further, deeper consideration.