Robert A. Heinlein Reading Order

33 books (1941–2019)

Start with Street & Smith's Unknown, Vol 4. No. 6, the first of 33 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Street & Smith's Unknown, Vol 4. No. 6 1941Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Pocket Book of Science-Fiction 1943Buy 🇺🇸
3	Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space 1946Buy 🇺🇸
4	Tomorrow, the Stars 1952Buy 🇺🇸
5	6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction 1954Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - May 1954 - Vol. 6, No. 5 1954Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Ninth Series 1958Buy 🇺🇸
8	50 Short Science Fiction Tales 1963Buy 🇺🇸
9	Worlds to Come: New Science Fiction Adventures 1967Buy 🇺🇸
10	Galaxy Science Fiction, October-November 1970 1970Buy 🇺🇸
11	The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume II A 1973Buy 🇺🇸
12	Other Dimensions 1974Buy 🇺🇸
13	Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow... 1974Buy 🇺🇸
14	Rod Serling's Other Worlds 1978Buy 🇺🇸
15	The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction / Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century 1980Buy 🇺🇸
16	The Best of All Possible Worlds 1980Buy 🇺🇸
17	Age of Wonders: Exploring the World of Science Fiction 1984Buy 🇺🇸
18	Analog: Writers' Choice Volume II 1984Buy 🇺🇸
19	Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow 1987Buy 🇺🇸
20	New Destinies Vol. 6: Winter 1988 1988Buy 🇺🇸
21	A Separate Star: A Tribute to Rudyard Kipling 1989Buy 🇺🇸
22	Requiem: Collected Works and Tributes to the Grand Master 1991Buy 🇺🇸
23	An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear 1992Buy 🇺🇸
24	Cats in Space... and Other Places 1992Buy 🇺🇸
25	Foundations of Fear: Volume I: Shadows of Fear 1994Buy 🇺🇸
26	Bangs & Whimpers 1999Buy 🇺🇸
27	The SFWA Grand Masters 1 1999Buy 🇺🇸
28	The World Turned Upside Down 2005Buy 🇺🇸
29	The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction 2010Buy 🇺🇸
30	Science Fiction Super Pack #1 2013Buy 🇺🇸
31	Red Sky 2014Buy 🇺🇸
32	Space Pioneers 2018Buy 🇺🇸
33	Infinite Stars 2019Buy 🇺🇸

1 book (1975–1975)

1 book (2010–2010)

4 books (1992–1994)

Start with An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear(With: George R.R. Martin,David G. Hartwell,Peter Straub,Richard Matheson,Daphne du Maurier,Clive Barker,Carlos Fuentes,Arthur Machen,Gerald Durrell), the first of 4 books in the Foundations of Fear Anthology series.

#	Title
1	An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear(With: George R.R. Martin,David G. Hartwell,Peter Straub,Richard Matheson,Daphne du Maurier,Clive Barker,Carlos Fuentes,Arthur Machen,Gerald Durrell) 1992Buy 🇺🇸
2	Foundations of Fear: Volume I: Shadows of Fear(With: David G. Hartwell,Peter Straub,H.P. Lovecraft,Daphne du Maurier,Arthur Machen,Jean Ray,Harriet Prescott Spofford) 1994Buy 🇺🇸
3	Foundations of Fear: Volume II: Worlds of Fear(By: George R.R. Martin,David G. Hartwell,Thomas Hardy,Gertrude Atherton,Thomas M. Disch,Elizabeth Engstrom,Carlos Fuentes) 1994Buy 🇺🇸
4	Foundations of Fear: Volume III: Visions of Fear(By: David G. Hartwell,E.T.A. Hoffmann,Richard Matheson,Philip K. Dick,Clive Barker,Octavia E. Butler,Gerald Durrell) 1994Buy 🇺🇸

11 books (1939–1967)

Start with Misfit, the first of 11 books in the Future History/Heinlein Timeline series.

#	Title
1	Misfit 1939Buy 🇺🇸
2	Blowups Happen 1940Buy 🇺🇸
3	Let There Be Light 1940Buy 🇺🇸
4	Methuselah's Children 1941Buy 🇺🇸
5	We Also Walk Dogs 1941Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Long Watch 1949Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Man Who Sold the Moon 1950Buy 🇺🇸
8	The Green Hills of Earth 1951Buy 🇺🇸
9	Revolt in 2100 1953Buy 🇺🇸
10	Orphans of the Sky 1963Buy 🇺🇸
11	The Past Through Tomorrow 1967Buy 🇺🇸

12 books (1947–1958)

Start with Rocket Ship Galileo, the first of 12 books in the Heinlein's Juveniles series.

#	Title
1	Rocket Ship Galileo 1947Buy 🇺🇸
2	Space Cadet 1948Buy 🇺🇸
3	Red Planet 1949Buy 🇺🇸
4	Farmer in the Sky / Satellite Scout 1950Buy 🇺🇸
5	Between Planets / Planets in Combat 1951Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Rolling Stones / Tramp Space Ship / Space Family Stone 1952Buy 🇺🇸
7	Starman Jones 1953Buy 🇺🇸
8	The Star Beast / Star Lummox 1954Buy 🇺🇸
9	Tunnel in the Sky 1955Buy 🇺🇸
10	Time for the Stars 1956Buy 🇺🇸
11	Citizen of the Galaxy 1957Buy 🇺🇸
12	Have Space Suit—Will Travel 1958Buy 🇺🇸

41 books (1985–2025)

Start with L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 1, the first of 41 books in the L. Ron Hubbard Presents: Writers of the Future series.

#	Title
1	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 1 1985Buy 🇺🇸
2	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 2 1986Buy 🇺🇸
3	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 3 1987Buy 🇺🇸
4	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 4 1988Buy 🇺🇸
5	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 5 1989Buy 🇺🇸
6	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 6 1990Buy 🇺🇸
7	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 7 1991Buy 🇺🇸
8	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 8 1992Buy 🇺🇸
9	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future9 1993Buy 🇺🇸
10	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 10 1994Buy 🇺🇸
11	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 11 1995Buy 🇺🇸
12	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 12 1996Buy 🇺🇸
13	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 13 1997Buy 🇺🇸
14	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 14 1998Buy 🇺🇸
15	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 15 1999Buy 🇺🇸
16	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 16 2000Buy 🇺🇸
17	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 17 2001Buy 🇺🇸
18	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 18 2002Buy 🇺🇸
19	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 19 2002Buy 🇺🇸
20	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 20 2004Buy 🇺🇸
21	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 21 2005Buy 🇺🇸
22	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 22 2006Buy 🇺🇸
23	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 23 2007Buy 🇺🇸
24	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 24 2008Buy 🇺🇸
25	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 25 2009Buy 🇺🇸
26	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 26 2010Buy 🇺🇸
27	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 27 2011Buy 🇺🇸
28	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 28 2012Buy 🇺🇸
29	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 29 2013Buy 🇺🇸
30	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 30 2014Buy 🇺🇸
31	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 31 2015Buy 🇺🇸
32	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 32 2016Buy 🇺🇸
33	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 33 2017Buy 🇺🇸
34	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 34 2018Buy 🇺🇸
35	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 35 2019Buy 🇺🇸
36	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 36 2020Buy 🇺🇸
37	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 37 2021Buy 🇺🇸
38	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 38 2022Buy 🇺🇸
39	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 39 2023Buy 🇺🇸
40	L. Ron Hubbard Presents: Writers of the Future 40 2024Buy 🇺🇸
41	L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 41 2025Buy 🇺🇸

6 books (1959–1992)

Start with The Science Fiction Novel(With: Robert Bloch,C.M. Kornbluth,Alfred Bester,Basil Davenport), the first of 6 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	The Science Fiction Novel(With: Robert Bloch,C.M. Kornbluth,Alfred Bester,Basil Davenport) 1959Buy 🇺🇸
2	Cliffsnotes Heinlein's Works(With: CliffsNotes,Baird Searles) 1969Buy 🇺🇸
3	Expanded Universe 1980Buy 🇺🇸
4	Grumbles from the Grave 1989Buy 🇺🇸
5	Take Back Your Government 1992Buy 🇺🇸
6	Tramp Royale 1992Buy 🇺🇸

6 books (1940–1959)

Start with And He Built A Crooked House, the first of 6 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	And He Built A Crooked House 1940Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Roads Must Roll 1940Buy 🇺🇸
3	Universe 1941Buy 🇺🇸
4	Destination Moon 1950Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Year of the Jackpot 1952Buy 🇺🇸
6	'All You Zombies--' 1959Buy 🇺🇸

15 books (1939–2008)

Start with Life Line, the first of 15 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	Life Line 1939Buy 🇺🇸
2	Ordeal in Space 1948Buy 🇺🇸
3	Waldo & Magic, Inc. 1950Buy 🇺🇸
4	Assignment in Eternity 1953Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Menace from Earth 1959Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag 1959Buy 🇺🇸
7	Lost Legacy 1960Buy 🇺🇸
8	Three by Heinlein / Heinlein Triad 1965Buy 🇺🇸
9	6 x H 1969Buy 🇺🇸
10	The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein 1972Buy 🇺🇸
11	The Best of Robert Heinlein, 1947-1959 1973Buy 🇺🇸
12	The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein 1986Buy 🇺🇸
13	Off the Main Sequence 2005Buy 🇺🇸
14	Outward Bound 2006Buy 🇺🇸
15	Project Moonbase and Others 2008Buy 🇺🇸

17 books (1941–2020)

Start with Sixth Column / The Day After Tomorrow(As: Anson MacDonald), the first of 17 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Sixth Column / The Day After Tomorrow(As: Anson MacDonald) 1941Buy 🇺🇸
2	Beyond This Horizon(As: Anson MacDonald) 1948Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Puppet Masters 1951Buy 🇺🇸
4	Double Star 1956Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Door into Summer 1957Buy 🇺🇸
6	Starship Troopers / Starship Soldier 1959Buy 🇺🇸
7	Stranger in a Strange Land 1961Buy 🇺🇸
8	Glory Road 1963Buy 🇺🇸
9	Podkayne of Mars 1963Buy 🇺🇸
10	Farnham's Freehold 1964Buy 🇺🇸
11	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966Buy 🇺🇸
12	I Will Fear No Evil 1970Buy 🇺🇸
13	Friday 1982Buy 🇺🇸
14	Job 1984Buy 🇺🇸
15	For Us, the Living 2003Buy 🇺🇸
16	Variable Star(With: Spider Robinson) 2006Buy 🇺🇸
17	The Pursuit of the Pankera 2020Buy 🇺🇸

1 book (1982–1982)

#	Title
1	The Road to Science Fiction 4: From Here to Forever(By: James Edwin Gunn) 1982Buy 🇺🇸

4 books (1973–1987)

Start with Time Enough for Love, the first of 4 books in the World As Myth series.

#	Title
1	Time Enough for Love 1973Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Number of the Beast 1980Buy 🇺🇸
3	The Cat Who Walks Through Walls 1985Buy 🇺🇸
4	To Sail Beyond the Sunset 1987Buy 🇺🇸