Order of Robert A. Heinlein Books
Robert A. Heinlein was an American author of science fiction, considered to be part of the “Big Three” in the genre along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Some of his work is also considered part of the fantasy genre as well. Heinlein wrote about space exploration as if it were a very real possibility. Other common themes in his work included individualism, non-conformity and free love. Because much of his work was written during the Civil Rights Movement, he would often imply a major character was not white or he would use an alien as a metaphor for another human race (in a positive manner).
Heinlein’s first short story was Life Line, which he had written for a contest but instead sold it to Astounding Science-Fiction in 1939 for more than the contest would have paid for first prize. Below is a list of Robert A. Heinlein’s books in order of when they were originally published:
Publication Order of Future History/Heinlein Timeline Books
| Misfit | (1939) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Methuselah's Children | (1941) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Man Who Sold the Moon | (1950) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Green Hills of Earth | (1951) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Revolt in 2100 | (1953) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Orphans of the Sky | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Past Through Tomorrow | (1967) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Heinlein's Juveniles Books
| Rocket Ship Galileo | (1947) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Space Cadet | (1948) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Red Planet | (1949) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Farmer in the Sky / Satellite Scout | (1950) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Between Planets / Planets in Combat | (1951) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Rolling Stones / Tramp Space Ship / Space Family Stone | (1952) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Starman Jones | (1953) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Star Beast / Star Lummox | (1954) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tunnel in the Sky | (1955) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Time for the Stars | (1956) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Citizen of the Galaxy | (1957) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Have Space Suit—Will Travel | (1958) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Man-Kzin Wars Books
(with Theodore Sturgeon, Larry Niven, S.M. Stirling, Spider Robinson, Jerry Pournelle, Dean Ing, Robert Sheckley, Gregory Benford, Anthony Boucher, William Goldman, Paul Chafe, Jim Baen, Mark O. Martin, Matthew Harrington, Hal Colebatch, Jessica Q. Fox)
Publication Order of The Road to Science Fiction Books
(by James Edwin Gunn)
| The Road to Science Fiction 1 | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Road to Science Fiction 3: From Heinlein to Here | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Road to Science Fiction 2: From Wells to Heinlein | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Road to Science Fiction 4: From Here to Forever | (1982) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Road to Science Fiction 6: Around the World | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of World As Myth Books
| Time Enough for Love | (1973) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Number of the Beast | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Cat Who Walks Through Walls | (1985) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| To Sail Beyond the Sunset | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Sixth Column / The Day After Tomorrow | (1941) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Beyond This Horizon | (1948) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Puppet Masters | (1951) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Double Star | (1956) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Door into Summer | (1957) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Starship Troopers / Starship Soldier | (1959) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Stranger in a Strange Land | (1961) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Podkayne of Mars | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Glory Road | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Farnham's Freehold | (1964) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Moon is a Harsh Mistress | (1966) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| I Will Fear No Evil | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Friday | (1982) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Job | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| For Us, the Living | (2003) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Variable Star | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Pursuit of the Pankera | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Universe | (1941) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Destination Moon | (1950) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Year of the Jackpot | (1952) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| 'All You Zombies--' | (1959) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Chapbooks
| The Notebooks of Lazarus Long | (1975) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
| Life Line | (1939) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Ordeal in Space | (1948) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Waldo & Magic, Inc. | (1950) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Assignment in Eternity | (1953) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag | (1959) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Menace from Earth | (1959) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Lost Legacy | (1960) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Three by Heinlein / Heinlein Triad | (1965) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Best of Robert Heinlein, 1947-1959 | (1973) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Off the Main Sequence | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Outward Bound | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Project Moonbase and Others | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| The Science Fiction Novel | (1959) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Cliffsnotes Heinlein's Works | (1969) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Expanded Universe | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Grumbles from the Grave | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tramp Royale | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Take Back Your Government | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Collections
| The Virginia Edition (46 Volume Collectors Set) | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| Street & Smith's Unknown, Vol 4. No. 6 | (1941) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space | (1946) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tomorrow, the Stars | (1952) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - May 1954 - Vol. 6, No. 5 | (1954) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| 6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction | (1954) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Ninth Series | (1958) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| 50 Short Science Fiction Tales | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Worlds to Come: New Science Fiction Adventures | (1967) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Galaxy Science Fiction, October-November 1970 | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume II A | (1973) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow... | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Other Dimensions | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Rod Serling's Other Worlds | (1978) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Best of All Possible Worlds | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Analog: Writers' Choice Volume II | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| New Destinies Vol. 6: Winter 1988 | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Separate Star: A Tribute to Rudyard Kipling | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Requiem: Collected Works and Tributes to the Grand Master | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Cats in Space... and Other Places | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Bangs & Whimpers: Stories about The End of The World | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The SFWA Grand Masters 1 | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The World Turned Upside Down | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Science Fiction Super Pack #1 | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Red Sky | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Space Pioneers | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Infinite Stars | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Notes: The Sixth Column was originally published using the pen name Anson MacDonald and was also published as The Day After Tomorrow. Beyond This Horizon was originally published under the pseudonym Anson MacDonald. Farmer in the Sky was also published as Satellite Scout. Between Planets was also titled Planets in Combat. The Rolling Stone was also published with the alternate titles Tramp Space Ship and Space Family Stone. The Star Beast was alternately titled Star Lummox. Starship Troopers was also published as Starship Soldier. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag was also published as 6xH. Three by Heinlein was also released as A Heinlein Triad. Tramp Royale was written with Virginia Heinlein. Take Back Your Government! was also published under the title How To Be a Politician.
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