Rating: 
Summary: I get something new from this book every time I read it.
Review: Number of the Beast is a book that MUST be reread several times to get the most from it. It's not a light read by any means and you have to be a true Heinlein fan to enjoy it. It's thought provoking, as are most, if not all of his books. To get the most out of it, you really have to pay attention to the details. The characters are very typical Heinlein heroes/heroines and tie in with his other books (one of the things I enjoy most in his books).It is impossible to become bored with Number of the Beast simply because of the numbers of places visited and the types of people encountered. Favorite childhood stories are explored in a way that cannot help but change your ideas about them. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: For mature, open minds only
Review: Ursula LeGuin did it, Star Trek did it, but Heinlein did it best. Traveling between dimensions into universes that were "only imagined" was not a new concept when this book was published. Every daydreamer who reads SF&F has thought about it. The difference is that Heinlein did it with wit and style far surpassing most authors' potential.Didn't get the jokes? Thought the characters talked too much? The conversations were the whole point of the book, not the plot. If that didn't come across, please consider waiting until you're older to pick it up again. Some teenagers with exceptionally open minds and lots of Sci-Fi under their belts can figure it out, but I'd say wait until your twenties. This is an adult book, not because of sex and violence (relatively mild compared to other Heinleins), but because the jokes and the themes will resonate best with those who've lived a little bit and can say "I wondered about that..." Was Heinlein getting senile? No. He was just figuring out what life was all about. His later books (as in "Job" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls") are even more complicated than his early ones, indicating *more* careful thought, not less. Was he writing for the money? No, that was the jeuveniles (read "Grumbles from the Grave" for the full score). Sorry, folks: the Master really meant this one. Just because some people didn't get it doesn't mean it was a bad book. Some of the greatest books ever written weren't meant to be "gotten" on the first, or even third, try. If you don't grok it, set it aside and read Heinlein's jeuvies instead. Lucky for all of us, he had several different styles from which to choose.
Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's best
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I thought the science aspect of it was thought provoking, and the characters were typical Heinlein protagonists - i.e. People who are a little too good to be true, but people I'd aspire to be. The bit at the end with Lazarus Long, tying it into the rest of the Future History was a welcome touch. One of the first Heinleins I read, and still part of my yearly re-reads.
Rating: 
Summary: not worthy of the author; a slapdash piece of junk
Review: Ow! Obviously written under a deadline. As in several of his late-period books, it becomes obvious about 2/3 of the way through that he has no intention of tying up the loose ends.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Best, but darn close!!!
Review: Although, not as good as, JOB; A Comedy of Justice or The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, this piece of RAH's work fits into many of the other "Lazarus Long" stories. I kind of like the "Slideresque" feel of the book, as the characters move from Alternate Earth to Alternate Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Only Heinlein book I CAN'T finish
Review: I've read everything else by RAH and enjoyed it. But this book has kept me from finishing it 3 times now. I get just over half-way through and get sick of the characters' constant bitching at eachother. I find myself becoming bitchy like them! The plot has no consistency at all, except for the same characters keep dropping in. It's like the episodes of The Pretender, where he's a different character every week. In Number, there's never any closure, at least as far as I ever made it. I didn't mind the free-love concepts (at all) or even the scientific parts, though they were a stretch. I just lost interest in what would happen next to our 4 characters.
Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's Finest!
Review: This book starts off lively, and stays that way! Heinlein is the master at great character development, humourous dialogue and wonderful science and philosophy. If you enjoy physics and math, you will seriously dig this book! And, if you're familiar with Heinlein characters (Lazarun Long, etc.), the end of the story provides a special treat. This remains one of my all-time favorite Heinlein books.
Rating:
Summary: Pure drivel from cover to cover
Review: "Number of the Beast" makes me wish Amazon had a no-star rating. This book has nothing to recommed it to anyone but the most extreme Heinlein afficianado. For starters, the struggling-to-be-one-dimensional characters not only have little to no appeal, but are dull as well. And of course, all the protagonists must hold seventeen hundred doctorates as well as be in prime physical condition, not to mention that they all have the most sparkling of personalities. I thought for a while that this was a parody, which would be fine except for the fact that it's not funny. We could move onto the plot at this point, but why bother. It's the typical nonsense that Heinlein wandered into during the latter stages of his career. Heinlein can be brilliant, as in "Stranger in a Strange Land," but not here.
Rating:
Summary: Multi worlds handled well
Review: A little confusing towards the end, but good
Rating: 
Summary: Stay Home
Review: I wanted to like this book, and the initial reading gave me a lot to like, as I had purchased an edition with integral illustrations. (Why aren*t books done like that anymore?) Heinlien introduces those wonderful archtypes, the Mad Scientist and His Lovely Daughter, and thier brand-new spouses, plus the groom*s sentient flying car; he leads them thru a number of Alternate Worlds; he postulates an Alien Takeover of Earth; he offers tidbits such as fossil light, a returned ice age, a lost cousin studying higher mathematics. Heinlein even gives a new insight into the biblical Number of the Beast, it is Six to the power Six to the power Six, or ZetaZetaZeta!!! So what went wrong? Why don*t I want to read this book again? I am not fond of the way Heinlien happily keeps taking more and more odd turns in his story, happily ignoring the details of the ones before. The people are fun, even as the narration shifts between them, tho I could do without all the shuffling of power, and of sensual couplings. Two-thirds thru the book Heinlien grounds his wandering plot into his Lazarus Long saga. Heinlien lovers will gleefully take up the tune, everyone else will try to figure out where Square One is. Worst of all (spoiler alert) Heinlien ends the book with the same method that blew up in Douglas Adams* face; WHY do authors do that, does he think he is so clever? If you like Robert Heinlien this book is fine, if not, it is very thin ice. You have been warned.
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