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158th out of 2,974 books
—
12,600 voters
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (The World As Myth)
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his table, Dr. Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions, where a plot to rescue a sentient computer could alter human history...
Paperback, 388 pages
Published
June 1st 1988
by Ace
(first published 1985)
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This was my very first RAH book...the one that got me hooked. I thought it had a cool cover and was in the discount bin so I had just enough for it. I was 15. I couldn't put it down. Since then, I've read almost everything he has written and have loved every single one!
When I bought this book a couple of weeks ago, I was with two friends, one of whom is a fairly decent sci-fi fan, and the other of whom is a completely nutty sci-fi fan. Both of them started lyricising about how wonderful this book was, how absolutely fantastic, how I definitely had to read it. And, similarly, a week ago, another friend saw the book on our coffee table, and again, this lyrical Heinlein-is-amazing rhapsody was replayed.
Having now read the book myself, I have to confess that I di...more
Having now read the book myself, I have to confess that I di...more
I remember liking this book less when I read it long ago. Robert A. Heinlein's "World As Myth" series doesn't appeal to me and I tend to prefer the older juvenilia and middle novels much more. The thing is, I've become such a fan of his, and particularly of his wonderful characters, that the opportunity to meet most of the characters from most of his novels again was a happy one.
I wouldn't suggest this book for anyone not already a serious Heinlein fan. I imagine it would be pretty much a failur...more
I wouldn't suggest this book for anyone not already a serious Heinlein fan. I imagine it would be pretty much a failur...more
Jun 23, 2008
Sara
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People familiar with Robert Heinlein, people willing to accept broadly impossible sci-fi plots
This is kind of two separate books smooshed together. The first half is pretty straight-forward space adventures, and then everything gets weird after that. Not bad, just weird and very separate-feeling from the first half. This is not uncommon with Heinlein, and it didn't ruin the book or anything, but I did kind of feel betrayed that the first half was somewhat meaningless. Also, the ending left me hanging more than I would have liked. I plan on reading the rest of this "series" (having alread...more
Review from 01:
I am a great lover of the words of Heinlein. But this book has got to be one of his worst. While it has some very interesting quantum physics threads, and some interesting character as aware entity moments, it does not hold together. The relationships of the main character and his children (near the end of the book) are confusing and more explicit than needed/wanted. The 'mysteries' the main character was trying to solve fell apart like wet tissue paper. I was dissapointed that th...more
I am a great lover of the words of Heinlein. But this book has got to be one of his worst. While it has some very interesting quantum physics threads, and some interesting character as aware entity moments, it does not hold together. The relationships of the main character and his children (near the end of the book) are confusing and more explicit than needed/wanted. The 'mysteries' the main character was trying to solve fell apart like wet tissue paper. I was dissapointed that th...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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7 likes · like · see review
Easy to love and easy to hate
Published by Simon and Schuster Audioworks in 1987.
Performed by Robert Vaughn
Duration: 3 hours
Abridged
Note: The 2007 re-release of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls clocks in at just over 13.5 hours, so this 3-hour-long 1987 abridgment is undoubtedly heavily abridged, even considering that acclaimed actor Robert Vaughn is a relatively quick reader.
Books like The Cat Who Walks Through Walls are hard to describe and easy to love and easy to hate. This is a soaring piec...more
Published by Simon and Schuster Audioworks in 1987.
Performed by Robert Vaughn
Duration: 3 hours
Abridged
Note: The 2007 re-release of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls clocks in at just over 13.5 hours, so this 3-hour-long 1987 abridgment is undoubtedly heavily abridged, even considering that acclaimed actor Robert Vaughn is a relatively quick reader.
Books like The Cat Who Walks Through Walls are hard to describe and easy to love and easy to hate. This is a soaring piec...more
I like Heinlein, but not this book. Very little happens in it and the seemingly endless conversations about morality in relationships is tedious. I would actually agree with Heinlein and don't see a problem in people fornicating around with one another, without bothering with outdated monogamous principles. It's just that he can stop beating me around the head with it.
Many of Heinlein's favourite characters make a re-appearance in this novel, like Jubal Harshaw, Lazarus Long and Mike, the comput...more
Many of Heinlein's favourite characters make a re-appearance in this novel, like Jubal Harshaw, Lazarus Long and Mike, the comput...more
I haven't read any Heinlein previous to this novel, and I'm somewhat glad, as it gave me an opportunity to evaluate it based on its (lack of) merits as a story, rather than any fanservice appeals to classic Heinlein characters.
The story starts off as a decent sci-fi action romp. The charismatic protagonist is likable in a James Bond sort of vein, his banter with his girlfriend is punchy, his quirks are endearing.
Things start getting weird the moment another female character enters the story. Sud...more
The story starts off as a decent sci-fi action romp. The charismatic protagonist is likable in a James Bond sort of vein, his banter with his girlfriend is punchy, his quirks are endearing.
Things start getting weird the moment another female character enters the story. Sud...more
5 likes · like · see review
Aug 04, 2009
Peter
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Heinlein fans
Shelves:
fantasy,
science-fiction
One of Heinlein's last books, and not one of his best. It represents yet another installment in the "World As Myth" theme that he used so often later in life, and therefore includes many characters from his older, better works - including, inevitably, Lazarus Long, who continues his long (pun intended) degeneration from the original interesting protagonist of "Methuselah's Children" into an annoying incest-freak, Heinlein surrogate, self-parody (I suspect), and all-around jerk-who-must-be-worshi...more
4 likes · like · see review
At some distant point in time down the road, a fan of mine will stumble onto my goodreads account and read my reviews. This fan will notice that of all of the Heinlein books, only one book was given a five star review. This fan will wonder why.
Unfortunately, when this fan reads this review of the book, he will find himself disappointed as I do not intend to explain why this book is getting the rating I'm giving it. The reason for the fifth star is just too personal.
The Cat Who Walks Through Wall...more
Unfortunately, when this fan reads this review of the book, he will find himself disappointed as I do not intend to explain why this book is getting the rating I'm giving it. The reason for the fifth star is just too personal.
The Cat Who Walks Through Wall...more
2 likes · like · see review
I am a late-comer to the Heinlein bandwagon. I've now read/listened to two of his books and have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls starts in the same universe as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which worked well for me as I was already familiar with some of the culture that was referenced and had more time enjoying the action that was going on. Mind you, Heinlein is great at keeping the action up. There were only a handful of pages total that cou...more
Dr. Richard Ames is an normal guy (that is, if you overlook the fact that he lives in space and is a decorated soldier in hiding) that is in the wrong place, every time. He and his new bride bop across the galaxy, trying to figure out who is trying to kill them and why. Throw in an invincible bonsai tree, a super-sonic space bus and a cat who walks through walls.
This book was weird and witty and adventuresome. My only other exposure to Heinlein was Starship Troopers which I appreciated but didn'...more
This book was weird and witty and adventuresome. My only other exposure to Heinlein was Starship Troopers which I appreciated but didn'...more
What happened? WHAT HAPPENED? Heinlein I love; can't get enough of the fellow. First read Have Space Suit-Will Travel in - fourth grade, was it? - and have enjoyed a number of his books since. But this one... The story, or at least the set-up for the story, was good. Fellow sits down at Richard Ames's table at a restaurant, invokes an old oath taken by Richard among buddies somewhere in the mysterious past, and tells him to kill a certain man, or face certain doom (more or less.) Fellow gets sho...more
Ok, I'm only partway through, but I'm going to post my thoughts so far.
The first Heinlein book I read was Stranger in a Strange Land, which I found among my mother's book when I was 12. I adored that book, and read it many, many times. However, I'd never really read much other Heinlein.
This book started out great - James Bond style space adventure with witty banter and a clever female sidekick. Despite the sagacity of the girl (actually much older than we initially think), Heinlein has sprinkled...more
The first Heinlein book I read was Stranger in a Strange Land, which I found among my mother's book when I was 12. I adored that book, and read it many, many times. However, I'd never really read much other Heinlein.
This book started out great - James Bond style space adventure with witty banter and a clever female sidekick. Despite the sagacity of the girl (actually much older than we initially think), Heinlein has sprinkled...more
3 likes · like · see review
Here's one I probably shouldn't have revisited. The narrator was not particularly good, in my opinion. He tended to hold the last word of each sentence too long. And it was annoying, as if he was trying for portentous but only managed pretentious.
Getting beyond that, despite my longstanding reverence for all things RAH, this book just isn't very good. The women are all beautiful and competent but entirely dependent upon the opinions and guidance of their menfolk. I don't think RAH even noticed...more
Getting beyond that, despite my longstanding reverence for all things RAH, this book just isn't very good. The women are all beautiful and competent but entirely dependent upon the opinions and guidance of their menfolk. I don't think RAH even noticed...more
I don't know what to think about this book, for more than half of it I was expecting for something to happen to the point of being bored, and then suddenly everything goes all weird and very, very hard to follow, which I LOVED! So, why the four stars, mainly because it's Heinlein. I've loved all the books I've read from him, especially Stranger in a Strange Land, otherwise this would be a three star book.
I also found that this book is (relativelly) similar to Have Space Suit-Will Travel, saving...more
I also found that this book is (relativelly) similar to Have Space Suit-Will Travel, saving...more
I have to say, that while I found this a fun, brain-junk-food book, I didn't feel it was a GREAT book.
The characters are classic Heinlein:
Strong, capable, wealthy and powerful woman who's much older than she looks, gorgeous with a perfect body and sexually insatiable, incredibly insightful and intelligent, and sharper than her male counterpart but somehow magically submissive to him.
Strong, capable, wealthy and powerful man who is seasoned and experienced, with a military background, great at fi...more
The characters are classic Heinlein:
Strong, capable, wealthy and powerful woman who's much older than she looks, gorgeous with a perfect body and sexually insatiable, incredibly insightful and intelligent, and sharper than her male counterpart but somehow magically submissive to him.
Strong, capable, wealthy and powerful man who is seasoned and experienced, with a military background, great at fi...more
I'm torn on this book in some ways. The first half of the book I kept thinking to myself, "I remember now why I like Heinlein books." The story is told in first person, there is lots of playful funny banter. Heinlein has a knack for coming up with very inventive and creative analogies and metaphors. I found myself chortling often at the banter in the beginning.
Then I got to the second half.
There was a little innuendo in the beginning, however in the second half, the innuendo gets stepped up a co...more
Then I got to the second half.
There was a little innuendo in the beginning, however in the second half, the innuendo gets stepped up a co...more
I confess, the main reason I decided to pick up this book was not the author; I'm not a huge Heinlein fan, though his books are "classic" sci-fi, and I agree he is defintiely necessary to the evolution of the genre. I can admit to his worth as a writer without being a ardent lover of his writing style. I picked up this book on a whim, and because it had the subtitle of "A Comedy of Manners." If there's one thing I can almost always enjoy, its a narrative comedy of manners. Add in some science fi...more
It started out really interesting, well-written with plenty of humor, action, and intrigue. I was often grinning to myself, greatly enjoying the witty banter and intelligent writing. It starts losing steam about a third of the way into the book, not a big a deal, but then about half-way in it completely changes direction and becomes dull, pointless, utterly confusing, and almost entirely plotless from there on out. It's really a shame because I greatly enjoyed the beginning and was hoping for it...more
Much of what I think about a book depends on my mood when I read it. When I started this one, I was in the mood for something lighter then The Wind-up Girl. Yet my mind wasn't fully prepared for this story having only read Starship Troopers by the same author (The two books are totally different, trust me.)
This book is subtitled 'A Comedy of Manners.' It is indeed a comedy about a writer and former military man who becomes involved in a life-and-death adventure - all while on his honeymoon. It b...more
This book is subtitled 'A Comedy of Manners.' It is indeed a comedy about a writer and former military man who becomes involved in a life-and-death adventure - all while on his honeymoon. It b...more
One of Heinlein's last novels, the beginning half or so is a marvelous romp through a near-future setting, full of gunplay, philosophizing, touring, spycraft, and bon mots.
It starts to derail after that, though, bogging down in Heinlein's increasingly complex, self-indulgeent, and overused "World as Myth" universe, during which our protagonist discovers that everything he knows is wrong, and everyone he knows is somehow related to (or married to, or an associate of) Lazarus Long, and etc. and e...more
It starts to derail after that, though, bogging down in Heinlein's increasingly complex, self-indulgeent, and overused "World as Myth" universe, during which our protagonist discovers that everything he knows is wrong, and everyone he knows is somehow related to (or married to, or an associate of) Lazarus Long, and etc. and e...more
Well, I found this to be another example of Heinlein not only pushing his political/social beliefs, but also his very strange, somewhat disturbing views on sexuality. While I do agree with the political/social bit for the most part, the continual deviant sexual byplay really turned this book off for me. Also, the book is very dialog-heavy, (mostly to push the aforementioned themes), and without much in the way of redeeming value. I initially decided to read this book because The Moon is a Harsh...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The book was disappointing. Long, rambling & full of 'sage' advice from his various father figures. More tying his various universes together, unnecessarily. If you like any of his books originally published after 1970, you might give it a try, but I wouldn't put it high on my list. If you like "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" you'll like this.
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Robert Heinlein has written some of my favourite sci-fi books. This was an enjoyable book to read but not amongst his finest in my opinion.
The story bounced around all over the place in a fast paced fashion with me never quite sure what was happening. The story came together when the honeymooners finally got to Tertius but even then I felt there were many questions that were only vaguely answered. The open relationships were tough to follow and sometimes I found them too quick to start. There wa...more
The story bounced around all over the place in a fast paced fashion with me never quite sure what was happening. The story came together when the honeymooners finally got to Tertius but even then I felt there were many questions that were only vaguely answered. The open relationships were tough to follow and sometimes I found them too quick to start. There wa...more
This is the second time I have read this book. I think it might have been the first Heinlein I read 20 years ago. I loved the beginning. I think the middle is okay. I don't love the end. I might not recommend this as the FIRST Heinlein book someone read. It has a lot of characters in it that were more fully developed in other works.
There are great quips throughout, but this is probably the most meaningful:
"If the great brains had not been so hoodwinked by their shared conviction that the univers...more
There are great quips throughout, but this is probably the most meaningful:
"If the great brains had not been so hoodwinked by their shared conviction that the univers...more
Up until now I have been smitten with Robert Heinlein, but somewhere between the wooden dialogue, strung-out plot, and self-serving characters of The Cat Who Walks through Walls my feelings began to change.
I have consistently complimented Heinlein's anthropological imagination; the man creates wonderful cultures for his characters to travel to. Unfortunately, in The Cat Who Walks through Walls his worlds seem to serve not the plot, but the author's political leanings - from the constantly bicke...more
I have consistently complimented Heinlein's anthropological imagination; the man creates wonderful cultures for his characters to travel to. Unfortunately, in The Cat Who Walks through Walls his worlds seem to serve not the plot, but the author's political leanings - from the constantly bicke...more
What I learned from "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls":
1) If a government official refuses to speak with you, just threaten to walk out and he'll change his mind immediately.
2) A fez, not unlike Clark Kent's glasses, makes an impenetrable disguise.
3) Sexism will make a big comeback in the future. Incest, too.
4) Alternate universes and time travel can be used to fill any plot hole.
5) Cutting in line is a death-penalty offense, but murder... meh.
6) Just like in "Field of Dreams," Iowa is teh awesom...more
1) If a government official refuses to speak with you, just threaten to walk out and he'll change his mind immediately.
2) A fez, not unlike Clark Kent's glasses, makes an impenetrable disguise.
3) Sexism will make a big comeback in the future. Incest, too.
4) Alternate universes and time travel can be used to fill any plot hole.
5) Cutting in line is a death-penalty offense, but murder... meh.
6) Just like in "Field of Dreams," Iowa is teh awesom...more
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Robert Anson Heinlein was an American novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction".
He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into mainstre...more
More about Robert A. Heinlein...
He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into mainstre...more
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