| The Number Of The Beast (novel) |
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''The Number of the Beast'' is a Science Fiction Novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1980 (ISBN 0-44-913070-3). The book is a series of diary entries by each of the 4 main characters, Captain Zebadiah J. Carter, programmer Dejah Thoris Burroughs (Deety) and her math professor father Jacob Burroughs, and an off-campus socialite Hilda Corners. The odd foursome dash off in Zeb's sports car spaceship, outfitted with the professor's continua device, into various fictional universes. There is plenty of sex, rivalry, and even a trip to Oz . In the novel, the Biblical Number Of The Beast turns out to be, not 666, but , or 10314424798490535546171949056, which is the number of Parallel Universe s accessible to the protagonists. The novel lies somewhere between Parody and Homage in its deliberate use of the style of the 1930's Pulp Novels . Many of the plot lines and characters are derived directly from the pulps, as referenced by the first line of the novel: ''"He's a Mad Scientist and I'm his Beautiful Daughter."'' --Deety ''The Number of the Beast'' contains many In-joke s and references. For instance, the name of ''every'' Villain is an Anagram of a name or Pen Name of Robert or Virginia Heinlein. The book's quality is disputed. Some critics have very low opinions of it; other schools of thought (see [http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/numberbeast.html for an example) hold that it is an extended demonstration of Heinlein's knowledge of writing using bad examples; and still others find it amusing and engaging. In this book Heinlein introduced the concept called " Pantheistic Solipsism " or "world-as-myth" -- the theory that universes are created by the act of Imagining them, so that somewhere even fictional worlds (Oz is one of the examples Heinlein uses) are real. Near the end, this book is connected to '' Time Enough For Love '', and through it to several others of Heinlein's later works. EDITIONS
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