One should never talk of Number Of The Beast.

Ah. Sorry. It was thing. (Honestly not familiar with the book at all.)

How did you Heinlen-likers get past the silly stoopid gurls?

My friend the major Heinlein fan simply acknowledges it as a flaw in RAH's writing and ignores it. (shrugs) As I said, I haven't read enough, and none in the last 5 years or so, to really make an opinion on the subject.

Yeah, I'd say that's more or less how I do it - it's the same way with the libertarianism. When I read him I go into it knowing that he has wacky ideas about women and politics, so it doesn't bother me. Plus, I like his dialogue and story-telling, so I get swept up in the story and don't worry about the stoopidity.

ETA an explanatory 'it's'

EETA I still like Number of the Beast

I read NotB twice, because I didn't believe I could have hated it that much the first time.

I'm not very bright.

I felt slightly guilty when I found out his stroke affected the book, but unless everyone along the chain also suffered a stroke, there's no excuse for that imbroglio.

Apparently it is one of those polarizing books. There's an amusing review on Amazon of it:

It is simultaneously clever and silly and complex and stupid.

See, that sounds like perfect Buffista material!

[snip]

The banter is somewhat reminicent [sic] of that of Dawson's Creek and Gilmore Girls (not watched by choice) - sometimes unrealistically witty. In Heinlein's defense, his four main characters are educated geniuses, not high-school students.

hee.

What's the premise, ita? Is it about silly gurls who flirt with totalitarian regimes so the menfolk can start a revolution, marry their cousins, and call the town Shelbyville?

Nope, it's about 4 uber-brilliant scientists (all of whom are facets of Heinlein himself) who get wackily thrown into alterna-universe traveling. Hijinks (and long intellectual discussions) ensue. Here is the "book description" from Amazon again:

When two male and two female supremely sensual, unspeakably cerebral humans find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies -- and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller coaster ride of adventure and danger, ecstasy and peril.

I can almost feel Allyson's blood pressure rising on reading this blurb!

(whitefonted for what may be a spoiler, can't remember since I read it over 10 years ago)

Isn't there a quest for fertilisation in it, that gets discarded midway through?

I liked The Cat Who Walked Through Walls well enough, but didn't care for NotB at all.

I seem to recall a lot of stuff [in NoTB] was discarded midway through. Ha, ha, "quest for fertilisation" - that sounds about right.

ETA and my reasons for liking it are becoming less and less defensible. OK, put it this way, despite its' many flaws, I still enjoyed it at age 15. Whether or not I'd still like it now, I dunno. [Makes note to reread Heinlein for the sole purpose of arguing about it with Buffistas.]

When I read Stranger in a Strange Land at age 13 or thereabouts, it changed my whole way of thinking. It was utterly different than anything I'd read in my sheltered life, and the ideas it introduced me to (including the weird sex) lead me on to more advanced philosophical concepts I might not otherwise have discovered. When I read SiaSL now, I cringe and say, dear Lord, this is wretched.

I read other Heinlein books in my mid-teens, and was always left wondering what the hell just happened? When I grow up, is this the way intelligent men will expect an intelligent woman like me to behave? For some reason, SiaSL didn't trigger the WTF reaction. Maybe because it was first.