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I Will Fear No Evil
Robert A. Heinlein

Ace, 1987 - 512 pages

average customer review:based on 75 reviews
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Sex on the brain

Heinlein may be one of the great masters of science fiction, but his novels also tend to be oversexed, and this one is no exception. The "Free Love" theme of the 1970's is quite evident here, and gets quite tiring by the book's end.

The book concerns a rich old man named Johann Sebastian Bach Smith, who (in order to live longer), wishes to have his brain transplanted in a younger body. The twist comes in when it gets transplanted into the body of his sexy young female secretary! There's a lot of gender-bending and sometimes thought-provoking questions about male vs. female psyches, but after 500 pages, it gets rather lengthy and dull.

In the author's defense, Heinlein (as always) manages to paint some very interesting and charismatic personalities on paper. If you haven't yet read it (although most people have), I recommend instead Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. While also oversexed, is much more interesting and not quite as droning as I Will Fear No Evil.


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The point of a journey ...

... is not to arrive. Ponder this before you pick up this book: do the books you read have to be action-packed (defeating evil villains, fighting battles in space, encountering extraterrestrials) or is a story of human interaction equally compelling?

This is definitely a dialogue-driven book. After the protagonist wakes up and learns that he is in the body of his secretary, and that his secretary's mind is still in her body even though her brain was removed and his was implanted in its place, there is little of what might be called "action" except for a mild courtroom drama.

I've had little exposure to Heinlein; one of the first SF books I read was _Space Cadet_, which I enjoyed, although at ten I wasn't particularly discriminating. Two or three years ago I tried to read _Stranger in a Strange Land_, and was bored by it; I couldn't make it through to the end.

This book, however, was a completely different animal. The dialogue is compelling, and its frequently sexual nature challenges us to examine our notions of love and gender.

Near the end there is a surprise twist: Was Heinlein playing with our minds, leading us on, throughout the entire book? Is Joan/Johann crazy? Did s/he snap? When I finished the book I was inspired to read it again, immediately, to try and find an answer to this question.

This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, mentally engaging, and challenging science fiction books I've ever read. Judging by the reviews here, you either love it or hate it, and there isn't much middle ground.


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The Second Trip

Macho, macho man; I've got to be a, whoops, where's my willy? Heinlein's medication must have backed up on him while he was writing this. I guess every man has wondered what it's like for the girls, but very few volunteer to find out. Johann Sebastian Bach Smith's elaborate suicide scheme to escape his nightmarish, over-medicated old age, an impossible body transplant, backfires by actually working. Smith finds himself in the body of his recently-deceased secretary, along with the mind of the secretary herself. It's actually a damn good book, but we are talking major league weirdness here as Smith sets out to explore this brave new world, jiggling all the way.


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Fascinating book by Heinlein

This novel has an interesting premise. An extremely rich old man doesn't want to die. He pays to have his brain transplanted into someone else's body before he dies. He discovers very much to his surprise that his brain is transplanted into the body of a young woman. The novel is the story of his adaptation to being in a woman's body. If you're looking for a unique book, this is the book to read.


reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15



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