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Robert Heinlein
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The Cat Who Walks through Walls Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1988

by Robert A. Heinlein (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 274 ratings
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A fast-paced, science fiction romp through multiple universes from the bestselling author of Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land.

“[Heinlein] is, if possible, a greater genius than ever before...this time by giving us a thinking man’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
Dr. Richard Ames is an ex-military man, a sometime writer, and unfortunate victim of mistaken identity. When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike could change the direction of all human history.
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  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ace
  4. Publication date
    June 1, 1988
  5. Dimensions
    4.2 x 1.07 x 6.86 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0441094996
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0441094998
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dialogue as witty as Oscar Wilde’s, action as rollicking as Edgar Rice Burrough’s, and satire as spicy as Jonathan Swift’s.”—The New York Times
 
“Entertaining...plenty of fast action...vivid and believable.”—Chicago Sun
 
“Irresistible...The Cat Who Walks through Walls has a force that cannot be denied.”—Locus

About the Author

Robert Anson Heinlein was born in Missouri in 1907, and was raised there. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1929, but was forced by illness to retire from the Navy in 1934. He settled in California and over the next five years held a variety of jobs while doing post-graduate work in mathematics and physics at the University of California. In 1939 he sold his first science fiction story to Astounding magazine and soon devoted himself to the genre.

He was a four-time winner of the Hugo Award for his novels Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Starship Troopers (1959), Double Star (1956), and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966). His Future History series, incorporating both short stories and novels, was first mapped out in 1941. The series charts the social, political, and technological changes shaping human society from the present through several centuries into the future.

Robert A. Heinlein’s books were among the first works of science fiction to reach bestseller status in both hardcover and paperback. he continued to work into his eighties, and his work never ceased to amaze, to entertain, and to generate controversy. By the time he died, in 1988, it was evident that he was one of the formative talents of science fiction: a writer whose unique vision, unflagging energy, and persistence, over the course of five decades, made a great impact on the American mind.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace (June 1, 1988)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0441094996
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441094998
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 1.07 x 6.86 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 274 ratings

About the author

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Robert Heinlein

Robert Heinlein

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Robert Heinlein was an American novelist and the grand master of science fiction in the twentieth century. Often called 'the dean of science fiction writers', he is one of the most popular, influential and controversial authors of 'hard science fiction'.

Over the course of his long career he won numerous awards and wrote 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections, many of which have cemented their place in history as science fiction classics, including STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and the beloved STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
274 global ratings
Typical Heinlein
5 Stars
Typical Heinlein
Just finished reading Robert Heinlein’s novel “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.” Heinlein is considered the Grand Master of science fiction. This physical book (a Berkley 1986 published edition), was handed to me by another Heinlein fan because I’d mentioned I’d never read it. Now I have.Typical of Heinlein (deceased May 1988), a fast paced futuristic space adventure ensues. The two main characters are well developed and fully rounded. Action is quick and consistent with (most) of today’s physics laws. Since this story is sci-fi, many new and unheard of laws are present and highly used; as in the twists-and-turns of past and future time travel, time loops, and numerous side-shifted timeline adventures, all of which somehow contribute to the whole.It gets highly confusing toward story’s end. Again, typical of Heinlein, which is all part of the fun.The only thing I’m still confused about is the cat who walks through walls. There is a cat/kitten (feline) character in the story—named Pixel—towards the end, but it is strictly a pet. Though there are hints from other characters who don’t always know how it gets into places it does.There is also the quantum mechanics thought experiment of Schrodinger’s cat, which illustrates the paradox of quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat may be considered both alive and dead, while it is unobserved in a closed box, because of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. When one looks in the box, the observer sees the cat either alive or dead. This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality resolves into one possibility or another.This is also the pivot upon which Heinlein’s story turns.Either way, the story is fun.
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Top reviews from the United States

bruce ostrander
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2024
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my favorite author
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Carol Buchanan
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023
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Wonderful condition! Delivered when promised, and well packaged. A marvelous story of future romance with a lot of inner/outer space. This book made my imagination take off and want to live in the future of this book. Please, if your imagination is lagging read this book, it is hilarious and yet serious. A good read.
One person found this helpful
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Michael H. Nevergold
5.0 out of 5 stars Good transaction
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2023
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The book is in the condition described, it arrived early & I am happy with this purchase.
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Criss Morgan
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Heinlein.
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2016
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One of Heinlein's classics, but I hated the ending. Left me feeling like I missed something and I would much rather have read more about the cat and less about the sexual exploits of the characters.
4 people found this helpful
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Michael Lynn McGuire
5.0 out of 5 stars Book number seven in a very loose series of eight science fiction books
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
Book number seven in a very loose series of eight science fiction books. I reread the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Ace in 1988 that I bought new in 1988 (I think !). I plan to reread "To Sail Beyond The Sunset" and "The Rolling Stones" soon. I have yet to decide if I am going to reread "The Number Of The Beast".

The book dedication is quite excellent, “To Jerry and Larry and Harry, Dean and Dan and Jim, Poul and Buz and Sarge (Men to have at your back). R.A.H.”
"“Jerry” is Jerry Pournelle (1933 – ); His wife Roberta was a dedicatee of Friday."
"“Larry” is Larry Niven (1938 – )."
"“Harry” is G. Harry Stine (1928 – 1997); See the Have Space Suit - Will Travel dedication."
"(All are science fiction authors.)"
"“Dean” is Dean Ing, Ph.D., a professor of communications in Eugene, Oregon and a science fiction author."
"“Dan” is Lt. General Daniel O. Graham, U. S. Army (Ret.) (d. 1995), founder and director of High Frontier and an originator of the SDI project."
"“Jim” is Jim Baen (1943 – ), science fiction author and editor."
"“Poul” is Poul Anderson (1926 – 2001), science fiction author."
"“Buz” is Francis Marion Busby (1921 – ), science fiction author and fan (his wife Elinor was a dedicatee of Friday)."
"Finally, “Sarge” is Barry Workman, a friend of Jerry Pournelle’s."
"Jim Baen mentioned in private email that he personally was very touched when he received his inscribed copy of the book, and he knew that all the other dedicatees were as well. He also noted that all of these people participated in the Citizen’s Advisory Council on National Space Policy, formed by Jerry Pournelle in 1980, which prepared much of the Reagan Administration Transition Team policy papers on space. Heinlein attended several of these meetings."

This book starts with a murder in chapter one in a popular restaurant in one of the large habitats circling the Moon after the year 2136. Dr. Richard Ames and his dinner date Gwen Novak aka Hazel Stone from the Lunar Revolution, are rudely interrupted by an uninvited guest who is murdered at their table. And thusly starts the crazy fleeing to the Moon, time shifting, universe jumping of their time together.

If you are offended by sex, and I mean lots of sex, in a book then I would advise you to stay away from this book and series. Except for the first book in the series, "Methusalah's Children". All of the books, except the first book, have group marriages in or mentioned in them which was first expounded by Heinlein in "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" book.

The rather loose book series is (there may be more):
1. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
2. The Rolling Stones
3. Methuselah's Children
4. Time Enough For Love
5. The Number Of The Beast
6. The Pursuit Of The Pankera
7. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
8. To Sail Beyond The Sunset

There is a rather excellent timeline of Heinlein's books at:

Jo Walton, the Heinlein apologist, says that "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" is not Heinlein's worst novel, but, it is too long and the end plot is infuriating.
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Orion E. Hubbard
3.0 out of 5 stars Great Writing, BUT--
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2006
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I love Robert A. Heinlein as a writer. He's sharp, funny, sometimes brilliant, and yet when he strikes out like he did in the Cat Who Walks Through Walls, it's a major disappointment. This book was doing pretty well for itself for the first two-thirds or so, then it all goes pear-shaped in the end I'm sorry to say.

In a sense, this book is a sequel to The Number of the Beast and has themes that carry on from that book. It's not really necessary to have read NOTB, but it would help to explain much of what's going on. But the problem with the Cat Who Walked Through Walls is that Heinlein has had a great idea and set up a great plot but it seems like it all got away from him. Or maybe it didn't; maybe the ending was just the way he wanted it to be for strange reasons known only to himself. Maybe there are a lot of people who actually liked that ending, but it just left me cold and unsatisfied because of its abruptness.

Heinlein has written a lot of great books, but I'm sorry to say, this just isn't one of them.

Ron
7 people found this helpful
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Kathy Henry
5.0 out of 5 stars Heinlein
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2021
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It was as good as I remembered.
2 people found this helpful
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JamesP
5.0 out of 5 stars What a mind Heinlein had
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2020
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Had no idea where the story was going even to the end. Enjoyed the trip very much.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Jonathan Michael Reiter
5.0 out of 5 stars The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2018
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I read this book on my way through the works of Robert Heinlein...
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mr pd chittock
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2017
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I like most of Heinlein`s books and have a fair collection,bought this to replace book damaged by mould
One person found this helpful
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Jean Roux
3.0 out of 5 stars le chat de Schrödinger reste dans la boite.
Reviewed in France on March 21, 2016
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Roman plutôt amusant mais qui m'a laissé sur ma faim.
Je croyais y trouver une réflexion sur le concept du chat de Schrödinger sans la trouver. C'est assez verbeux et parfois long, mais c'est amusant.
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もち
5.0 out of 5 stars うん
Reviewed in Japan on August 30, 2016
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値段の割にはきれいだった、良心的といっていいと思います・・・よ
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David Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Author
Reviewed in Canada on June 30, 2016
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I have not read this book but I am looking forward to it.
I have read others from this author and enjoy how he writes.
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