It also was a mishmash of characters from Heinlein's other stories, and all of Heinlein's earlier stories were pulled into the last chapter to tie them into an overarching unified universe. The last chapter of Number was something of a non sequitur to all of the previous chapters. I also enjoyed reading The Number of the Beast, except for its last chapter-but for different reasons. The URL to download the latest version Future History flowchart is, (and will be as long as box.com and I last,) here:įor what it's worth, I enjoyed reading The Pursuit of the Pankera.

I store the images for all my flowcharts at box.com, and the most up-to-date version is always available for download. I always seems to find details I missed in the first pass that need to be added for accuracy. So Variable Star belongs on the flowchart, but The Pursuit of the Pankera does not.Īll of my reading-order flowcharts are works in progress, and presumably will never be conclusively 'finished'. On the other hand, The Number of the Beast and The Pursuit of the Pankera are very similar to each other, but although both stories are based on the same premise, the story in The Pursuit of the Pankera has no connection to Future History, but The Number of the Beast does have a connection to Future History that is quite significant. I also added a note in the bottom section explaining the origin and significance of Variable Star.

It belongs on this flowchart just as much as Time for the Stars. Although Variable Star was actually written by Spider Robinson, it was based on a novel outline that Heinlein created around 1955. I improved the flowchart by adding Variable Star, which I had missed including earlier.

Since each image has its own unique URL, I can store updated versions at the exact same address as the original image, so the file downloaded at the link will always be the most up-to-date one. In my posts to Baen's Bar, I usually include a link to download each image at box.com, where I store my images. Since my initial post in this thread, I have made a couple of corrections to the Future History Reading-Order Flowchart.

Heinlein revolt in 2100