The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

Its very dated but its great sci-fi! I especially loved the last short story in the book, it was a real mind bender. I highly recommend this book.

This is my favorite book by Heinlein that I have read thus far. It is actually a collection of short stories, with the title novella being the longest one. It is truly a good story. Not hard science fiction, but more of a mystery. SF fans and non-fans alike will like this story, it is very suspenseful and a real page turner.The other stories are The Man Who Traveled In Elephants, a throwaway; All You Zombies, a good story that is probably the weirdest story from an author known for weird storie; They, a very thought-provoking story, with feelings from the main character that I'm sure we've all felt at one time or another; Our Fair City, a hilarous short story that had me laughing out loud numerous times; and He Built A Crooked House, another grand tale that will leave Geometry experts saying "Hmmm...".Read this book. It is one of those books that you will just find near impossible to put down, and you will regret it when you finally do.

Why in the world did they let this gem go out of print?Heinlein was often at his best in his shorter works, and each of thestories in it is a matserpiece of the genre. The ideas are totallyoriginal, the writing is spare and sharp, and the dialog is crisp and to the point. No sci-fi jargon, no talk of fusion drives and orbital mechanics.The title story, "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag", begins with a simple premise- a man comes to a private eye and asks him to figurie out what he does all day. He can't remember anything of the day's events, and worries that the material he finds under his fingernails might be blood. It isn't; it's dirt, but something infintely more bizarre is waiting to be discovered. "He Built A Crooked House" is one of the wittiest, most imaginative short stories I've ever come across. An architect designs a modern house meant to resemble a three-dimensional projection of a hypercube, but when he and his client arrive after an earthquake, something quite odd has happened to the house. END

Robert A.Heinlein is in my life everyday, his dedication to the reader is a fixture in every book he writes, he takes an ordinary sheet of paper and turns it into a masterpiece that you can't set down. I have every book he has made available to the public and I still long for more, I have read and reread everything the man has in print, and one of my favorites is The Unpleasent Profession of Johnathan Hoag. Which also contains several other stories such as, They, The Man Who Travels In Elephants, and He built a crooked House. If I missed one I'm sorry as I am typing from memory. Pick up his book and you'll see why I praise this man....

Can't imagine giving RAH less than 5 stars. My copy is falling apart & you never know when you'll be in a bomb shelter for an extended length of time...;-) Gotta have a new copy just in case!You'll never look at art (maybe the world) the same way again...