The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein

The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1966.

It includes an introduction entitled “Pandora’s Box” that describes some of the difficulties in making predictions about the near future. Heinlein outlines some of his predictions that he made in 1949 (published 1952) and examines how well they stood up to some 15 years of progress in 1965. The prediction was originally published in Galaxy magazine, Feb 1952, Vol. 3, No. 5, under the title “Where to?” (pp. 13-22).

Following the introduction are five short stories:

* “Free Men” (written c. 1947, but first published in this collection, 1966)
* “Blowups Happen” (1940)
* “Searchlight” (1962)
* “Life-Line” (1939)
* “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1940)

In 1980, the entire contents of this collection, including “Pandora’s Box” (further updated), were engulfed in Heinlein’s collection, Expanded Universe.