I was sorely disappointed in this book, after hearing about it so much. The religious and philosophical ideas all sound rather contrived and unbelievable. The characters are cookie cutter and unbelievable, and are trapped in the pre 1960's gender expectations. The dialogue is terrible - Heinlein tries to make his characters sound clever, but the result is disappointing and unrealistic. Above all, Heinlein tries to shoehorn all his ideas into the book, and it ends up reading like "Heinlein's Greatest Hits" - look at me! I'm Robert Heinlein. Look at how smart I am!I finished this thing and tossed it down the bin right afterwards.