Friday
by Robert A. Heinlein · first published 1982
24% recommend71% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Comfort reread for many fans of Heinlein's later work; praised for its imagined near-future tech, like the Shipstone battery and internet-like research, and for its engaging, readable story.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Engineered from the finest genes, and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. Working at Boss's whimsical behest she travels from far north to deep south, finding quick, expeditious solutions as one calamity after another threatens to explode in her face.... Fabulous Heinlein world of fascination and intrigue.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2014–2025Grumbles from the grave
Robert A. Heinlein
Recommended by 1 · mentioned by 41 recommend · 4 mention1 recommend · 41 recommend
2009–2025To sail beyond the sunset
Robert A. Heinlein
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 134 recommend · 13 mention4 recommend · 134 recommend
2018–2023Kindred
Octavia E. Butler
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 74 recommend · 7 mention4 recommend · 74 recommend
2010–2025Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 1511 recommend · 15 mention11 recommend · 1511 recommend
2011–2021I Will Fear No Evil
Robert A. Heinlein
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 144 recommend · 14 mention4 recommend · 144 recommend
2012–2026Logic Named Joe
Murray Leinster
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 109 recommend · 10 mention9 recommend · 109 recommend
2011–2025Martian Time-Slip
Philip K. Dick
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 127 recommend · 12 mention7 recommend · 127 recommend
2008–2024Heretics of Dune
Frank Herbert
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 134 recommend · 13 mention4 recommend · 134 recommend
My favourite Heinlein prediction is the "Shipstone" from Friday - an energy storage device that packs "more kilowatt-hours into a smaller space and a smaller mass than any other engineer had ever dreamed of. To call it an "improved storage battery" (as some early…
on “The Predictions of Robert A. Heinlein” ↗…nonfiction essays, the recently published "lost" works. I consider him and Asimov among my formative influences. I disagree with the critics the article cites about the quality of his post-surgery work; Friday is fantastic and Job, the book the profile is putatively about, is also great. They're just different from the Scribner's juveniles. In turn I like the juveniles, but they don't stick with me as much…
on “In the Strange Land of Robert Heinlein (1984)” ↗…reading' like comfort food. It is one of the books I pick up when I am lying in bed sick for the day. Usually something by Heinlein/Clarke or maybe Asimov. Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Tunnel in the sky, Friday, Rama, have all been read 5 to 10 times.
on “Why reading a book 100 times is a great idea” ↗I love Friday and just reread it last weekend. Often I think that Elon Musk believes he is a character in a Heinlein novel. Tesla is Shipstone, the cars are just a mechanism to build better batteries. SpaceX, that's…
on “US Army deploys its first floating solar array” ↗Robert Heinlein's character Friday uses something akin to the internet to do her research (this book came out in 1982). While the internet comes with its problems (toxic communities, digital addiction), I'm reminded of that book and how…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗As a child, I read Friday by Robert A Heinlein, which portrayed a future in which energy needs are addressed by energy storage devices called "Shipstones", which are described as a way to pack more kilowatt-hours into a smaller…
on “A Star in a Bottle” ↗…e.g. Have Space Suit Will Travel and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - because they were only about the solar system, I've found to be among my favorites as an adult. Then again, I couldn't get through Friday back then, but found the description of the role that big data would play in the future prescient a few years ago. Likewise, understanding Stranger in a Strange Land in the context of Heinlien's relationship…
on “Sci-Fi Novels You Should Read” ↗I just reread Heinlein's Friday published in 1982. He is surprisingly accurate in describing the way casual use of networked computers for entertainment and education is used to track individuals.
on “Star Trek as a purely symbolic artifact of past times” ↗I sort of like Friday, but I wouldn't really recommend it to someone who isn't also a Heinlein completist. I don't think it is bad, but it's not one of his stronger novels, and I understand why a lot of people really don't…
on “The Hacker's Manifesto (1986)” ↗…Monopolies are nearly impossible without government backing. The only non-statist monopoly I can see would be a secure trade secret - like the formula for Coke or the Shipstones of Heinlein's novel "Friday", and even they are vulnerable to substitutes. As for the anti-commons, I can't see that it applies here, since the networks are already private as are all "creative works" (since automatic copyright…
on “What Larry Lessig Didn't Get” ↗...but Robert Heinlein predicted why or rather how the web would work on us. In 'Friday,' he gets wrong that it will be a system with metered, limited access... ...but (to my mind, remarkably) predicts that multimedia-enabled hypertext will lead to associative impulsive serendipitous browsing,…
on “Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet and PC (1974)” ↗In the sci-fi novel 'Friday', Robert Heinlein writes about a physicist named Daniel Shipstone who realised that 'the problem was not a shortage of energy but lay in the transporting of energy. Energy is everywhere—in sunlight, in…
on “Starlite” ↗Heinlein, Friday When it was noted that Californians with college degrees earned more than those with high school diplomas alone, the California voters passed a law granting all citizens a bachelor’s degree upon graduation…
on “Cal State will no longer require math and English placement exams” ↗Robert A. Heinlein wrote a book called Friday that had something like this. They would use huge solar arrays to charge proprietary solid state batteries called Shipstones which were used everywhere. There wasn't even a power grid anymore because…
on “US Army deploys its first floating solar array” ↗…it’s also trivial to graduate college with no useful skills or mind expansion because it has become more accessible and the bar is lower. So your degree no longer signifies much about you. In Heinlein's Friday, the heroine visits a future California. The government, having found that those with college degrees earn more money, promptly issues every citizen a bachelor's degree to correct this inequitable situation.
on “US Confidence in Higher Education Institutions Continues Long Decline” ↗