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Summary: Tunnel in the Sky
Review: I read this book when I was 12 years old. Started it and didn't put it down until I finished it. It is a great book for teens and adults as well.
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Summary: Enjoyable Sci-Fi
Review: I truly enjoyed this book for it's fluid story telling and the use of concepts of travelling to other worlds (to name just one). It sometimes moved too fast for me, though, with new characters and names to keep track of. Some characters were introduced early on only to reappear later with little significance to the story. The ending was also a little bit of a let down. It seemed too quick and unexpected. A very good book overall.
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Summary: Robert Heinlein IS the King of SF in my opinion.
Review: I was born in 1952 and have been reading SF (particularly mainstream with some Fantasy) since I was about 10. I have read thousands of SF books over the last 38 years, and in all this time, there has never been any author who consistantly 'produced the goods', so to say. I would give all of his books a rating of 5 out of 5. Even this week I was mentioning this particular book and 'Stobors' to work associates. I won't elaborate on this, for those who have yet to read it. I have lost count of howmany times I have re-read all of Mr Heinlein's books. Jules Verne is great, H.G. Wells also, others shine too; but there is only one king, Robert Heinlein!
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Summary: Interesting. I'm surprised this is designed for children.
Review: I'm sure I would have liked this when I was younger. I wish I read more like this when I was a kid(not that long ago) well I am still a teenager for a few months more at least.Interesting to the extent people will go to survive in the wildnerness. I love the fact that the people who think they can protect themselves with technology are easily killed off. It is almost saying that technology is leading us in the wrong directions. Maybe everyone has a bit of a savage inside of themselves. The structure is similar but better than "Farnham's Freehold", another novel by Heilein. This book sticks true to one vision throughout the novel whereas in Farnham the story goes off in a million directions about halfway through. There is nothing wrong with Farnham just that this is more structured. I can see that kids would enjoy this kind of literature. Altough reading it now is infintely better than lets say if I had read it 10 years ago. "Starman Jones" is something I would consider more childish although it certainly has some adult elements. Enjoyed it, one of the better Heilein novels.
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Summary: Still a great read
Review: In the future, Earth is bulging at the seams with people. Fortunately, a technology is developed which allows gateways to be opened to far-flung planets. By stepping through the gateway, you are almost instantaneously transported light years across the galaxy. This technology paved the way for the colonization of the galaxy by the immigrants eager to leave the crowded confines of Earth.
Naturally, with a colonization boom on, high school and college students are trained in survival and pioneering techniques to prepare them for being colonists. The culmination of these training courses is a survival course. The participants in the course are sent to a remote planet fraught with peril and must survive for up to ten days utilizing only the scant belongings they have carried with them through the gate. Usually these tests proceed with minimal injuries and casualties. But, what if something went wrong and the students could not be recalled?
Heinlein explores the disaster of students stranded among the stars with his usual precision and non-wordy prose. The character development is sufficient for the male characters, but a bit sparse for the females (somewhat typical of Heinlein). You can really empathize with these poor kids who are stranded, most likely without hope of ever being rescued, as they contend with the hardships of survival. Dangerous animals abound on their planet and they must learn to work together to be able to thrive as a group and survive the perils of their environment. Predictable as it may be, the most dangerous creatures often prove to be the students themselves, but not always for the reasons you would suspect.
As the students organize, Heinlein does explore the folly of trying to organize a government in the harsh surroundings. Fortunately, Heinlein uses this side plot to effectively advance the main plot line instead of digressing into a pointless discourse on the importance of government to achieve an orderly society (as other authors might have done).
Like Asimov, he tends to focus more on his characters than science. And even though this book was written in 1955, it still holds up very well today and can be enjoyed by all science fiction fans.
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Summary: A great book for kids -- and adults
Review: Like all of the Heinlein junior novels, Tunnel in the Sky is about responsibility, competence, and how the world really works. Like the best of them, it also succeeds completely as a story. A terrific book; I'm giving one to my 9-year-old nephew, who I think is old enough to enjoy it.
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Summary: Definately a defining piece of literature for many.
Review: Like the other reviewers I read this book first when I was quite young...9 or 10 I think. I truly feel that the conveyance of the independent spirit in this book helped to define who I am and how I think. The determination of characters in RAH's early works like this one, Red Planet, Citizen of the Galaxy, and Have Spacesuit Will Travel were inspirations to me in the turbulent pre-adolescent years. Of course the lascivious nature of the characters in RAH's later works would come to play a defining role in my development in my post-adolescent years, but that is another story all together!
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Summary: A lesser-known Heinlein novel that is really superb
Review: Most sci-fi fans know Heinlein for big books like Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein wrote a number of shorter novels that really are worth reading In Tunnel in the Sky, the hero Rod is kind of an everyman who seeks an escape from a regimented, rationed life on overpopulated Earth. He wants be a leader of expeditions to settle new worlds. To train for this dangerous career, Rod is enrolled in a survival class in high school. Rod's final exam is at hand. Rod must get to the meeting point on time to transport to an unknown, unsettled planet. He can take a certain amount of luggage, anything he thinks necessary to survive a few days on a wild planet. (Items students deem to be survival gear range from the latest in sonic blasters, a dog, a saucepan and a deck of cards.) Rod and several other classes transport to the planet and have a few days to survive before the beacon recalls them to the opening of the return gate. But something goes very wrong, Rod's maturation during this adventure is great character development. It's a good novel for boys, but anyone could enjoy reading it. A great tale of survival and character
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Summary: GREAT BOOKS MAKE YOU THINK -- THIS ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST
Review: One of the best fiction books I ever read. When I first read it as an 8th grader, I couldn't stop thinking of what I would do if I were stranded on a strange planet. How would I survive? How would I protect myself from alien creatures? How could I anticipate unknown dangers? How could I find directions? And a host of other survival-related questions. These are still the questions that need to be answered as we think of exploring space. When I was a Boy Scout, whenever I learned another constellation, or learned how to use a compass, I occasionally remembered this book and how important these skills could be to me in a survival-type situation. Definitely a great book to get any young adult thinking about serious issues.
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Summary: GREAT BOOKS MAKE YOU THINK -- THIS ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST
Review: One of the best fiction books I ever read. When I first read it as an 8th grader, I couldn't stop thinking of what I would do if I were stranded on a strange planet. How would I survive? How would I protect myself from alien creatures? How could I anticipate unknown dangers? How could I find directions? And a host of other survival-related questions. These are still the questions that need to be answered as we think of exploring space. When I was a Boy Scout, whenever I learned another constellation, or learned how to use a compass, I occasionally remembered this book and how important these skills could be to me in a survival-type situation. Definitely a great book to get any young adult thinking about serious issues.
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