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Summary: Vintage vision of the future
Review: A short hop into the future, on an Earth almost as real as the corner store, teenager Bill Lermer lives with his widower father in the Diego Borough of the sprawling City of Southern California. His is a fast new world in which grammar school geography classes take field trips to Antarctica and study their regular lessons from versatile "studying machines." But while Bill can pilot a helicopter and follow the news from the developing offworld colonies, his world is not perfect: he seldom gets enough to eat. He and his father must limit their diets according to a strict caloric ration book, and although a new yeast plant has just begun production in Montana, the caloric ration has been reduced yet another time. Rather than tighten their belts, the Lermers decide to emigrate to Ganymede, where terraforming is underway and good food abounds. Written in 1950, Farmer in the Sky is one of Heinlein's first boys' books, and also one of the most muscular and optimistic. It deals with nothing less than the future of mankind; what, after all, must humans do to survive, civilization intact, when Earth becomes too crowded, famished and bellicose? Emigration to other colonized worlds is one solution, and that is what Heinlein illustrates so well in Farmer. He presents his readers with a Ganymede already partially modified to support life from Earth, and makes it all seem plausible--even commonplace (at least within the bounds of late 1940's scientific theory). A reader can see Jupiter hanging up there in the greenish sky, and hear the tremendous din of rock-crushing machinery. Against this vivid backdrop, a variety of characters win or lose as they try to wrest a living from Ganymede's newly created soil. Red-bearded Papa Schultz and his large family are seasoned colonists and adept at surviving the caprices of nature. Mr. Saunders, on the other hand, is shiftless and soon goes back to Earth. Perhaps one of the most memorable characters in the book is Hank, who at first seems like candidate for reform school but later proves to be just the right sort of rascal who makes a good pioneer. Memorable, too, are the young scientists and engineers of the book, courageous and intent on opening up new frontiers for humankind. In light of that (and many other examples in other books) it is no wonder at all that a goodly number of today's scientists and engineers cite Robert Heinlein and his books for young adults as one of their first inspirations. ~~Beth Ager Wegrokit.com
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Summary: Brave New Worlds
Review: A wonderful futuristic adventure; the "pioneering of space" theme of Heinlein is again the focus of this novel. The terraforming ideas--while wildly speculative--add to the drama of place (Jupiter's frigid moon Ganeymede). Why this is ever considered a "juvenile" is beyond me; Heinlein treated his young readers as smart, sophisticated adults. Get this book and regain your sense of wonder, spirit of individuality, and your birthright to explore the unknown!
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Summary: Tell me about the Jovian rabbits, George
Review: Actually, I was pretty surprised by this one -- I'm not much of a fan of Heinlein, but his characters are compelling enough to drag me through this very episodic book. Despite the fact that everybody talks pretty much the same way that they do in other Heinlein books, and some characters obviously exist to make philosophical points, or to die conveniently, the main protagonist has enough depth to shift his point of view convincingly (except for some wild swings at the end), and not be the perfect Boy Scout. This book shows its age, but its still clearly thought out with many interesting ideas.
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Summary: In one word, spectacular.
Review: Farmer in the Sky is the first Heinlein book I ever read, and is easily one of the best. I first read it 8 years ago, when i was 10, and can still pick it up today, and enjoy it just as much as the first time i read it, even though it was written with a child in mind. The characters are solid, as is the plot, creating an unforgetable story.
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Summary: How does he keep doing it?
Review: How does this man turn what has to be one of the sillier titles I've ever seen (and probably wouldn't even sell at all today) and an almost absurdly basic concept and turn it into one of his most entertaining books? It must have been depressing try to match him in the fifties, he pulls off everything there here effortlessly, working comfortably within his own style without coming across as formulaic. Here we've got yet another vision of a future earth, where there's too many people and food is scarce . . . people are going to a colony on one of the moons orbiting Jupiter and Bill and his father decide that it's the place for them. Heinlein captures the pioneering spirit and drive brilliantly, subjecting his characters to all sorts of hardships, to the point where you can very easily relate to them even though they're somewhere way out in space and Jupiter keeps hanging in the sky (some of the most beautiful scenes in the novel have to do with that image, I wonder if it really looks like that) . . . even better, whenever one of the characters notes how hard it is to survive there, someone else always points out that most of the early colonies on earth were wiped out to a man. Bill remains a fairly consistent character in the Heinlein mode, always willing to learn, resourceful in the right moments, rarely giving up, he has his own appeal but it's not limited to just him, his father (if you can get past he and his father calling each other by their first names) is cut from the same mold, his friend Hank remains the biggest surprise, and while some of the characters are needlessly whiny only to contrast how hard working the rest of the cast is, those are only minor complaints. The book flies, he manages to make the farmer life but interesting and exciting and if you concentrate on the sights that Heinlein is weaving, it's darn good. It gets a little strange toward the end when he starts pulling out plot twists from nowhere (he kills off someone in a way that you'll find yourself working very hard to care) but the ride is swift and totally fun, the way a good old SF novel should be. If you dismiss this because you think, "Oh it's for kids" or "Oh, it's fifty years old" then you have no idea what you're missing. And you'd be making a terrible mistake.
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Summary: Not his best
Review: I'm a big heinlien fan. This is the wrost book he has written, there is little plot, and what there is for plot is to slow and boged down. the charaters are flat no life in them. Also, Heinlein killed the only chareter I liked.
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Summary: !
Review: ok im only in 7th grade (but i have an adult reading level) but i loved this book. it wasnt my favorite book (the blue sword by robin mckinley was) but i still loved it. it is a good quality book and if you dont like it you have bad taste!
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Summary: Heinlein Teaches Ecology
Review: The Dean of Science Fiction teaches us about ecology long before the word is in the general vocabulary. This is the book that first taught me and countless others about the life cycle and the importance of keeping polution under control. It's a true cornerstone of his ability to take hard science and teach it to the reader in a readable fashion.
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Summary: Heinlein Teaches Ecology
Review: The Dean of Science Fiction teaches us about ecology long before the word is in the general vocabulary. This is the book that first taught me and countless others about the life cycle and the importance of keeping polution under control. It's a true cornerstone of his ability to take hard science and teach it to the reader in a readable fashion.
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Summary: Pioneer days of the future on one of Jupiter's moons
Review: This book is about a boy and his father who get to head out to the frontier of one of Jupiter's moons to be farmers. Lured by stories of no rationing, land of thier own they take off with bright hopes of a good comfortable living as farmers. After a trip on a crowded spaceship and some unexpected excitement to break up the boredom of the long trip they arrive in the promised land. As the old saying goes "If it sounds too good to be true...." Father and son settle into local life. The brochures were right about one thing....they have plenty of food, no rationing, and they get to have some land. But, it's not what was expected. Hard work and the help of some good neighbors help them settle in and set up thier farm, but life is still fraught with dangers. Not as good as some of Heinlein's other books, but it's still a good book, fun to read, and gives food for thought.
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