≡ Download Starman Jones Robert A Heinlein 9781416505501 Books

Starman Jones Robert A Heinlein 9781416505501 Books

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Starman Jones Robert A Heinlein 9781416505501 Books

I have to say...RAH's "juvenile" stories are some of the most enjoyable stories i have ever read. period. And i have only started reading Scifi and esspecially RAH within the last 3yrs. And i am 40 now. Starman Jones is a great , smoothe flowing story from start to end. I loved this book. you should definatley read this one. Personaly, my favorites out of some of my favorites are....Starman Jones, Glory Road, The Star Beast, and Tunnel in the Sky. But like i said , all his Juvenile's are really good, and should be given to your sons to read when they become a young adult. Hopefully , these will never be required reading in school, and continue to be amazing books you or your kids simply discover, and pass on , so the important lessons in them will not be lost on "homework".


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Starman Jones Robert A Heinlein 9781416505501 Books Reviews

This is really a great example of Heinlein's genius. It's an adventure/coming of age story in a sci-fi package and it really worked for me. It's dated to a certain extent but less that some of his other YA books. The beginning of the book is a little strange that society and everyday tech has back slid to the 1920's while technologies like anti-gravity freight trucks/trains and space travel are prevalent. Once into the story you'll forget Heinlein's lack of imagination in future tech and be solidly cheering for Starman Jones.
Reputations accrete in funny ways, and often we end up with a mental picture of a person or his work that's less than accurate. Take Robert A. Heinlein for example, the so-called dean of science fiction writers. Though Heinlein's career spanned nearly half a century, most folks today know him for the militaristic Starship Troopers, whose characters blasted not only intergalactic arachnids but Marxism as well. But theme-heavy SF doesn't compose the entirety of his oeuvre. Indeed, most everyone except his devotees seems to have forgotten that Heinlein began his career by writing juvenile fiction, a good example of which is his farmer-turned-spaceman adventure Starman Jones.

Ever since he was a child, Max Jones has yearned to go into space. His uncle, a space navigator (or astrogator, as they're called), used to regale him with stories of interstellar travel and let him peruse his manuals, thick compendiums stuffed with calculations used to guide spaceships through charted territories. But he had little hope of getting into the astrogator guild. After his father died, Max ended up working the family farm day in and day out, which left little time for anything but dreaming. Then one day Max's mother showed up with an unwelcome surprise -- a new husband, one Biff Montgomery, a man whose sole achievement lay in avoiding honest work like the plague. Now Max has to discover if he can break into a guild or, barring that, an actual ship. Apprentice or stowaway, either option sounds fine to Max. With Biff in the picture, it's off-world or bust.

There's plenty in Starman Jones that hasn't aged well. I had to suppress a smile when reading about Max cooking up biscuits and ham at his farm on one page and then calculating inverse cubes on his slide rule the next. Anachronisms abound, as one could rightly expect from a book coming out of the golden age of science fiction. But if you look past the outdated stuff, you'll find a novel with surprisingly strong bones. Heinlein's characterizations are quite deft, from a mysterious interloper who may or may not have a checkered military past to a headstrong ambassador's daughter with more gumption and savvy than is immediately apparent. And the action picks up nicely once Max makes it into the void. (Honestly, with the word "starman" in the title, was there ever any doubt?) Jones may be a little creaky in the joints, but it still gets along pretty well in the end.
My introduction to Heinlein was Star Beast. However any of the books in this group of his books targeting the young is good. For me his writing is timeless and still as philosophically relavent today as when I first read them when I was in my teens. The reader will find him or herself wrapped in the story and the challenges of the characters just as much as reading good writing aimed at a so called more mature audience. I can't recommend these books enough especially as an introduction to the entire genre of science fiction.
I grew up reading Heinlein's "Juvenile series" (incl Space Cadet, Star Beast, Between Planets, etc...) but this one was always my favorite. Some of the tech described is still surprisingly valid like trains with magnetic levitation and starships using what is routinely described as a "jump' or 'foldspace' drive for interstellar travel. When you consider that Heinlein wrote these books for a teen audience in the 40's and 50's it's clear that these are really remarkable reading. The updated forward was a welcome surprise too.
I have to say...RAH's "juvenile" stories are some of the most enjoyable stories i have ever read. period. And i have only started reading Scifi and esspecially RAH within the last 3yrs. And i am 40 now. Starman Jones is a great , smoothe flowing story from start to end. I loved this book. you should definatley read this one. Personaly, my favorites out of some of my favorites are....Starman Jones, Glory Road, The Star Beast, and Tunnel in the Sky. But like i said , all his Juvenile's are really good, and should be given to your sons to read when they become a young adult. Hopefully , these will never be required reading in school, and continue to be amazing books you or your kids simply discover, and pass on , so the important lessons in them will not be lost on "homework".