Time for the Stars

Back in the dark ages, a man named Robert Heinlein started writing SF. I can still remember as a young adult, ordering his and Andre Norton books from the publisher and they would come in a brown paper wrapping. In those days, SF was looked down on. Why? I have no idea. Heinlein would write stories that were just like you were there and living this life. Time just flowed and you wished you were really with them. The ship life was real in his stories. No one was a hero on his own, but you did what you had to do to survive. In this book twins are recruited as communication specialist to mentally send information back to earth while looking for planets to live on. Things happen and life goes on. Other reviewers can tell you more of the story line, but after reading this again after 50 some years, it still is good writing, interesting, and still up to date. Enjoy

I read this book, for the first time, about 60 years ago. It was the first time I had ever read anything about time dilativd n (or, as Robert Heinlein termed it "slippage"). An entire new universe opened for me to see. It was that night that I began to disagree with Einstein. I could not accept the premise that this universe has a speed limit. Instantaneously, I theorized that, if time slows as an object approaches the speed of light, then AT light speed, time would stop and, as the speed continues to increase, it is logical to see that time would reverse and the object wo0pwo0puldppp 1982uld travel back in time. The problem is that I have never been able to figure out a way to move FORWARD, so the object would be stuck. All this theorizing aside, this "children's" book is STILL my all-time favorite sci fi novel.

In the early 1950's Heinlein wrote a series of twelve novels targeting a younger audience. Today these books would be classified as 'Young Adult' but at the time they were labeled 'Juveniles'. Even though these stories featured teens facing problems young people could easily relate to, these books are anything but childish or juvenile.The novel is set in a time in the not too distant (from 1950) future. Earth is at the beginning of the space age, colonization of nearby planets is taking place but the booming population has stretched Earth's resources to the breaking point. Family size is limited by legislation, and those exceeding their licensed size are fined. The narrator of this story, Tom and his identical twin, are two of those extra children. From the time of their birth they have inconvenienced their family, been the cause of a yearly fine and the daily cause of a shortage of space and money for the entire family. When the twins are contacted by a powerful organization to participate in a research project. At first the pair only saw this as an easy way to get some much needed extra cash but eventually they realize that this might be their way to go to space without years of hard work. The twins have been unknowingly communicating with one another telepathically for years, and with some additional guidance have become quite proficient. As a result they are in high demand to join a long range space exploration project, one that will pay unbelievably well for years to come and that will take one of them off an incredible adventure while the other will be left at home and with their life strictly restricted and monitored. Both boys want to be the one headed to the stars but, Pat, the dominant twin had once again manipulated the situation to his advantage. Tom is increasingly resentful of the situation but when Pat is injured in an accident Tom finds himself being hastily prepared to make the journey.As Tom embarks on his adventure he begins to go on an inner voyage of discovery as well, one that forces him to examine his entire life, particularly his relationship with his twin. As time passes though, slowly for Tom but much more quickly for Pat, Tom begins to build a new life for himself on board the ship and finds his bond to his twin weakening. More pressing matters though claim Tom's attention as he, and his fellow explorers, discover that the universe is a very dangerous place.This is one of the first Heinlein stories that I ever read, and one that stayed with me in the intervening fifty plus years. For much of this time this novel has not been particularly easy to locate and so when I found this available on kindle, and for a reduced price I was delighted. I did briefly hesitate to order it though because some fondly remembered books from my youth have been disappointments when revisited as an adult. This one though was far from a disappointment! I began reading and soon found myself once again caught up in the story. Yes, there were aspects of the story that chafed a bit. Heinlein undoubtedly regarded himself as a feminist, and in the 1950's he probably was, but 60 years later the condescending way the female characters are treated and portrayed is aggravating. Overall though this is an excellent novel, a wonderful introduction to Heinlein's work and one well worth reading and re-reading.

Robert A. Heinlein, known among SF fans as “The Dean of Science Fiction”, wrote a number of classic novels and stories, a bigger number of flawed but entertaining novels and stories, and some that were just plain clunkers. This falls firmly into the last category – meandering, somewhat pointless, and without the quickly sketched-in memorable characters Heinlein at his best, or even not-quite-best, was famous for creating.The main character is half of a pair of twins, Tom Bartlett, who are recruited by the Long Range Foundation (LRF) because, as is common in Heinlein’s oeuvre, he and his twin Pat are telepathically linked - and, in a curious twist, telepathy potentially allows for immediate communication across Lightyears. The LRF plans to use twins like Tom and Pat as a means of Faster-Than-Light communications for their “Torchships” used to find Earthlike planets to colonize - these ships can’t break the Speed of Light, but they can push right up to it. Thanks to Time Dilation, a trip at near lightspeed can cover several Lightyears in a matter of days or weeks - but people back on Earth age at the number of years those Lightyears represent (travel to Alpha Centauri, the nearest solar system to ours, is 4.37 Lightyears, so people back on Earth will age 4.37 years). So if the mission goes as planned, the people on the Torchships will only age a couple years at most - but their twins (or other psi-pairings) will have aged decades if not centuries.Sounds like the framework for a fascinating story, doesn't it? The problem is that the characters, from Tom on down, feel like they're out of a comic book or a Role-Playing Game. Tom's the younger twin and often feels upstaged by Pat, who seems to be something of a manipulative jerk - so he gets to go for Torchship Communicator training, and breaks his legs and later develops paralysis, so Tom's shunted in at almost the last minute to take his place.Tom grows over the course of the novel (written in the first person from Tom's Point of View) - or at least Tom TELLS us he grows, but we often have to take it on faith as there's little external evidence! When Pat starts to age too much to continue a telepathic link to his brother, his great-grandniece Molly's brought in and trained to connect to Tom (who has learned while in space that he can link to certain people besides Pat, like the Granddaughter of a fellow telepath) - this leads to an ending that, while totally in keeping with Heinlein's...interesting views on sexuality, just gets creepier the older I get!This is listed as one of Heinlein's "Juveniles", SF novels written for a teenage male audience in the 1940-1950s. Some of the views on sexuality (mentioned briefly above), Military/Civilian Joint Scientific Projects and Colonialism strongly suggest it's not right for teens of our generation, and I question how many adults can read this without getting both bored and feeling skeevy...

I reread this after a gap of 30 years. To step back into Heinlein's works, flawed though many of them are, is a pleasure. You keep getting caught between admiration for RH's political views and disgust. But this is not one of his heavy political diatribes, its more a simple tale of space exploration at the early stages, full of innovation, interweaving of characters and hope. One of the best as you expect from his pen. Read all his books if you value SF. The central plot is a unique one used by few other authors. Great read.

Not quite up to the standard of say, Citizen Of The Galaxy, Farmer In The Sky or Starman Jones, perhaps because the lead characters are slightly closer to stock. Also, the action is less punchy and the ending seems abrubt, even by Heinlein standards. However, it's still a book with a number of passages which have stuck with me since I first read it as a teenager. Great to have the chance to re-read it. Brilliant basic premise (no spoilers) that I'm surprised has not been re-used by Hollywood (to my knowledge).

I first read this nearly 40 years ago and thought that I might get just as much from the book 2nd time around. I was not disappointed in the slightest... Sure some bits of the technology were dated but the core elements that drive the narrative are every bit as fresh and vibrant as my teenage memories, when I first encountered the master that is Robert A Heinlein. Any student of physics or the natural world should read this book to expand their mind beyond the current accepted norms as we contemplate the vastness of the universe we live in... I loved this book then and I still love it now, some 40 years on...

Heinlein has an extraordinary way with words and ideas,the difficult subject of telepathy and time dilation was handled brilliantly,at one point the concept that he presented was amazing,and stopped me in my tracks,I had to do a double take!,and the last paragraph was masterful,a perfect ending,a genius ! !

One of my favorites since it was first published in the 50s. Deals with a high school survival test of students being sent to an unknown planet via a star gate. A super nova makes it impossible to get in touch with the castaways for 4 years. A great tale of how humans can organize to thrive.