Slowly but surely, my obsession with young adult space stories will knock every Heinlein juvenile book off my to-read list. A month or two ago, I read Podkayne of Mars and while I did enjoy the audio format and the underlying world-building, the characters grated on me. I'd read and heard from several sources that Heinlein's treatment of his female characters can be a huge turnoff and he's two for two on that note for me thus far. I'm not going to go over why I felt the way I did about Podkayne but in Time for the Stars, though it was far less frustrating, I was still not satisfied with the female presence in the book. But I'm getting ahead of myself, what's the book actually about? It's a futuristic Earth setting where families are allowed only a certain number of children before they get taxed. Identical twins Tom and Pat are asked to come in for some testing by a huge research organization, one whose mission is to fund the projects that have projected results so far into the future that no one else will fund them. Through the testing, Tom and Pat find out they are telepathically connected. The foundation intends to explore the galaxies to find potential colony planets and uses telepathic pairs to communicate between ships and between ships and Earth when radio transmissions no longer work. I don't want to spoil which twin goes to space and which stays behind because I enjoyed that aspect of the story. I cannot think of another instance of a book where identical twins do not really get along. Heinlein adds in a realistic amount of sibling manipulation that rang true to life. ("Do your chores, Dad will be home soon." "Why? If I don't, I know you'll just do them for me." - Me and my sister)The science and philosophy are very much present in this novel and some of it went over my head. Faster than light, simultaneity, time, relativism, the science of aging, and various equations and theories are all present and accounted for but never in a severe infodump kind of way. The book is set up as a diary written by the twin in space. I am not sure if it is broken up as such in the traditional book as I listened to the audiobook but the scientific conversations were usually just that--conversations between the twin and someone else on the ship. However, there is very little action to keep the book going. The interest lies in the world Heinlein has created and the scientific offshoots. I was fascinated by the idea that as one twin was aging "regularly" on Earth, the other was aging at a far slower rate, so much so that the twin in space had to do the telepathic work with several generations down the line. What action there is is backloaded. His books, to me, feel like someone is writing about a fantastic futuristic world and then realizing halfway through that there's supposed to also be character building and plot movement. On to the creep factor. There was just an episode of 30 Rock on television wherein Liz Lemon realizes that she is dating her third cousin. They say, "On the count of three, say how many cousins removed we'd have to be to try to make this work." He says fifth and she says never. I really think my answer is also never. There are several pubescent boy relationships in this book as well as adult relationships but there is one that relates to the 30 Rock episode I just spoke of. I won't ruin it for any potential readers but Heinlein basically glossed right over the relation aspect and it felt cut and dried in the most awkward way possible. I actually said, "Whaaaaaaat? Dude." to my car stereo. You're going to marry your relation, no matter how distant? Ew.Back to Heinlein's treatment of women. Here's the gist: If you want to read any of his books, just think to yourself, "Am I okay reading a book where no female character will ever be completely rational? One where she will never be seen as anything other than a gender stereotype or achieve life goals beyond society's expectations during the forties and fifties when these books were written?" If the answer is yes, then read away. As I've said, Heinlein creates some interesting scientific worlds and stories. However, if you're answer is no then these books will be a nightmare for you. There are entire conversations about the best way to tell a mother that her son/s are joining a space program but also how to manipulate her irrational emotions. A grown woman wants to join a specific mission and another character tells her to check with her husband. (who also tells her later that they will be moving back to Earth to raise their family and she will not be working anymore) The mission finds a planet and fights in a battle but both times women are excluded from the teams--until one planet is deemed "safe enough that even the women could go!" Being a woman in Heinlein's world just seems like it would be so depressing. Who wants to achieve their dreams of being independent and going into space? Not so fast, vaginas! I believe this is the first audiobook I've listened to that is narrated by Barrett Whitener, and I enjoyed his narration for the most part. Though they are not coming to me at the moment, there were a few words he pronounced in a weird way (maybe alternate pronunciations?) and several of the characters sounded the same. At one point, I wasn' t sure if the captain had an American, British, or Australian accent. He is a conversational narrator so his voice was/is well-suited to the diary-entry format of Time for the Stars.As is the story with Podkayne of Mars, there is enough fun world-building present that I wish Heinlein would set more books in this world, perhaps even incorporate some of the same characters. I have a feeling my wish will come true with the rest of his young adult books. I anticipate each one will be a fun sciencey adventures/feminist's nightmare.Also seen at The Readventurer.
Time for the Stars was written by Robert Heinlein for juvenile readers in the 1956. However, it has continued to remain in print for over 50 years and it is certainly being enjoyed by adults. This reader was totally captivated by its very interesting premise, and by Heinlein’s excellent writing and story-telling skills. The tale takes place in the future when Earthlings had traveled beyond our solar system attempting to find “Sol-type solar systems” with “Earth-type planets” suitable for colonizing to relieve Earth’s desperate overpopulation problem. Large space ships (torch ships) that accelerate gradually to extreme (but sub-light) velocities carry a large crew on these long journeys. Radio communication between these space ships and Earth is impossible because radio waves travel too slowly. However, a unique program to use telepathic twins, who can communicate with each other instantaneously at any distance, was adopted to solve the communications problem. Several pairs of twins were used by each ship to ensure a continuous communication link with Earth. One twin from each pair would stay on Earth, while the other twin from each pair would serve on the space ship. The telepathic pairs would transmit any and all necessary information between the ships and Earth. Of course space exploration is concomitant with difficulties, consequences and dangers. The journeys last for many years, but due to the relativity effects resulting from the extreme travel velocities of the torch ships members of the crew age more slowly than people age on Earth. Therefore, the twins on board the featured ship in this story age about 4 years during their journey, while their siblings on Earth age about 70 years. Exploring the potentially habitable planets also proves dangerous because of toxic environments or dangerous inhabitants. The book initially focuses on one pair of twins, who have just graduated from high school. Then the story follows the twin that is chosen for the voyage, and the reader is treated to his amazing adventure through space and several solar systems. Eventually, the brother who stays at home grows old and feeble, and maintaining their link becomes difficult. Heinlein gives the reader a feel for life on ship and the environments of the planets that are explored. He also does a nice job with the science of the ship and space travel, without overburdening the reader. Yes, the details sometimes pull the reader back in time, such as the mention of microfilm for records, which certainly would not be used in this future time frame. However, it should be no surprise that Heinlein presents a very interesting and very satisfying story for the reader. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes science fiction. Hey, we should all read these classic gems.
What do You think about Time For The Stars (2006)?
Written in the 1950s, the golden age of sci-fi, Heinlein's "Time for the stars" is about as awesome as classic sci-fi romance can get! The story is bizarrely interesting: Earth is choking with overpopulation and it is time that mankind finds new planets to inhabit. And although space exploration is not unknown and near light speed spacecrafts are common, there is a slight problem of communication. Communication over radios can never match the light speed of the crafts and hence it is not possible to convey information back to Earth effectively. Scientists then dabble beyond the boundaries of hard science - namely telepathy. Telepathic capabilities of twins is re-discovered and enhanced through natural and synthetic means. Then a bunch of twins are selected as "communicators" with one of them left back on Earth. The trouble is that the twin on the Earth will age much faster than the one on the craft.This one checks all boxes of classical sci-fi - space exploration, light speed travel, Earth ending, relativity, exotic alien lifeforms - you name it! Great find!
—Guru
This was my first Heinlein novel. It probably deserves only 3 stars, but I'm giving it 4 because this novel showed me why Heinlein is one of the fathers of science fiction. The world-building of the future is done so well, especially in the case of the science and the explanation of it in ways that allowed me to suspend disbelief. The motivations behind why the characters in the book were sent to space made logical sense, and the exploration of what happens to time when you are traveling at the speed of light were fascinating. Additionally, as a coming of age novel I could imagine this resonating with young people (boys, in particular) as we get inside the narrator's head as he experiences his growth from adolescence to adulthood while in space.Where this book loses stars is the dated feel to it. Though the science seems advanced, the social aspects of the world are clearly colored by the time that Heinlein wrote it. This is a future where women still defer to their husbands and hold domestic roles almost exclusively (with a few exceptions). The social relationships are what makes this book feel less futuristic than it might. Combine that with the fact that there only substantial character is the main character, the character building falls a bit short. Lastly, the end of this novel... wtf? I won't spoil it, but it seemed very strange.Still, I will definitely read more Heinlein after this!
—Bahia
The basic reason for writing this book seems to have been to introduce the idea of a 'long range foundation', which ignores the short term, and pumps resources into things that (probably) won't show results for decades or centuries. An interesting idea, but there don't seem to have been any takers. The premise of the telepathic twins is interesting, but it's basically a McGuffin to allow Heinlein to send a juvenile (several, really) on a starfaring mission, Really, however, the mission is not really described. The relations of people on board ship and their homebound partners becomes more important--the planets examined are mostly unmemorable. One interesting point is the question of whether you must necessarily love those you're related to. You must, of course, at least as long as you're coresident. If you didn't love them, there'd be a lot higher incidence of fratricide--and intrafamilial violence is already at too high a level. But that needn't mean you have to like them. Or keep a relationship with them once you're separated at adulthood. In this case, the telepairs MUST keep a relationship after separation, for the purpose of maintaining communication between their comrades (though exceptions develop later, as the communication network is broadened). This creates a conflict that's not easily resolved. The solution is unpracticed and clumsy--but it would have to be in an unprecendented situation, wouldn't it? The atemporal aspect of telephathy (as proposed here) is somewhat similar to LeGuin's 'ansible' except that it inheres in people rather than devices. The argument is that since telepathy is virtually instantaneous, this implies that faster-light-travel is possible. It doesn't necessarily follow, but it's not clear whether Heinlein knew enough physics to recognize this. Early in the book, a physicist is quoted as if he did not know that a light-year is a unit of distance, not time. Heinlein had a tendency to give himself airs, and to mock such pretensions in others. It's an interesting psychological observation that people tend to accuse others of what they believe to be true about themselves. Of course, they may be mistaken about themselves, but it's a form of self-revelation that could cause some people to be reluctant to make accusations, lest they inadvertently reveal rather more about their own fears than they're willing to.
—Valerie
