“Rarely has Heinlein pushed his imagination further…a vivid, stirring experience.”—Chicago Tribune“One of the superb Heinlein stories that has excitement, urbanity, humanity, rationality, pace, understanding, and is a joy to read.”—The New York TimesWith over-population stretching the resources of Earth, the need to find and colonize other Terra-type planets is becoming crucial to the survival of … colonize other Terra-type planets is becoming crucial to the survival of the human race. But finding these planets is time-consuming and very costly.
With a seemingly inexhaustible budget, the scientists at the Long Range Foundation create the remarkable Torchships, which are able to traverse to different Star Systems within the matter of months. However, communication between Earth and these ships would still take countless years—even decades. How would they alert Earth of the planets they find?
Tom and Pat are recruited by LRF to become the human transmitters and receivers for the mission. Growing up together they had felt like they were so similar, so in sync, that it was almost as if they read each other’s minds…. Only to discover, that was indeed what they could do. Along with other telepathic pairings, their abilities are tested, and it is discovered that time nor distance impedes their connection; communication between Earth and the Torchships would be instantaneous.
But there is a catch: during the course of the mission, while one of them stays behind and grows old, on Earth, the other will be traversing the stars, and—if he survives—will return a young man.
“The word that comes to mind for him is essential. As a writer—eloquent, impassioned, technically innovative—he reshaped science fiction in the way that defined it for every writer who followed him…. He was the most significant science fiction writer since H. G. Wells.”—Robert Silverberg
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Time for the Stars was seminal for me. It cemented my love of science fiction and of science. It is YA but that doesn’t stop it from being a lot of fun. It’s a bit dated now, being more than 50 years old but if you can put that aside, it’s a fun read. Heinlein has a way of making science understandable and his ability to sling words is top notch.
Update (August 6,2019): Just finished re-reading it *again* last night! Yes, it’s old. But, boy, if you can forgive the warts and wrinkles that time has put on it, it’s STILL a marvelous book! This book, many than any other, informed my entire life. That’s saying something.
I read this as a youngster back in the ’50s. It wasn’t quite how I remember it, but it was entertaining nonetheless. A good story of time dilatation and relativity.
I think ever twin who is a science fiction fan should read this. what if the only way to keep track of interstellar trips was to send one identical twin out, and keep one home?
Always read Heinlein, great author, Great story teller creates believeablhe characters and unusual endings
Another classic Heinlein story.
While not my favourite Heinlein, it was a great read and exposed a lot of people to concepts of what might be the best we can hope for of interstellar travel in the real world.
Read this years ago, back at the beginning of the manned space programs. It gave me great dreams about the future, but the government let us all down.
I read this book as a teenager (many years ago). It is written for young adults, but is much less intense than today’s YA fiction. If you have never read Heinlein’s YA fiction, this is a good place to start.
If only the premise of the book worked out to be true! A few scenes (return to earth and immediate marriage) feel dated, but otherwise this classic won’t disappoint.
Only need two words to praise this book. Robert Heinlein.
One of the master’s
This was an early Heinlein book that I had not read as a child. It presents a new idea that I have long contemplated. Here we have a presupposition that identical twins can have a connection that would allow real telepathy. The idea of sympathy is basic to not only magic but to quantum mechanics. In this book, telepathy becomes the source of communication on star journeys. Read it and see how Heinlein develops the idea.
Another great story from Heinlein
Robert Heinlein is one of my favorite authors, and I had never read this book before, so I was excited to find it. The protagonist is an identical twin who is recruited with his brother to test their mind-reading abilities. They turn out to be able to communicate with each other non-verbally and over great distances, so they are contracted to become part of a large space exploration. One of each pair of mind-linked twins will go into space and the other will remain on earth, and they will be able to keep in contact even as the spaceships go up to 100 light years away from earth. Of course, time slows as the ships get closer to light speed, so people on the ships age very slowly compared to those on earth, which adds to the confusion. This book was written about 1956, so it’s funny to see descriptions of computers taking up an entire wall of a room, and information on punch cards, but overall it’s an interesting story.
I first read it maybe 50 years ago as a kid. But was happy to find it and read it once more time.
some twins are telepathic and one twin on earth can talk to another twin on a spaceship. Given the near light speed of the ships the twin on earth ages much more than the twin on the ship.
Takes me back to when I read it for the first time many decades ago. It was exciting then and it was fun now. Heinlein was probably the best at engaging a reader aand leading them on a journey in a way that made you feel you were experiencing yourself. You become immersed.
It is a good read for anyone who likes SF or good writing. Highly recommended.
Classic Heinlein!
The book was great until the very end, when the author tried to wrap up the story with a nonsensical conclusion. It left me cold.
It is by Heinlein, how many other questions do you have?