“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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A great syfi adventure, written with a hearty dose of actual and theoretical physics.
This was the first science-fiction book I ever read! It started me down an interesting path…and I even had to get my first job (13 years old) to afford more Heinlein! Well worth it! Enjoy!
Heinlein has been my favorite since my early years. I recommend all of his books.
If you haven’t read heinlein, you haven’t read scifi.
I read this when it was originaly published. Anything written by Robert A. Heinlein is worth reading, and reading again.
Heinlein should be required reading!
Not Heilein’s best, but I would recommend anything by Heilein.
Great book for teenagers.
Classic hienline youth novel these stories set me on the sci fi road to good reading
Love all of his books
An old favorite of mine .. always worth a read!
The great author really wrote novels to his audience..in this case young boys. However, adults really like to read them too.
One of Heinlein’s juvvies. Most of them are terrific, like this one. I grew up reading them and love them all now.
When I was a young person, I was a huge fan of Robert Heinlein. This is one of his young adult or juveniles. It is not one of my favorites but it was still a pleasant, albeit somewhat nostalgic, read. The science and the view of the universe is a little dated, but that is to be expected. The main character is a typical Heinlein “young hero”. He has adventures in space. They do not always go well. The story moves along at a brisk pace. There is a sort of deus ex machina moment at the end. It made the ending feel a little rushed. I would have given it 3.5 stars if I had the option.
Early science science fiction like this Heinlein piece presents a thoughtful explanation of space travel and the relativity of time. I’ve found it helpful to read something *about* an author (in Wikipedia) before blindly buying books, even at BookBub’s basement prices.
Can’t go wrong with any book by my favorite author!
I grew up on this author. He inspired me to read,
He’s a great writer for his time
YOUTH SI FI FUN FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. HEINLEN READS EASY AND SMOOTH.
Typical excellent Heineken book, I liked all of his books which I have done many times, I believe I own them all.