Tunnel in the Sky

created by yam

(thing) by yam (4.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Thu Apr 20 2000 at 6:26:02

One of Robert Heinlein's most popular (non-Lazarus Long universe, anyhow) books, this is the story of Rod, who is taking the final exam of his survival class, which involves going through a Tunnel, a device which temporarily joins distant places, to an unknown planet and surviving for 3-10 days with only minimal equipment. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and Rod and his class aren't retrieved on time. Their survival skills face the ultimate test as they must not only survive but learn to coöperate and form a community, never knowing when or if they'll be rescued.

Excellent story, excellent pacing, excellent characters, excellent book. The whole teacher-marries-student's-sister thing was a little weird, but that is but a minor distraction from a very satisfying whole.

(thing) by junkpile (2.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Wed Nov 15 2000 at 17:11:12

Good book. Plot is what she said. Plus, shades of Lord of the Flies, in that they've been dumped in the wilderness without food or supplies or, most importantly, rules by which to build their new community. It turns out a bit better in this book, but every inch of social progress is a struggle. Made me grateful to have the Constitution - it's not perfect, but at least it's a guideline.

The teacher-marries-student thing doesn't bug me as much as the Heinlein-can't-write-from-a-woman's-perspective-to-save-his-dumb-life thing. I tried to blame it on 1955 lingo, but none of the men in the book speak like cutesie morons, so why do the women? There's one half-assed attempt at a transcript of a girl's diary which shall be stricken from the record, as it's plain awful.

That aside, it's a quick, entertaining read. My neighbors have a thirteen-year-old who has to read this book for school, and he's actually enjoying it. An easy introduction to Heinlein, a good intro to scifi in general.

Side note: The guy on the paperback cover sports a head entertainingly out of proportion with his body. Enjoy!

printable version
chaos

stobor	Lazarus Long	Robert Heinlein	Editor Log: October 15, 2000
Sixth Column	Citizen of the Galaxy	The Dispossessed	The Door Into Summer
Science fiction	Stranger in a Strange Land	community	Snark
Lord of the Flies	A.F. 214	The Day after Tomorrow	The Space Farmers
The Star Beast	WISP Index of Social Progress	Portland, Oregon	Kevin Smith
kibitz	Timeline	1955	11

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Little presents from the Node Fairy:
Freelance Contract
This place needs more actual content. Let's begin.
éminence grise
Texas
A Sniper in Every Minaret
Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address
Alfred Bester
The sexuality and marital status of Jesus
Shotgun
Glossary of Genetics terms
Sailing in the wake of my grandmother
Fred Rogers
Sugar daddy

BookReader
Fear the Cold	(dream)
Pavlovna
Kathleen MacInnes	(person)
stainedglass
1	(fiction)
kalen
Three "T"s	(idea)
octillion369
Undead	(idea)
archiewood
Ico	(fiction)
Heisenberg
Why I love Everything2	(log)
octillion369
Death Knight	(person)
XWiz
Are you hoping for a miracle?	(review)
santo
The Host	(review)
LostPsion
"Shut the Fuck Up" Theaters	(idea)
beatrice
You've been slowly taking me over for nearly a year, do you know that?	(idea)
Berek
YouTube	(thing)
shaogo
How to Pretend to Have a Job	(idea)
hapax
Les Provinciales	(review)

This affordable entertainment brought to you by The Everything Development Company