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Juvenile Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: When Rod Walker decides to take the final test for "Deacon" Matson's interplanetary survival course, he knows he will be facing life-or-death situations on an unsettled planet. What he doesn't expect is that something will go wrong with the "Tunnel in the Sky" and he and his fellow students will not be able to return to Terra. Stranded on a hostile planet, Rod and his friends are faced wit the challenge of carving a civilization out of the wilderness. They must deal with hunger, deprivation, and strangely savage beasts. But the bigger question is, can they survive each other? This science fiction classic pits a savage world against the most untameable beast of all: the human animal. Chock full of high adventure, futuristic speculation, witty repartee, and profound philosophy, Tunnel in the Sky represents the greatest SF writer of all time at the peak of his powers..… (more)
User reviews
All starts fine (well, let us say there are gradations of fine, ok :)) but soon all test takers find themselves cut off from civilization and forced to group themselves in order to survive.
Like all Heinlein's books this one also explores human nature and society, what works and what does not work, role of true leadership etc (readers may not agree with every point author makes but again that is not the goal - goal is to make readers think about "what-if" scenarios). Test-takers are not your average kids, they know a lot and they are ready to use that knowledge to survive but is that all that is required to survive in the unknown surroundings?
Very interesting book.
Recommended.
I am amazed at the level of survivorship the testers had. How
I didn't appreciate the small jabs on the females in the book, but as with many Heinlein books, I wonder if he is just giving his characters this attitude, while keeping his own thoughts on gender to himself (granted, this was written in 1955, I think, and you can never really tell what his intentions were).
Sometimes it was tough to tell how much time had passed, until it was said in the book, and I found the transitions, or lack thereof, difficult.
Overall, it was a great read though, sometimes I find it hard not to be critical in a review. I would recommend it to any Heinlein fans, or anyone, especially young adolescents, interested in survival skills.
The basic story of the book is that a group of adolescents and young adults are sent to a distant planet as part of a survival test to graduate from a class they're taking. The test was supposed to last no more than 10 days. Due to some sort of mishap, they end up being there much, much longer. I enjoyed the book as a fun science fiction read. Although I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Robert Heinlein before, I believe I will be reading more of his books soon.
Tunnel in the Sky follows Rod Walker, our young protagonist, as he and a
One particularly interesting aspect of Tunnel in the Sky is how Heinlein is so forward-looking in some ways, and yet so rooted in his own era’s values in others. For example, several of the key events in the story involve the young students pairing off and marrying. This need to observe a cornerstone of traditional society draws firm boundaries around the new culture the class develops in its lost world, and it also adds shape and meaning to the story. This is in great contrast to similar novels that might be written today in which it would be taken for granted that healthy young people would pair off casually and switch sexual partners with impunity.
Although Heinlein intended Tunnel in the Sky to be a young adult novel, I’d recommended it to all science-fiction fans.
I saw some reviews noting how dated the book is in that the boys and girls pair off so neatly and speculated that Heinlein being a product of his times didn't have the imagination to do otherwise. That would be a no. There was even a very early novel written by him in 1938, not published until after his death, For Us, the Living, that included nudism and "free love," both themes he'd take up with a vengeance in books such as Stranger in a Strange Land published in 1961. But Tunnel in the Sky was contracted for a teen market--and in 1955. Suffice to say Heinlein certainly had even back then the imagination to create alternate lifestyles--he just wasn't free to describe such a world here. And ironically, I think his juveniles are the better for it, even if they strike a rather old-fashioned note from time to time.
Nutshell plot is that in the future, high schoolers must complete an outdoor adventure course, however their adventures
Glad this was my introduction to Heinlein, as it is (mostly) bereft of the polemics that both add to and detract from Starship Troopers. Had I started with that one, I'm not sure I'd have gone on to this.
That being said, the book is pretty much "The lord of the flies" in space. Or, on a different planet, anyway. Its a pretty simple story. It's just very well written and full of wonder. I do, however, wish there was a bit more conflict. I mean, they throw 100 teenagers on a distant earth-like planet, with just a few knives, and a couple scarce guns. They're stuck there for 2 years. They have to create their own society. Build their own habitat. Create their own laws.
100 teenagers... and there is literally 2 fights in the whole damn book. Seriously? That's total bullshit. They would be fighting constantly, just like The Lord of the Flies. So, if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough to finish this book, it's well worth it. But damn, Bobby boy. They didn't all have to be shiny happy people all the time for fuck's sake.
So, fuck Bobby Heinlein in his shiny happy asshole. Because, fuck man. Teenagers are not this happy. Teenagers are fucking miserable. They would have killed each other so fast, and you fucking know it, you dead hippy fuck.
Characters' dialogue seemed unrealistic in places; they talked like adults sometimes, and other times like kids (and not very thoughtful ones at that).
Also, I think the characters were either just not interesting, or the author didn't succeed in revealing what made them
Personal note
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From this point forward, my ratings have a different distribution--they're just bucketed into the five star values based on their ranking, among all the books I've rated.
So 1 just means it's in the lowest 20% bucket, and 5 stars, in the highest 20%.
This makes it easier to choose a rating value, as I just compare to my existing ratings and set its rating to that of its closest match--with redistribution procedures occurring every once in a while to keep the 5 buckets with about the same count. (eventually I'll probably automate this based on a persistent ranking list)
Unfortunately, this system means I'll actually be dragging down the global ratings of the books I found promising enough to read; but oh well. My local rating distribution (visible to friends) is more important to me overall than my impact on the global ratings.
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