The Past Through Tomorrow: Future History Stories

Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #1-21

by Robert A. Heinlein

Past Through Tomorrow Future History-First Edition

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Classics, Anthologies, Fantasy

667 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 1967

About the author

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors. Notable Heinlein works include Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, militarism in Starship Troopers and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as Friday.
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.
Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards. In addition, fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence. In his fiction, Heinlein coined terms that have become part of the English language, including grok, waldo and speculative fiction, as well as popularizing existing terms like "TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space marine". He also anticipated mechanical computer-aided design with "Drafting Dan" and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel Beyond This Horizon.
Also wrote under Pen names: Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.

Reviews

[Graeme Rodaughan]

Re-reading a classic from my youth. Proceeding with most recent read at the top of the list.

Planning on completing this in 2022.

01/Apr/22: 19. "Coventry": Up Next ...

21/Aug/22: 18. "If This Goes On-":Revolution beckons against an absolute tyranny with the sole aim of restoring the constitutional republic and a free people subject only to their own self-governance. For me this story rang true on a deep level. 5 'We Shall Be Free,' stars.

Full review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

01/Apr/22: 17. The Menace From Earth: Budding spaceship designer is discombobulated when her unacknowledged boyfriend and erstwhile future business partner falls in lust with a hot bombshell off the latest shuttle from Earth. Triangular mayhem ensues until a HEA ending. Heinlein's first effort at a female lead comes off as stilted fairy-floss, kinda icky and without substance. Disappointed. 1 'Keep it locked away,' stars.

03/Mar/22: 16. Logic of Empire: Two young men make a drunken bet and end up in indentured servitude in the harsh lands of Venus. A proper novella length story that while interesting didn't quite grip me. It also highlighted on the last line, Heinlein's growing concerns with the future of human society, a theme that dominates his later writing. 4, 'Older and Wiser,' stars.

30/Jan/22: 15. The Green Hills of Earth: Blind poet becomes the lyrical voice of a generation of space exploration. Sad, elegiac and beautifully written. 5 'Beauty in both word and deed,' stars.

27/Jan/22: 14. Ordeal in Space: A traumatised man rescues a stranded kitten and rescues himself at the same time. A heart warming tale of compassion and courage allowing us to find the best version of ourselves. 5, 'Rescue the Kitten,' stars.

Sad news: The spine of my paperback has finally broken - I have one book in two halves...

15/Jan/22: 13. Searchlight: A very short story. Famous musical damsel crash lands on the moon while on a USO tour to the far flung moon bases. Clever engineers find the distressed performer despite overbearing presidential interference. Smart idea but not very entertaining. A longer format would allow the story idea to be fleshed out. 3 'crash and burn,' stars.

09/Jan/22: 12. "- We Also Walk Dogs": Very Meh. A corporation dials up 'gravity control,' tech to please an important client. I wish every business plan was that easy. Suspension of disbelief is key to good sci-fi. 2 'then magic happens,' stars.

30/Dec/21: 11. "It's great to be back!": A couple from Luna yearn to return to Earth, but soon discover Earth is overrun by Groundhog Bigots and small-minded idiots, and that Gravity is a bitch! They throw in the towel and return gratefully to the Moon. 5 'Spacemen are a Special Breed,' stars.

26/Dec/21: 10. The Black Pits of Luna: Young tourist saves his lost little brother on the surface of the moon, and seals his own ambition to become a spaceman. 4 'Sign the Boy Up,' stars.

03/Nov/21: 9. Gentlemen, Be Seated: An instruction manual on how to use your butt cheek to close an air-leak in a Luna tunnel. A little DEM at the end to provide a HEA. 3 'Butt Innovation Manoeuvre,' stars.

15/Jun/20: 8. The Long Watch: Love and honor overcome a tyrant. Simple, moving, brilliant storytelling. 5 'Love before Dishonor,' stars.

15/Jun/20: 7. Requiem: A man finally achieves his life-long dream only moments before his death - and it is enough. 5 'life-fulfilled,' stars.

14/Jun/20: 6. Space Jockey: A cautionary tale about allowing bratty spoiled 13 year olds access to the controls of a space craft morphs into a hot pilot routine. 4 'Space the Nutjobs,' stars.

04/May/20: 5. Delilah and the Space-Rigger: Women's Liberation arrives at the construction site of the first space station. Discombobulation ensues until the boss throws up his hands and goes with the inevitable. 4 'Girls can be Engineers too - it says so on the T-Shirt,' stars.

24/Mar/20: 4. The Man Who Sold the Moon: A driven man achieves everything except for his deepest, truest desire. Sad, almost elegiac in the end. 5 'Heart of the Explorer,' stars.

23/Mar/20: 3. Blowups Happen: Put a man next to a machine that if he fails to tend it properly will not only kill him, but could destroy the world and you'll break the man. So what to do when the machine is essential for 'life as we know it?' 4 'avoiding the end of the world,' stars.

18/Mar/20: 2. The Roads Must Roll: A cautionary tale about allowing political zealots to run critical industrial infrastructure. What could go wrong when a political fundamentalist brings society violently to a stop by throttling a transport choke point? Apparently everything, bar the actual apocalypse. 4, 'give the engineers guns,' stars.

13/Mar/20: 1. Life Line: If you disrupt the biz, the biz will disrupt you. There's always a vested interest that loves the status quo. Innovators beware, corporate assassins are on your six! 4 'I know when you'll die.' stars.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the afternoon of Saturday, October 4th, 1975, having just turned thirteen years old a few weeks before, I rode my bicycle about 2 1/2 miles to the nearest bookstore to my house that sold science fiction books--the long-defunct Books & Friends in Oakton, VA. I know this not because I remember the event, but because I wrote it in the back of a paperback copy of "The Past Through Tomorrow," an 830-page collection of Robert Heinlein's "Future History" stories. What I do remember is that I didn't start reading the book right away, but got absorbed in it the next year during a long family car trip from Virginia to Louisiana. This book, along with some "Archie" and "Superman" comics, helped make the trip bearable for me.

Virtually all the stories in this collection were written between 1939 and 1949, with a couple of them dating from, or having been revised, about ten years later. Since the stories appear in "chronological" order (from the point of view of Heinlein's telling of history), but they were not written in that order, one can't help but conclude that Heinlein had an outline of his history already in mind 1939; and indeed this is confirmed in the introduction by Damon Knight, which quotes one of Heinlein's editors writing in February 1941: "...Heinlein's science fiction is laid against a common background of a proposed future history of the world and of the United States. Heinlein's worked the thing out in detail...he has an outlined and graphed history of the future with characters, dates of major discoveries, etc., plotted in." Indeed, a version of this graph is reproduced in the book. What astounds me is that this was a work of imagination almost equivalent to Tolkien's history of Middle Earth, and yet it is not nearly so well known. That seems a shame to me.

The stories begin with present-day (that is, 1939) America, and the invention of a machine that can tell how long someone is going to live ["Life-Line"]. In retrospect this story almost looks like it doesn't belong in the collection, since the machine is destroyed shortly after it is unveiled, and its inventor Dr. Pinero is killed. Only much later, in the final story, does the main character refer back to the machine and to Pinero, making a nice closure for the reader.

There is a stately progression through the short stories, which tell of the invention of moving roadways between American cities ["The Roads Must Roll," "Blowups Happen"]. These stories don't have a major impact on the rest of the history, but the roads are mentioned in passing in later stories.

Then the real meat of the timeline gets started with what I call the Harriman Cycle--stories about space pioneer Delos David Harriman--that document man's first steps into space, landing on the moon, and establishment of permanent lunar settlements (all done by private companies, I'll add, and not by governments). These stories are "The Man Who Sold the Moon," "Delilah and the Space Rigger," "Space Jockey," and "Requiem," by the end of which travel between Earth and bases on the moon was, if not commonplace, more common that Space Shuttle launches at the height of that program.

The series continues with "The Long Watch," "Gentlemen, Be Seated," "The Black Pits of Luna," "'It's Great To Be Back!'," "--We Also Walk Dogs," and "Searchlight." These stories all describe life on the Moon, politics between Earth and the cities on Luna, and the evolving technology of the late 1900s and early 2000s, as Heinlein saw it (boy, don't I wish).

Man moves further afield in "The Green Hills of Earth" and "Logic of Empire," which tell of human settlements on Mars and Venus--both of which worlds have indigenous life. So too, one could say, does the Moon by now, with whole generations of humans being born and living their lives there, as shown in "The Menace From Earth."

The progression of civilization--in particular, American civilization, since other nationalities are rarely mentioned in any of the above stories--into space seems to be abruptly interrupted with a story that, at first read, doesn't seem to belong in this collection at all. "'If This Goes On--'" is the tale of an American theocracy ruled by a Prophet from the city of New Jerusalem (Kansas City, I think). Only slowly does it become clear to the reader that the US suffered a sort of coup around 2016 and this new government was set up, with all the trappings of a heaven on Earth but in reality a police state very similar to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia (which, considering the story was written in 1940, it was not prescient per se but extremely timely and shows that Heinlein was acutely aware of developments and conditions across the world). The story deals with events that would later be incorporated into the collection "Revolt in 2100," which is about when it takes place. SPOILER ALERT: The Prophet is overthrown in this story, and a new government set up which is clearly descended from the old US Republic, but is a more Utopian-minded form.

Throughout "'If This Goes On--'" and the following story, "Coventry," the new society in America is examined in some detail but barely any mention is made of other countries, Luna, or the colonies on Mars and Venus. Space travel appears to be banned by the Prophet and all traces of it expunged from the history books. This is explained to a small degree in "Methuselah's Children," the final story in the collection and the first appearance of the famous (and immortal) character Woodrow Wilson Smith, aka Lazarus Long.

I didn't mean for this review to be a detailed explication of Heinlein's Future History, which is a good thing because I've gone on too long already. There are plenty of scholarly discussions of Heinlein's work, and this collection in particular, online--along with descriptions of stories he meant to include but never wrote, stories that were written but left out, and so on. Let me just say in closing that if you are a Heinlein fan and want to immerse yourself in the universe that seems to have been his main playground of imagination, get a copy of "The Past Through Tomorrow" and dive in. Some of the stories are a little dated in their language and social mores by today's standards, but remember when they were written and enjoy the genius of the man who was able to project the technology and society of 1940s America and project it, plausibly, centuries into the future.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recently learned that back in 1966, when the attendees of the World Science Fiction Convention chose Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" books to receive a special Hugo Award for the best sci-fi series of all time, what came in second was Robert A. Heinlein's "Future History" series. For those who don't know, it's a collection of several dozen short stories and novellas that he published in random order and in a myriad of different magazines over twenty years, but that nonetheless are all set in the same persistent alternative future and share a common timeline, major occurrences and major characters, an impressive feat that became all the more so when they were finally collected and put in chronological order in a single massive thousand-page volume in 1967. And so I thought this would be a perfect way for me to start what I hope to be a pervasive overview of Heinlein's entire career over the next couple of years; after all, most of these stories were published in the 1940s and '50s decades when he was establishing his bona fides for the first time, and I've been told heavily influence his later more mature novels like The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls that he's much better remembered for at this point.

So what a profound shock, then, to start in on this earlier this year and realize that they are barely readable now, 50 to 70 years after they were originally published, not just dated but so objectively awful that it took me literally six months to finally force myself to choke my way through to the end. The main problem here is that Heinlein is famously known as one of the first popular proponents of what's now known as "hard science fiction," in which actual plausible scientific notions from our own age are implanted into fiction set in the future; but since he was one of the first people in literary history to do this, his technique for implanting this modern science is so awkward and blocky as to be ludicrous, with many of these stories essentially containing only a few paragraphs of actual fictional narrative, to serve as an excuse for Heinlein to write another 20 pages of nonfiction discourse about the latest the human race knows about nuclear fission, or jet fuel, or the effect of weightlessness on the human body. Then when he finally gets out of his own way and manges to actually write some narrative fiction, these particular stories turn out to be textbook examples of everything atrocious that made sci-fi such an unrespected and hacky genre in these years -- the characters are largely cardboard cutouts, the dialogue as stilted as a Tommy Wiseau script, gleefully embracing every sexual and racial stereotype that even existed in the Mid-Century Modernist era, setting the stage for the James Kirk "rah rah white males" trope that dominated this genre for decades after.

If this was considered in 1966 to be one of the best science-fiction projects that industry had ever produced, then it's a profound reminder of just how far science-fiction has progressed and matured in the half-century since, as well as a virtual poster-child for how necessary the so-called "New Wave" of sci-fi that was in full swing at the time actually was for the revitalization of this genre. In this, then, reading The Past Through Tomorrow in the 2010s can be a very instructive experience, an enlightening look at why it took so long for sci-fi to gain mainstream acceptance and admiration in our society. But if you're simply looking to read some great work by Heinlein, do yourself a favor and skip this entirely, and go straight to the books from the late '60s through early '80s when he was at the height of his creative powers.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘ Ésta es la historia no del futuro, sino de un futuro’. Según las palabras dichas por Heinlein, los dos volúmenes que conforman ‘Historia del futuro’ es un conjunto de relatos y novelas cortas de un probable horizonte alternativo, que aunque el hombre quisiese quitarse méritos, nada descabellados y algunos de ellos ciertamente proféticos en parte. Con una sólida y plausible base científica a la vez que social ( SIEMPRE HA SIDO UN GENIO COMBINANDO AMBAS CIENCIAS EN SUS ESCRITOS), el autor nos adentra en una serie de 21 magistrales historias, algunas mejores que otras (pero ninguna mala), conectadas en tiempo y espacio, a nivel piramidal y semi cronológico, otorgando con los primeros relatos una base sociológica y tecnológica que irá cambiando y desarrollándose conforme avancen éstos. Nos muestra UNA ÉPICA OBRA EN LA QUE CONSTRUYE UN FUTURO UNIVERSO ALTERNATIVO LLENO DE MATICES Y DETALLES, REALMENTE BIEN HILVANADOS, CON UNA SOTISFICACIÓN Y GENIALIDAD DIGNAS DE UN GRANDE, QUIZÁ EL MÁS GRANDE DEL GÉNERO (PARA MÍ LO ES). LA MERITORIA e IMPORTANTE BASE DE TODAS ELLAS, POR ENCIMA DE TODA SU CIENCIA Y PREMONICIÓN, ES LA RELACIÓN DEL HOMBRE CON EL UNIVERSO Y EL USO QUE HACE DE ÉL, SON HISTORIAS QUE TOCAN ‘DE PIES EN EL SUELO’, OTORGANDO EL PROTAGONISMO AL SER EN EL COSMOS Y SUS CONSECUENCIAS. UNA HISTORIA DE HISTORIA EN EL FUTURO.

Y ahora dos advertencias para su lectura...

Bajo mi humilde opinión de lectora de la obra, es NECESARIA LA LECTURA EN EL ORDEN EN EL QUE VIENEN (aunque es cierto que Heinlein las escribió salteadas y las aunó magníficamente) para establecerse una idea mental del desarrollo dentro del marco general la obra en su globalidad.
Siempre que reseño relatos, suelo poner al principio los que me han parecido mejor. En ésta ocasión no lo haré por dos razones ( Y A PESAR DE HABER CONSUMADAS OBRAS MAESTRAS DENTRO DE SUS PÁGINAS), primero porqué creo que DEBEN LEERSE TODOS , PUES ES UNA HISTORIA DE LA HISTORIA FUTURA FRACCIONADA EN RELATOS, Y SEGUNDO, PORQUÉ ES EN SU CONJUNTO, DÓNDE RESIDE LA CONCEPCIÓN Y APRECIACIÓN TOTAL DE LA OBRA.
En el primer volumen encontramos con 16 relatos escritos entre 1939 y 1950 ( uno es de 1962) y que están basados en sucesos desde 1951 hasta el siglo 21
El segundo, por su parte, consta de 5 relatos escritos entre 1939 y 1941 (uno es de 1957) y que están basado es sucesos desde el 2000 hasta el 2100 aproximadamente

Nota importante antes de adentrarse en la reseña

Al lado de cada titulo pongo la fecha de publicación. A continuación, el argumento, situación social del momento y mis comentario acerca del relato, destacando sus logros particulares. Hay dos apartados , los cuales titulo como:

1/ avances y / predicciones sociales
2/ avances y / o predicciones tecnológicas
En éstos hallareis las bases que plantea Heinlein en sus historias conectadas ( para que os podáis hacer una idea del desarrollo de los dos volúmenes). Por otro lado, añado predicciones pues en muchas ocasiones el autor resulta profético, hablando de cosas que aún no estaban inventadas o empleadas cuando escribió el relato, además, de situaciones sociales muy cabales y que han acaecido posteriormente en parte o es posible que pudiesen ocurrir. Al lado de cada elemento y suceso pongo, entre paréntesis, comentarios acerca de ellos.
Por último, al comienzo de cada relato, otorgo una estimación de la fecha aproximada de cada uno, que si bien puede ser inexacta ( y de deducción personal por lo contado por el autor en cada relato), creo que quizá puede ayudar al contexto de la reseña..

NOTA MUY IMPORTANTE

DEBIDO A QUE GOODREADS NO ME ACEPTA UNA RESEÑA TAN EXTENSA, OS ADJUNTO LOS ENLACES DE TODOS LOS RELATOS RESEÑADOS, POR ORDEN Y VOLUMEN, QUE TUVE QUE PONER EN EL APARTADOS DE ' MIS ESCRITOS', DENTRO DE MI PERFIL.

A continuación las reseñas de cada historia:

HISTORIAS DEL FUTURO I
Reseña de 'La línea de la vida' y 'Las carreteras deben rodar'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Ocurren explosiones' y 'El hombre que vendió la luna'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Dalila y el montador del espacio' y 'Jockey del espacio'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Réquiem' y ' La larga guardia'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Caballeros, permanezcan sentados' y 'Los negros fosos de la luna'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de '¡Qué grande es estar de vuelta' y 'También paseamos perros'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Rayo del luz' y 'Prueba en el espacio'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Las verdes colinas de la tierra' y 'Lógica del imperio'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

HISTORIA DEL FUTURO II

Reseña de 'La amenaza de la tierra' y ' Si esto continúa..'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Conventry' e 'Inadaptado'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Los hijos de Matusalén'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

HISTORIA DEL FUTURO III ("Huérfanos del espacio")

Reseña de 'Universo'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reseña de 'Sentido común'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хубав и интересен сборник с ранни творби на Робърт Хайнлайн! Всички истории ми харесаха, но абсолютен фаворит от него ми е повестта „Неприятната професия на Джонатан Хоуг“. Тя представлява отличен детективски трилър с фентъзи елементи и стойностни послания, който силно ме развълнува!

Главни герои са страхотните Едуард Рандъл и съпругата му Синтия, които имат собствена детективска агенция. Един ден с тях се свързва загадъчният и противоречив образ Джонатан Хоуг, който пък ги наема да следят самия него, тъй като страда от амнезия и не помни къде ходи и с какво се занимава през деня. Първоначално разследването потръгва лесно, но впоследствие се случват доста шантави и напрегнати събития...

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of Heinlein's classic future history short fiction. Arguably the best single-author collection of science fiction ever. I'd say that these stories did more to shape modern sf than any other works.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polémicas aparte, no cabe duda de que Robert A. Heinlein fue y es uno de los grandes de la ciencia ficción, junto a Isaac Asimov y Arthur C. Clarke. Quizás actualmente esté un tanto olvidado por los lectores, pero muchas de sus ideas todavía siguen vigentes hoy en día y llevan a la reflexión. Hay que tener en cuenta que una cosa es el autor y otra su obra. Heinlein fue una persona compleja, y tacharla de fascista por una única obra (‘Starship Troopers’) me parece excesivo.

Pero vamos con la presente novela. Su ‘Historia del futuro’ es un trabajo muy meditado. En principio, los relatos no fueron escritos de manera cronológica, pero posteriormente sí fueron publicados siguiendo su cronología interna, una idea que partió de John W. Campbell. Heinlein estableció una serie de avances tecnológicos, políticos y sociales a lo largo de los años, que le sirven de decorado para contar sus historias. No abunda en descripciones técnicas, ya que lo que le preocupaba realmente a Heinlein eran las personas.

En ‘Historia del futuro 1’ (The Past Through Tomorrow, 1967) se incluyen los siguientes relatos:

-La línea de la vida
-Las carreteras deben rodar
-Ocurren explosiones
-El hombre que vendió la Luna
-Dalila y el montador del espacio
-Jockey del espacio
-Réquiem
-La larga guardia
-Caballeros, permanezcan sentados
-Los negros fosos de la Luna
-”¡Qué grande es estar de vuelta!”
-Rayo de luz
-Prueba en el espacio
-Las verdes colinas de la Tierra
-Lógica del Imperio

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of 21 Heinlein short stories in his 'Future History'. If you've never read Heinlein & want a good introduction, this is probably the best single book of his works you can buy. You'll see quite a range of his best.

The paperback is as fat as one of Jordan's books & contains some novella length stories - two, "Revolt in 2100" & "Methuselah's Children" were published as novels. Others are title stories from other short story collections "The Green Hills of Earth" & "The Man Who Sold The Moon", for example.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Симпатични разкази на ранния Хайнлайн - когато Космосът е много по-близък.

***

”Той търси реда, не истината. Да допуснем, че истината противостои на реда, тогава ще я приеме ли той? А вие? Мисля, че не.”

“В науката има само два начина за оформяне на мироглед. Единият е научният, другият — схоластичният. Човек може да си създаде мнение от научния опит или пък да приеме сляпо мнението на авторитетен източник. За научния подход най-важно е експерименталното доказателство, а теорията е просто удобство при описанието и може да бъде изхвърлена на боклука, щом стане негодна. За академичния подход авторитетният източник е всичко и фактите се изхвърлят на боклука, когато не прилягат на теорията, създадена от мастития корифей.”

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one that I return to every few years (since first reading it 15 or so years ago). It stands up well every time; I love the idea of a future history framework to set a series of short stories and novellas into. Heinlein was at his best, if not most accessible, during this time (1940 - 1960 or so).

[Jersy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a lot of interesting concepts and premises, some of experimental and out there, some more realistic and straight forward. It’s a good mix of the more concept-focused Heinlein stories, that are really interesting but sometimes feel too impersonal for me, and the more character-focused ones that I love. I would say, generally, this is mostly the style of early Heinlein before he got into things like Stranger in a Strange Land. Some stories feel more connected to the bigger universe of the Future History than others. Honestly, with most of them, I would have never noticed there was a connection, but I´m not usually someone looking for references to a shared universe anyway and if you know that this the same timeline, it´s fascinating to see how it develops over time.

[Xavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Va de menos a más. Algunos relatos han envejecido mal.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy read for Heinlein's fans. The quality of the stories varies a bit, as they were written at different times, but having them in this collection and chronologically ordered helps keep the "future history" timeline straight.

The stories suffer from Heinlein's usual flaws (i.e. female characters) but also showcase his strengths (e.g. pushing new social and political ideas, a love and veneration of science). This collection is a good example of why Heinlein is considered one of the big three (even if I did forget whether I was reading Future History or Robot and Empire occasionally).

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído en 2014:
Primero de sus cuatro recopilatorios de relatos sobre la "Historia del futuro". Realmente imaginativo, muestra un posible futuro basado en el hombre como individuo de voluntad férrea adoptando la Ciencia como elemento conductor de sus logros.

Obra obligada si quieres conocer a Heinlein.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one of Heinlein's greatest works in terms of weaving together many stories with a self consistent story line. In it he introduces his best known character, Lazarus Long. Probably his next best character in terms of references to the character in other stories, would be D.D. Harriman. And to be honest, in many ways Harriman was a more likable character than Lazarus Long. Lazarus Long is sexist (gets much worse in other books and isn't all that noticeable in this one), selfish, self centered and looks out for himself and those he chooses to look out for such as wives and kids. I think my favorite story is "The Long Watch" which is straight patriotic adventure with a wonderful hero. Although I love "The Menace from Earth" for the concept of flying as an individual sport on the moon. The characters in that story irritate me though. Heinlein came up with many sci fi concepts in these stories that have at least some bearing in reality. For example, lights that turn themselves off when no one is in the room. We have that concept in reality now, many decades after Heinlein created it.
I have read this before but apparently never written it up on Goodreads for some reason. I think I'm going to toss my copy and make use of the space. I don't think I'll read it again. As I have mentioned in other reviews, Heinlein's political philosophy bothers me. Although he did seem to admit in the story "Coventry" that there had to be some government no matter how much he would rather do without it. Really, Coventry is a surprise coming from Heinlein. I still have a number of Heinlein books to go through in my collection but I can tell you I vastly prefer Heinlein's "juveniles" to his adult books. I think he was more creative in those books and did more "real" science fiction than in his adult books. This is definitely worth reading but I can't see rereading this book again. Too many different stories and too many pages (830) and time needed to read this.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I greatly enjoy Heinlen's writing, I didn't think I'd read very many of his short stories. Surprisingly, I had read "Life-Line", which is the first story in this book. But I didn't mind re-reading it one bit! One thing I had not realized before was that it was the first short story Heinlen had ever submitted for publication. I think the book is worth getting for it alone.

Now, not only is this book just an incredible collection of plain good 'ole fashioned story-telling at it's best, but the stories actually proceed in chronological order in the same timeline, which creates an incredible fluidity between stories. You find yourself trying to figure out how far in the future from the last story you read you are in the one you've just started.

I think of the stories in the book, "Life-Line", "The Green Hills of Earth", and "Methuselah's Children" are my favorites, though I think I enjoyed every one of them. And you have characters that flow from one story to the next, so every now and then you get to spend more time with a character that you found you enjoyed.

Do I recommend this book?! Absolutely! And despite it's thickness, it's actually great for people who aren't much into big books - because it's a collection of short stories. You can sit down and read for a half an hour or an hour and then put it down without regret. Awesome book!

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2910459.html

Heinlein's mammoth future history: 21 stories published as a collection in 1967, though in fact all but two originally came out between 1939 and 1949, outlining the future development of humanity through the coming centuries.

Heinlein misses a lot of things - notably the rise of information technology; his 23rd century spaceships are still running with slide rules. Some of these are a bit too sentimental, some based on concepts that don't really resonate today, and the last, "Methuselah's Children", is pretty weak - 100,000 people surviving on a spaceship built for a much smaller number??? But the idea of framing a future history based on technological advance rather than, say, the mysticism of Olaf Stapedon remains engaging. In particular, the theocratic America of If This Goes On- is rather closer to the bone now than it was in the 1940s. The whole collection is one of those taproot texts of the genre that remains well worth reading.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a huge tomb: 830 pages and and inch-and-three-quarters thick. It contains 21 stories, some of which are novel-length for that time (50,000 words). The last story, "Methuselah's Children" has been published as a stand-alone novel (yes, I have it).

I won't try to review all of the stories for fear of boring everyone. It's enough that most of them are highly entertaining, even by today's standards, and all fit within Heinlein's "future history" timeline.

Of the stories, "Methuselah's Children" is my all-time favorite. It leads into a huge tomb of it's own, "Time Enough for Love", which Heinlein published later. Both feature his favorite character (I suspect he's RH's alter ego), Lazarus Long (Woodrow Wilson Smith), an irascible curmudgeon.

My other favorite story is "The Menace from Earth" about a teenage couple and a good-looking woman from Earth who threatens to lure the boy away.

I've read this tomb so many times that the pages are starting to fall out (mass market paperback). I had to glue it back together this time through.

[Jessica Zoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining on the whole but Heinlein's high handed opinion of men, coupled with his disdain /annoyance of women, children, and parents got old. It feels like SciFi based Ayn Rand diatribe with a hatred of heavy handed government meddling in the affairs of get-the-job-done men.

[Russell Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Past Through Tomorrow is a book of short stories by Robert A. Heinlein. It is my favorite science fiction book. (It may be my favorite book period.) Even though there are plenty of other things to read, I have to reread.it every year or two. The character D.D. Harriman is certainly an inventor ahead of his time, even though in his timeline he had different inventions to get into space.

Now for divergent thoughts not in this book but brought on by thinking about this book.
Speaking of inventors ahead of their time NOT IN THIS BOOK the other day I was thinking about how advanced that Star Trek (the original series) was in predicting science innovations. Too bad the more recent versions of Star Trek have not been as innovative. The original Star Trek series was like one version of The Past Through Tomorrow. (What we see now and what we may see in the future).

Some of the things science has come up with that were portrayed on TV are as follows:
*Dr. McCoy's hypo spray = needle-less vaccination guns used in hospitals.
*Captain Kirk's handheld computer on the bridge = Microsoft's Tablet PCs.
*Captain Kirk's communicator = cell phones minus miniature bomb..
*Motion sensors in ships doors = pocket doors in hospitals & grocery stores.
*One function of the communicator = GPS in a cell phone with the Google Locater program enabled so others can see where you are located.
*The episode where Worf is completely paralyzed and has to have special gizmos at various spots along his legs to get the muscles or nerves to fire right and help him learn to walk again = on TV news I saw the exact same time of thing. A lady in a wheelchair was going to get to walk for the first time with the same type of gizmos Worf had. The news channel recorded it znf us viewers got to see it. It was pretty exciting.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, along with "Time Enough for Love" (currently reading) is Heinlein's magnum ous. This volume has some 800 pages of small-type stories, novellas and novels, culminating in '"Methuselah's Children" (which I have already read - see my review- and found out subsequently that there was a great number of stories that antedated that novel. These are published in this volume in the order given in a table close to the beginning of "Methuselah's Children" but somewhat out of order in terms of publication dates., which begin in the mid-30's. This looks at not only the longevity addressed in "Methuselah's Children," but the development of space travel, the establishment of a colony "Luna City" on the Moon, and, especially, tracing a number of intriguing characters and their influences upon these processes. I found myself going back and forth to the aforementioned table numerous times, for it traces not only the characters, but also the developments in technology and space travel, but also social changes, upheavals, wars, etc., in a wide panorama. I found this collection extremely entertaining and would recommend it highly. I have started "Time Enough for Love," the conclusion of this work, fun stuff. More when I get done with that one.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of twenty-one vintage Heinlein short stories with a wide variety of plots. This is a great read for the science fiction fan. There are several classics in the collection. Inludes the novel METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this for a song at the roadside. I never knew that it was a compendium of stories describing Heinlein's future universe: its development through time and space. Very enjoyable reading.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Heinlein was a better SF writer at shorter lengths, though this book is over 800 pages long. Methuseluh's Children is the best of them.

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if Robert Heinlein had the first "future history" as we (and John Campbell) understood it, although he was probably one of the more extensive ones that had come down the pike thus far in the world of SF. While other writers may have written stories that appeared to happen in the same universe, no one had really taken a series of stories spread out chronologically over hundreds of years and explicitly set them in the same timeline (the closest I can think of is maybe Olaf Stapleton but that's basically two books and literally millions of years so he's in another class altogether, with a scope that even Heinlein might have found daunting). Later on Cordwainer Smith would do something similar with his stories that also benefited from a helpful chart and even later constructing your own timelines as to the future would become pretty standard for both fans and writers, with the fans perhaps being even better at it if the profusion of wiki pages devoted to various SF settings are any guide.

What does link the better ones, at least in my mind, over histories that have been kind of stitched together after the fact, is how the stories and the histories themselves work to reflect the author's concerns about where we are but we're going. Just like Smith's showcased his interests in Eastern philosophies and modes of storytelling (among other things) Heinlein's future would allow him to work through problems in technology that he saw coming as well as the rise of religious fervor and the necessity of libertarian solutions to such problems.

If you've ever heard the words "science-fiction" I hope I don't to explain who Robert Heinlein was but for those coming in fresh he was one of the giants of the genre during its Golden Age, his career spanning from when SF was considered juvenile "pulp" stuff to when it started being taken more seriously, with quite a bit of that new public perspective coming due to his efforts. Among today's audiences he's probably more famous for his later works like "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and if you like problematic adaptations of works that are themselves perhaps thematically disconcerting, "Starship Troopers". Even so, I don't know how well known his name is among the general public nowadays, and its quite possible that beyond the big guns, the average SF fan hasn't read too much more of his work.

The stories collected here fall into his earlier period, around the forties and fifties, ranging from tales like his very first ever published story "Life-Line" to stories with lots of moving parts like "Methuselah's Children" that point the way toward what was to come later. At this point he wasn't pushing boundaries excessively but the stories don't have quite the young adult vibe that the "juvenile" novels would have and most of the time seem pitched toward an audience that could grasp the engineering and social issues being debated. What's impressive to me over sixty years later is how assured the writing is and how well constructed the stories are . . . while its hard to tell these days with the stories published in isolation from their original magazines, I imagine that one flipping through one of those old pulps would find these stories would stand out quite strongly in relation to what was surrounding them. He expanded the vocabulary of SF and did his best to relay the world in specifics without bogging down the reader in exposition. Even if you perhaps didn't want to live in his future, there was no doubt it felt like a real future.

But even well written SF stories from the forties are still stories from the forties, with concerns in the context of that time. So how do they hold up today to modern eyes? Fairly well, for the most part . . . readers of today may crave a little more sophistication in the actual writing but you have to keep in mind these are short stories written for SF magazines, where efficiency was probably at a premium. Most of the stories are set around some technical or social problem, like "The Roads Must Roll" or "Blowups Happen" and the crux of the story is trying to navigate a problem caused by the future and what possible solutions that same future might uncover to resolve it. A number of the stories are centered around opportunities that the future might bring, like "The Man Who Sold the Moon" or even the darker aspects of that future, like the capitalistic slavery of "Logic of Empire". A lot of the issues raised are still fascinating even today, if you can discount how dated some of the science is, especially all the stuff having to do with Venus (before probes visited the planet, a lot of SF writers got mileage out of the idea of aliens living there or that we'd be able to live there ourselves someday) . . . most of the time he's able to bridge the gap between "explaining" and "entertaining" with a clarity that's probably even more amazing if you were able to see what his competition was.

What's fun in these stories is tracing the gradual evolution of society in his history, especially the establishment of the Lunar colony (who already show the libertarian leanings that he would massively expand in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"), our spread throughout the solar system and his depiction of a theocracy that erupts and crashes (we see the tailend in "If This Goes On-") before giving way to the "Coventry" government. Along the way he makes stops for smaller, more personal crises, like "Requiem" (a fitting sequel to "The Man Who Sold the Moon"), "The Black Pits of Luna", "The Menace From Earth", and "The Green Hills of Earth".

If there's any downside to these, despite all of them being entertaining, its that some might find the parade of standard Heinlein "compotent heroes" a bit wearying after a while. He does his best to vary personalities and maybe I'm just a cynical man of the twenty-first century but after the tenth or so story solved by sheer pluck and brains and Yankee know-how you start to wish for almost anything else, although the variety you do get tends to be balanced by mentor characters who are on-hand to explain everything to our green protagonists with the wisdom of the grizzled veteran that holds their hands to guide them through ("Coventry" and "If Goes On-" both have this scenario, although in the latter you can sense Heinlein toying with the notion of being more provocative when it comes to pushing sexual mores). Taken in isolation its probably not as noticeable (the juvenile novels often have same mentality and I don't remember it bothering me that much when I first read them, but it may be more charming when stretched out over an entire book) but a steady diet only highlights how often he goes back to that same basic character trait. The moralizing and philosophizing that sometimes bogged down the late period novels isn't too much in evidence, although he skirts the edge of it sometimes when characters seem to be acting as mouthpieces for whatever views Heinlein held at the time. And while he's known for his strong female characters, that's not as much in evidence here, although part of that may be a consideration toward the times when even the most competent ladies still went dizzy for a man (probably the biggest flaw in the otherwise fun "The Menace From Earth").

All that means is that you have a slew of stories that may not be masterpieces (although some are close and closing story "Methuselah's Children" manages to pack a ton of ideas and sports the rare feat of coming just shy of making Lazarus Long over-confidently annoying) but are the work of a SF Grand Master both learning and flourishing in his craft while laying out a broad vision that had been mostly absent thus far in the genre. Its hard to see how groundbreaking all of this was today (my modern sensibilities probably gravitate more toward the aforementioned Cordwainer Smith, whose stories hit more like a gut punch) when just about everyone since then has ripped off some portion of it and while some of the interest in this is purely wanting to give props to the innovator, as it were, its rare that you can get any collection from a SF author in this era that is as top to bottom consistent, that is as frequently concerned with testing both his own limits and the limits of the genre. That Heinlein got better is an understatement. That he was head and shoulders above his peers almost from the get-go may be a revelation to some people that this book happily provides.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Contains the stories:

Life-Line -
The Roads Must Roll - 2/5 - society built around moving walkways
Blowups Happen -
The Man Who Sold the Moon -
Delilah and the Space-Rigger -
Space Jockey -
Requiem -
The Long Watch -
Gentleman, Be Seated -
The Black Pits of Luna -
"It's Great to Be Back!" -
"—We Also Walk Dogs" -
Searchlight -
Ordeal in Space -
The Green Hills of Earth -
Logic of Empire -
The Menace from Earth -
"If This Goes On—" -
Coventry -
Misfit -
Methuselah's Children -

[Brad Blome · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes you sequentially through all the Future History short stories that Heinlein wrote which makes it easier to follow characters who appear in different storylines (and in later books, timelines & universes).

[Daniel Suhajda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that it took me 4 years to read this tome. When I started Biden was just elected and Covid was going full scale. My oldest was a HS freshman and he is now in college.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 5 out of 5]

review of
Robert A. Heinlein's The Past Through Tomorrow
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 1-4, 2025

Reviews that're too long to post on Goodreads go, eventually, to my "Critic" website: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/Critic.... . Alas, I'm getting slower & slower to create the relevant webpage - largely b/c I just don't enjoy it. Still, if you wait for a wk or 2 after this truncated review is posted & if you then go to the Critic link & search for The Past Through Tomorrow you might find a review about 3 times as long as this.

It seems that whenever I think of reading another Heinlein bk I hesitate b/c I feel like doing so wd be to revisit my childhood - something I don't want to spend much time doing even tho it IS of interest to me. Furthermore, his pro-military philosophy doesn't jive w/ my own anti-war activism. NONETHELESS, I read this & found it Truly Great. In fact, I loved it so much that it seems that the way it resonates w/ me is a reinstantiation of something fundamental in my development. Having recently read Alxi Panshin's critique of Heinlein called Heinlein in Dimension & having found it somewhat negative I was curious to read this work & discover whether I found Heinlein's characters so shallow, etc.. As it turns out, I found Heinlein's writing to be an excellent combination of Human Nature in a variety of technologically futuristic circumstances.

In the "Introduction by Damon Knight" it's written:

"His stories are full of precisely right details, the product of painstaking research. But many of the things he writes about, including some that strain the reader's credulity, are from his own life. A few examples, out of many:

"The elaborate discussion of the problems of linkages in designing household robots, in The Door Into Summer. Heinlein was an engineer, specializing in linkages.

"The hand-to-hand combat skills of the heroes of such stories as Gulf and Glory Road. Heinlein himself is an expert marksman, swordsman and rough and tumble fighter.

"The redheaded and improbably multi-skilled heroine of The Puppet Masters and other Heinlein stories. Heinlein's red-headed wife Ginny is a chemist, biochemist, aviation test engineer, experimental horticulturist; she earned varsity letters at N.Y.U. in swimming, diving, basketball and field hockey, and became a competitive figure skater after graduation; she speaks seven languages so far, and is starting on an eighth." - p 11

The 1st story, "Life-Line" features a character who's invented a device for predicting when people will die.

"Pinero smiled his irritating smile. "So? I should have guessed. Old Bidwell, no so, of Amalgamated Life Insurance? An he wanted his trained seals to expose me as a fraud, yes? For if I can tell a man the day of his own death, no one will buy his pretty policies.["]" - p 16

The 2nd story, "The Roads Must Roll" introduces class.

""Who makes the roads roll?"

"The speaker stood still on the rostrum and waited fro his audience to answer him. The reply came in scattered shouts that cut through the ominous, discontented murmur of the crowd.

""We do!"—"We do!"—"Damn right!"

""Who does the dirty work 'down inside'—so that Joe Public can ride at his ease?"

"This time it was a single roar, "We do!""

[..]

""I tell you, brother, it's time we quit fiddlin' around with petitions to the Transport Commission, and use a little direct action.["]" - p 35

"the achievement of cheap sun power and the installation of the first mechanized road."

[..]

"Simultaneously, the automobile, from its humble start as a one-lunged horseless carriage, grew into a steel-bodied monster of over a hundred horsepower and capable of making more than a hundred miles an hour." - p 41

"They contained the seeds of their own destruction. Eighty million steel juggernauts, operated by imperfect human beings at high speeds, are more destructive than war." - p 42

I'm reminded of when I was pulled over for speeding my a State Trooper in the 1970s. He informed me solemnly that more people had died in car crashes than had died in the Vietnam War. I think he must've left out the Vitnamese dead from his statistical juggling.

"But a pedestrian could be defined as a man who had found a place to park his car. The automobile made possible huge cities, then choked those same cities to death with their numbers. In 1900 Herbert George Wells pointed out that the saturation point in the size of a city might be mathematically predicted in terms of its transportation facilities." - p 42

Given that the above story was written in 1940 I'd say that it's very prescient. The next story is called "Blowups Happen".

"He tried to visualize what that would mean, and failed. He had been told that uranium was potentially twenty million times as explosive as T.N.T. The figure was meaningless that way. He thought of the pile as a hundred million tons of high explosive, or as a thousand Hiroshimas. It still did not mean anything. He had once seen an A-bomb dropped, when he had been a temperament analyst for the Air Forces. He could not imagine the explosion of a thousand such bombs; his brain balked." - pp 73-74

Now that story is listed as having been copyrighted in 1940. What's wrong w/ this picture?! The A-bombing of Hiroshima was on August 6, 1945, a day that shd be remembered as an atrocity that shd be a warning to us all. Heinlein wdn't've have known about the A-bomb in 1940, it wdn't've existed yet. The copyright must've been no earlier than 1945. Still, Heinlein wd've been one of the earliest writers to warn us of the deadly threat to all life on Earth. His characters were craking from the stress of responsibility in relation to this vast power.

"["]Manning was able and brilliant. Furthermore, he was always cheerful; nothing seemed to bother him.

""I was glad to have him on the pile, for he was always alert, and never seemed nervous about working with it—in fact he grew more buoyant and cheerful the longer he stood control watches. I should have known that was a very bad sign, but I didn't, and there was no observer to tell me so.

""His technician had to slug him one night . . . He found him dismounting the safety interlocks on the cadmium assembly. Poor old Manning never pulled out of it—he's been violently insane ever since.["]" - pp 79-80

"the fission of the uranium atom by Dr. Otto Hahn in December, 1938, had opened up the way to atomic power. The door was opened just a crack; the process to be self perpetuating and commercially usable required an enormously greater knowledge than there was available in the entire civilized world at that time.

"In 1938 the amount of separated uranium-235 in the world was not the mass of the head of a pin. Plutonium was unheard of. Atomic power was abstruse theory" - p 87

Heinlein brings in the moon.

""For this is an inhabited planet, inhabited by intelligent beings, capable of discovering atomic power and exploiting it!"" - p 103

For the most part, some continuity is maintained from story-to-story. The next one, "The Man Who Sold the Moon", features a businessman, Harriman, whose legacy continues to mutate throughout.

"When the Harper-Erickson isotopic artificial fuels had been developed three years before it had seemed that, in addition to solving the dilemma of an impossibly dangerous power source which was also utterly necessary to the economic life of the continent, an easy means had been found to achieve interplanetary travel." - p 125

Post-Hiroshima/Nagasaki fear of atomic war was a very strong current in SF in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. There's a trace of it here.

"Harriman's home had been built at the time when everyone who could was decentralizing and going underground. Above ground there was a perfect little Cape Cod cottage—the clapboards of which concealed armor plate—and most delightful, skillfully landscaped grounds; below ground there was four or five times as much floorspace, immune to anything but a direct hit and possessing an independent air supply with reserves for one thousand hours." - p 134

How many people, here in 2025, are aware of the era of bomb shelters?! I spent my childhood on a small dead-end street in a rural area that was the beginning of the suburbs in the 1950s. One of my neighbors had a bomb shelter, a survivalist-type thing that the home owner & his family cd crowd themselves into in case of an air raid. He was the only one I knew of w/ such a thing & I remember the other neighbors finding him somewhat preposterous. Still, it was a sign of the times. The house + bomb shelter wd've been built around 1956.

Some of us have encountered "mineral rights", the rights to the ground under our home. This might seem strange but if one doesn't have those mineral rights it might enable mining to undermine the foundation of one's house & to generally make living conditions dangerous &/or miserable. What about owning the sky above one's house?

""Never mind that. Suppose he buys the works, without splitting the rights: how far down does he own? How far up does he own?"

""Well, he owns a wedge down to the center of the Earth. That was settled in the slant-drilling and off-set oil lease cases. Theoretically he used to own the space above the land, too, out indefinitely, but that was modified by a series of cases" - p 138

Harriman's trying to make a business that can reach the moon. He schemes, risking everything.

""Why stop at a dime?" asked Monty. "If you get a kid really interested he'll scrape together a dollar."

""Yes, but what do we offer him for it? Aside from the honor of taking part in a noble venture and so forth?"

""Mmmm. . . ." Montgomery used up more thumb nail. "Suppose we go after both the dime and the dollars. For a dime he gets a card saying that he's a member of the Moonbeam club—"

""No, the 'Junior Spacemen'."

""O.K., the Moonbeams will be girls—and don't forget to rope the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts into it, too. We give each kid a card; when he kicks in another dime, we punch it.["]" - p 148

Heinlein's from an era where censorship is associated w/ those nasty Soviets & believed to be something that the US & 'democracies' shdn't practice. What happened to that era?!

""Easy! Easy!" Harriman interrupted. "Did it ever occur to you that there is absolutely no way to interefer with a telecast from the Moon—and that boards of censorship on Earth won't have jurisdiction in any case?"" - p 176

Does the term "bombardier" even exist anymore in this day & age of guys sitting in air-conditioned rooms sending off 'smart missiles'? One of the perqs of having a long life is the ability to remember such things.

"He was a bombardier, borrowed from the Air Forces; when he pressed the switch, a radio-controlled circuit in step five should cause the shrouds of step five's landing 'chute to be cut and let it plummet to Earth. He was working from radar reports alone with no fancy computing bombsight to think for him. He was working almost by instinct—or, rather, by the accumulated subconscious knowledge of his trade, integrating in his brain the meager data spread before him, deciding where the tons of step five would land if he were to press his switch at any particular instant. He seemed unworried." - p 190

A job that requires extreme accuracy.

Harriman's obsessive desire to get to the moon leads to his cunning businessman's mind figuring all the angles.

"["]And we'll tie down that franchise with a franchise from the other end, just as soon as we can get a permanent colony there, no matter how small. It will be the autonomous state of Luna, under the protection of the United Nations—and no ship will land or take off in its territory without its permission.["]" - p 200

Plans proceed apace.

"Luna City, it was decided, would be founded on the very next trip. The Mayflower was planned for a pay-load not only of seven passengers, bit with air, water and food to carry four of them over to the next trip; they would live in an aluminum Quonset-type hut, sealed, presurrized, and buried under the loose soil of Luna until—and assuming—they were succored." - p 205

NOW, a friend of mine recently informed me that, strictly speaking, the state of West Virginia doesn't have ANY cities b/c a city must have a minimum population of 50,000 people. That wd mean that Luna City wd have a while to go before its initial population of 4 wd reach a large enuf quantity to qualify. HOWEVER, this minimum of 50,000 doesn't seem to be strictly adhered to b/c WV is sd to have many cities: the largest of these being the capital, Charleston, w/ a population of 46,838 (as of 2023).

The next story, "Delilah and the Space Riggers", continues some facets of the last. Ditto w/ each successive story. Harriman Enterprises is particularly common.

"I.T.&T. had leased space for a microwave relay station—several million a year from television alone. The Weather Bureau was itching to set up its hemispheric integrating station; Palomar Observatory had a concession (Harriman Enterprises donated that space)" - p 219

"Space Jockey":

"The Commerce Commission has set the charges for the present three-stage lift from here to the moon at thirty dollars a pound. Would direct service be cheaper?—a ship designed to blast off from Earth, make an airless landing on the Moon, return and make an atmosphere landing, would be so cluttered up with heavy special equipment used only once in the trip that it could not show a profit at a thousand dollars a pound! Imagine combining a ferry boat, a subway train, and an express elevator—" - p 228

Ok, the above-quoted story was copyrighted in 1947. A $1,000 in 1947 wd be $14,147.67 today (January 2, 2025). Let's say you're a passenger w/ nothing but clothing & yr weight under those conditions is 160 pounds. 160 times $14,147.67 = $2,263,627.20 for this passsenger to go the moon. That doesn't include the round trip - wch wd be, presumably, double. NASA can have a four-person flight to the moon costing $1,025,000,000 per astronaut.

"Tourist flights to the Moon would be of three types: flyby in a circumlunar trajectory, lunar orbit, and lunar landing.

"However, the only tourist flights to space that have been successfully executed so far have been suborbital and orbital flights.
"Suborbital flights are short and significantly less costly than orbital flights. Tourists on suborbital flights find themselves at an altitude of around 100 km, which is a little over the official beginning of space, where they get to experience zero gravity for approximately 5 minutes before beginning their descent back to Earth. Suborbital flights can last anywhere between 30 minutes and 3 hours and cost approximately $200,000 per passenger.
"Orbital flights, on the other hand, are longer, more expensive, and logistically harder to realize. They require flying hundreds of kilometres above the Earth's surface. Orbital flights typically last a day and cost around $10M per passenger."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism...
Interesting, eh? We're not quite to the point Heinlein was predicting in 1947 & it's even more expensive than he imagined. Still, Heinlein was trying to be realistic.

""The Romance of Interplanetary Travel"—it looked well in print, but he knew what it was: A job. Monotony. No scenery. Bursts of work, tedious waits. No home life." - p 232

We reach "Requiem" & Harriman recurs.

"D. D. Harriman's chauffeur could not see any reason for stopping. They were due in Kansas City for a directors' meeting, that is to say, Harriman was." - p 245

On to "The Long Watch" & I like the beginning.

""The small ship displayed the insignia of an admiral—yet there was no living thing of any sort in her. She was not even a passenger ship, but a drone, a robot ship intended for radioactive cargo. This trip she carried nothing but a lead coffin—and a Geiger counter that was never quiet."

"—from the editorial After Ten Years, film 38, 17 June 2009, Archives of the N. Y. Times" - p 263

The setting:

"The Colonel wanted to talk politics; Johnny was puzzled. Finally Towers had come to the point; it was not safe (so he said) to leave control of the world in political hands; power must be held by a scientifically selected group. In short—the Patrol." - p 263

I've often emphasized that Heinlein's support of the military & his eventual endorsement of incest have both been off-putting to me. Still, stories like "The Long Watch" bring me solidly back to being able to relate to Heinlein. In it, he presents an attempted military coup that wd slaughter civilians. Then he presents a hero who sacrifices his life to prevent this slaughter from happening. What shd I call this? 'Old School Morality'?! Somehow, it seems to me that the world has changed, that people's morality (or, as a I prefer, ethics) have been corrupted w/o people noticing much. Henilein brings me back to a philosophy that I grew up on & that still resonates w/ me.

Once again, I like the beginning of the next story, "Gentlemen, Be Seated":

"It takes both agoraphobes and claustrophobes to colonize the moon. Or make it agoraphiles and claustrophiles, for the men who go into space had better not have phobias. In anything on a planet, in a planet, or in the empty reaches around the planet can frighten a man, he should stick to Mother Earth." - p 277

"The Black Pits of Luna" opens w/ more continuity:

"The morning after we got to the Mon we went over to Rutherford. Dad and Mr. Latham—Mr. Latham is the man from the Harriman Trust that Dad came to Luna City to see—Dad and Mr. Latham had to go anyhow on business. I got Dad to promise I could go alongbecause it looked like just about my only chance to get out on the surface of the Moon. Luna City is all right, I guess, but I defy you to tell a corridor in Luna City from the sublevels in New York—except that you're light on your feet, of course." - p 287

In "It's Great to be Back" adjustment to Earth gravity after living on the Moon is described:

"A spaceman—pilot, by his uniform—stopped and looked pityingly at the child. "Born in the Moon?" he asked.

""Why yes, she was, sir." Simmons' courtesy transcended his troubles.

""Pick her up and carry her. She'll have to learn to walk all over again."" - p 305

[Metaphorosis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
A fairly comprehensive (and large) collection of Robert Heinlein's Future History stories.

Review
My paperback copy of The Past Through Tomorrow is beaten up, with a notched cover and a broken spine. That means I’ve had it since before I started treating books carefully, which is a very long time – most of my books look unread. It’s also one of the foundational books of my interest in science fiction.

More important, it’s, as it say son the back, “One of the greatest achievements in the history of science fiction”. That may be overstating it a bit, but there’s no denying that the collection is impressive, and the stories varied and effective. I haven’t read this for some decades, but I remember many of the stories well. Lazarus Long in particular (he also appears in other Heinlein books) was an influential figure in my childhood.

It’s this latter part that has changed. I read this book around age 10. I absorbed its politics uncritically. Reading it now, it’s far clearer that Heinlein’s politics were a) not the same as mine now, and b) somewhat muddled. While famously libertarian, here what he really seems to favor is authoritarianism – so long as it’s his guy in charge. That makes for great competent heroes, but not for sound societies.

One of Heinlein’s strengths, though, was in creating likeable characters. There are weaknesses, of course – lead women are few and far between; when they’re there, they’re hyper-competent, though generally willing to defer to men. But in these stories, Heinlein hadn’t yet descended into his later, “woman are always right, and by the way, incest is fun” stage. Here, Lazarus Long is reluctant to even sleep with a great-great-granddaughter. Generally, though, his heroes, are tough, able, and engaging.

What I found both familiar and surprising – that is, I remembered it, but no longer found it believable – is how Heinlein treats disagreement. Despite his ability to create reasonably credible characters, Henlein repeatedly resolves arguments by having one person explain the facts to his opponent – who then says, “Oh, I see. You’re right, and I retract what I said, and now support you.” Wouldn’t it be great if people worked that way – if all you had to do was present incontrovertible facts and sound logic? The world would be a different place, and a better one.

In any case, this collection is, in many ways, the best of Robert Heinlein, and worth reading. Nobody’s saying you have to read any official canon of SF. But Heinlein was undoubtedly one of the Big Three, and these stories are a big part of the reason why, and why science fiction looked like it did.
Among the best stories are:

“The Roads Must Roll”
*“The Man Who Sold the Moon”
*“Requiem”
*“We Also Walk Dogs”
“The Menace from Earth”
“If This Goes On”
“Coventry”


The book ends with the novel “Methuselah’s Children”, which is interesting and introduces Lazarus Long for the first time, but ends on a bit of an off note. I see that some later versions of the collection include a final novella, which may function to offset that a bit.

In any case, well worth your time, whether for fun or as a part of SF history.