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Future History or "Heinlein Timeline" #5
El hombre que vendió la luna
Colección Infinitum Nº 2. Robert Heinlein es el único autor de sf. que ha conseguido cuatro veces, y en cuatro años distintos, el codiciado premio Hugo a la mejor novela de ciencia-ficción del año. Esto, por sí solo, es ya dato suficiente como para avalar su gran prestigio. Y, dentro del contexto global de su obra, EL HOMBRE QUE VENDIÓ LA LUNA es una de sus narraciones más fundamentales. Hoy, el hombre ha pisado ya la Luna, pero todavía dista mucho de poder colonizarla. El día en que esté en situación de hacerlo, ¿cómo lo afrontará? Heinlein nos plantea este problema, pero desde la Tierra. En este sentido, la fabulosa aventura de Delos Harriman, la edificación de su gran imperio económico en aras de un ideal de soñador, es un canto al espíritu emprendedor del hombre idealista que, a bordo de una nueva Mayflower, intenta conseguir el anhelo de nuevos horizontes de toda una vida. Por otra parte, la inclusión del relato REQUIEM, verdadero epílogo a la aventura de Delos Harriman y su Sueño Por La Luna (relato prácticamente inédito en España) hacen que este volumen de la colección INFINITUM constituya una muestra completa, acabada y precisa de lo que es la ciencia-ficción en su estado más puro
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
57 people are currently reading
3960 people want to read
About the author
Robert A. Heinlein
1,053 books10.5k followersRobert 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.
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.
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May 27, 2021
This Brilliance Audio performance of Heinlein's second collection of his Future History stories (the first was The Green Hills of Earth) contains all six of the stories that were included in the original Shasta hardcover edition. I'm not wild about the orange cover (is that supposed to be David Bowie?), but the book is very nicely read by Buck Schirner. Most of the paperback editions only contained four of the original six. (The whole series is included in the omnibus The Past Through Tomorrow, which I highly recommend.) Life-Line was Heinlein's first published story, and is an interesting character study but doesn't fit in too well with the themes and continuity he was later to develop. Let There Be Light is a fine story that mixes economics and politics with the science, and features one of his first female strong characters, scientist Mary Lou Martin. The Roads Must Roll is a classic about patriotism and loyalty that I liked very much but never felt that it fit in the sequence too convincingly. Blowups Happen is another classic, and is a examination of the psychology of warfare. Remember, in the 1950s schoolchildren had atom bomb drills the way later generations executed fire drills. The other two, The Man Who Sold the Moon and its sequel, Requiem, are the very touching story of a man who did what he felt was the most important thing by all means necessary; it's how space exploration should have been initiated. The stories have been criticized some for what are now seen as sexist and racist attitudes, but it must be remembered that they were written seventy or eighty years ago. Compared to most of the other works of the time, not just in the sf field, they're remarkably advanced in social attitude. I believe Heinlein will always be one of the most important writers in the history of the genre.
June 10, 2010
See, the government's never really going to organize a project that will send a man to the Moon, are they? Course not. Just a huge, bloated bureaucracy that's going to waste billions of dollars of the taxpayer's money without achieving a goddamn thing. The only way to do it is to have a smart, unscrupulous entrepreneur, who's determined to make it happen and is willing to bend a few rules to get there. Trust me, the profit motive is more powerful than you think.
Well, having worked at NASA, I must admit that Heinlein got some of it right. But his crystal ball seems to have fogged up at the key moment.
Well, having worked at NASA, I must admit that Heinlein got some of it right. But his crystal ball seems to have fogged up at the key moment.
June 7, 2015
More Heinlein! Not planned. It just so happened that this paperback was on the New Books shelf at the library, so I snatched it up. (In fact, it’s a double feature, with Orphans of the Sky as the second book. This edition has an afterword, two introductions to The Man Who Sold the Moon, as well as a preface from Heinlein. It is saturated. If you like Heinlein, buy this edition.)
The more I read Heinlein, the more the experience becomes a reaction to how his writing is so old, but not quite old enough….
We could get into a rousing late-night discussion about the “first” science fiction stories. I’m all for crediting Mary Shelley with the first SF novel, though I‘m aware there are numerous earlier claimants to the looser “story” title. Few would dispute, however, that Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are two names who loom large when we discuss the earliest science fiction novelists—or is it science fantasy? Hard to say….
Still, no one reading Verne or Wells really expects the books to feel scientifically accurate. They were writing adventure novels with a fantastic science component, inspired by the cutting edge scientific discoveries of their time, but not necessarily bound by any need to be accurate.
Heinlein is closer to us in time, close enough, indeed, that he feels like he should be all properly scientific. So when his works deviate from science or historical fact because science and history have outpaced them … well, that feels weird. Because of his competency with technobabble, I had to keep reminding myself that Heinlein is writing this in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s … well before satellites, let alone the low Earth orbit or moon landings.
What Heinlein has in common with Wells and Verne, however, is definitely his role as a monumental inspiration for future scientists and explorers. This is the paradoxical ourobouros that is science fiction: writers describe these technologies and places that don’t yet or can’t exist … young people read their stories … and then they grow up, inspired to become scientists and explorers and create or find those things. Reading the stories in this anthology in that light, then, I can totally see why so many people cite Heinlein as their favourite science-fiction author. The fervour for technological process displayed by Douglas, or Martin, or Gaines, or Harriman, is infectious. Despite the note of careful cynicism running throughout these stories, Heinlein cannot avoid communicating an boundless enthusiasm for humanity’s apparently limitless ability to surmount obstacles and strive to reach the stars.
Reading Heinlein at this age and in this time also allows me to contrast it with more recent science fiction and see how the genre has changed. In both style and subject, science fiction in Heinlein’s day was markedly different from science fiction now.
In his introduction to The Man Who Sold the Moon, John W. Campbell, Jr. makes much the same point, only contrasting Heinlein’s writing with earlier works. His voice comes across as folksy while he says this, talking about how “Bob Heinlein … sent in a yarn,” and that just sounds cute to me. But he soon gets serious and literary and contrasts Heinlein with, yes, Wells:
He then goes on to use the word dilly, and I just want to bring him home and show him off to everyone like some kind of cantankerous grandfather figure.
Anyway, Campbell was, of course, right: Heinlein’s prose tends to be lean. It is at its most dense when he gets carried away describing technology—like I said earlier, I think Heinlein is an unapologetic technobabbler, but I’m fine with that. As far as people, though, in his descriptions of them and their actions Heinlein becomes positively stingy. Much of these stories consists of dialogue with very little description. This actually seems to be coming back into vogue … and I’m struck, also, by how much it resembles a lot of young adult novels. Maybe that’s one reason we never had a massive YA presence before World War II: much of “adult” literature was taking on the snappy YA-like pacing such that it could be read by children and adults alike. Certainly, I can see Heinlein’s stories at home in the hands of a fourteen- or a fifty-year-old….
But I digress. Heinlein is the Aaron Sorkin of science fiction here (in more ways than one—see depiction of women, below). He has mastered the literary walk’n’talk.
As far as subject goes, well: atomic power. It is a significant motif in most of the stories in this collection. “Blowups Happen” doubts that we could harness atomic power safely (and while Heinlein was not entirely right on this point, he also wasn’t entirely wrong), whereas “The Man Who Sold the Moon” and “Requiem” allow that maybe we could produce some usable fuel from these unstable monstrosities of reactors. In general, though, the book provides great insight into how an author who lived through World War II and saw humanity enter the Atomic Age (which he dubbed the Power Age) envisioned the rest of the century unfolding.
I had a much longer paragraph about the subject matter of science fiction today, but I realized it was getting untenable. I wanted to talk about it, however, so I spun it off into a separate blog post.
Anyway, unlike some people I can’t really tell a personal story about “my Heinlein.” I read him as something of historical interest: he informs my reading of the rest of science fiction, and provides insight into the zeitgeist of his time. I totally understand why a lot of people were inspired by him if they read his stories growing up, though. I suspect not a lot of those people were women, though.
What strikes me about The Man Who Sold the Moon is that, unlike The Moon is a Harsh Mistress of twenty years later, women aren’t merely objectified in these stories: they are practically erased. There are a few women characters in the stories, but they are secretaries or wives, minimized and put in their place. All the characters of action are men; it is inconceivable, indeed, that there could be a woman person of business—all that stuff is manly! The only notable exception is Dr. Mary Lou Martin from “Let There Be Light.” However, she is a biologist (life sciences being “acceptable” for a woman because it doesn’t require her to do math, since math is hard). And she is objectified to a nauseating degree.
Look, apologists will point out that Heinlein is “of his time,” and harsher critics will then trot out the fact that Heinlein had some ideas about sex and sexuality that were weird for his time … and that’s just not the point here. I’m reading this from a historical perspective, and so what I’m seeing is how important it is to have that diverse representation in a story. Because it’s true that Heinlein’s stories are of a calibre great enough to inspire people to become scientists and engineers … but how well could they motivate women to go into STEM if all these brilliant people are men?
I’m pleased to say we’ve come a long way since Heinlein wrote these stories in that regard—we regularly depict women as scientists, at least. Also, I saw a great discussion on Twitter the other day about how Gillian Anderson inspired a generation of women to enter STEM with her portrayal of Scully. (And I think Amanda Tapping deserves an honourable mention for her stellar portrayal of Captain/Major/Colonel Samantha Carter, the scientist/warrior of Stargate SG-1.)
Also, I am a dude talking about the portrayal of women in SF, so let me just say that I’m aware I’m not saying anything new here. I’m just trying to use my privilege to amplify what I’ve heard many women say. Because while things have improved, there is still a tendency to fridge women and to objectify or marginalize women, even when they are in scientific roles.
But I digress. As I tend to do, and as I’ve done in this review quite a bit, because I don’t actually have much to say about this book. This is a solid collection of stories. I don’t think it’s a matter of recommending or panning Heinlein: I would say that you should read at least one Heinlein story, just because he is unarguably a juggernaut in the field of science fiction. Whether you continue on the journey is entirely up to you. I’ll probably keep reading Heinlein, leisurely over the years, just to continue getting a good perspective on how science fiction has changed over the past century. After all, Campbell was right: these are some good yarns.
The more I read Heinlein, the more the experience becomes a reaction to how his writing is so old, but not quite old enough….
We could get into a rousing late-night discussion about the “first” science fiction stories. I’m all for crediting Mary Shelley with the first SF novel, though I‘m aware there are numerous earlier claimants to the looser “story” title. Few would dispute, however, that Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are two names who loom large when we discuss the earliest science fiction novelists—or is it science fantasy? Hard to say….
Still, no one reading Verne or Wells really expects the books to feel scientifically accurate. They were writing adventure novels with a fantastic science component, inspired by the cutting edge scientific discoveries of their time, but not necessarily bound by any need to be accurate.
Heinlein is closer to us in time, close enough, indeed, that he feels like he should be all properly scientific. So when his works deviate from science or historical fact because science and history have outpaced them … well, that feels weird. Because of his competency with technobabble, I had to keep reminding myself that Heinlein is writing this in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s … well before satellites, let alone the low Earth orbit or moon landings.
What Heinlein has in common with Wells and Verne, however, is definitely his role as a monumental inspiration for future scientists and explorers. This is the paradoxical ourobouros that is science fiction: writers describe these technologies and places that don’t yet or can’t exist … young people read their stories … and then they grow up, inspired to become scientists and explorers and create or find those things. Reading the stories in this anthology in that light, then, I can totally see why so many people cite Heinlein as their favourite science-fiction author. The fervour for technological process displayed by Douglas, or Martin, or Gaines, or Harriman, is infectious. Despite the note of careful cynicism running throughout these stories, Heinlein cannot avoid communicating an boundless enthusiasm for humanity’s apparently limitless ability to surmount obstacles and strive to reach the stars.
Reading Heinlein at this age and in this time also allows me to contrast it with more recent science fiction and see how the genre has changed. In both style and subject, science fiction in Heinlein’s day was markedly different from science fiction now.
In his introduction to The Man Who Sold the Moon, John W. Campbell, Jr. makes much the same point, only contrasting Heinlein’s writing with earlier works. His voice comes across as folksy while he says this, talking about how “Bob Heinlein … sent in a yarn,” and that just sounds cute to me. But he soon gets serious and literary and contrasts Heinlein with, yes, Wells:
But Wells’ method was to spend two chapters or so describing…. In the leisurely [18]’90s and early twentieth century, that was permissible. The reader accepted it. Long descriptive passages were common.… Today, the reader won’t stand for pages of description of what the author thinks the character is like; let the character act, and show his character.
He then goes on to use the word dilly, and I just want to bring him home and show him off to everyone like some kind of cantankerous grandfather figure.
Anyway, Campbell was, of course, right: Heinlein’s prose tends to be lean. It is at its most dense when he gets carried away describing technology—like I said earlier, I think Heinlein is an unapologetic technobabbler, but I’m fine with that. As far as people, though, in his descriptions of them and their actions Heinlein becomes positively stingy. Much of these stories consists of dialogue with very little description. This actually seems to be coming back into vogue … and I’m struck, also, by how much it resembles a lot of young adult novels. Maybe that’s one reason we never had a massive YA presence before World War II: much of “adult” literature was taking on the snappy YA-like pacing such that it could be read by children and adults alike. Certainly, I can see Heinlein’s stories at home in the hands of a fourteen- or a fifty-year-old….
But I digress. Heinlein is the Aaron Sorkin of science fiction here (in more ways than one—see depiction of women, below). He has mastered the literary walk’n’talk.
As far as subject goes, well: atomic power. It is a significant motif in most of the stories in this collection. “Blowups Happen” doubts that we could harness atomic power safely (and while Heinlein was not entirely right on this point, he also wasn’t entirely wrong), whereas “The Man Who Sold the Moon” and “Requiem” allow that maybe we could produce some usable fuel from these unstable monstrosities of reactors. In general, though, the book provides great insight into how an author who lived through World War II and saw humanity enter the Atomic Age (which he dubbed the Power Age) envisioned the rest of the century unfolding.
I had a much longer paragraph about the subject matter of science fiction today, but I realized it was getting untenable. I wanted to talk about it, however, so I spun it off into a separate blog post.
Anyway, unlike some people I can’t really tell a personal story about “my Heinlein.” I read him as something of historical interest: he informs my reading of the rest of science fiction, and provides insight into the zeitgeist of his time. I totally understand why a lot of people were inspired by him if they read his stories growing up, though. I suspect not a lot of those people were women, though.
What strikes me about The Man Who Sold the Moon is that, unlike The Moon is a Harsh Mistress of twenty years later, women aren’t merely objectified in these stories: they are practically erased. There are a few women characters in the stories, but they are secretaries or wives, minimized and put in their place. All the characters of action are men; it is inconceivable, indeed, that there could be a woman person of business—all that stuff is manly! The only notable exception is Dr. Mary Lou Martin from “Let There Be Light.” However, she is a biologist (life sciences being “acceptable” for a woman because it doesn’t require her to do math, since math is hard). And she is objectified to a nauseating degree.
Look, apologists will point out that Heinlein is “of his time,” and harsher critics will then trot out the fact that Heinlein had some ideas about sex and sexuality that were weird for his time … and that’s just not the point here. I’m reading this from a historical perspective, and so what I’m seeing is how important it is to have that diverse representation in a story. Because it’s true that Heinlein’s stories are of a calibre great enough to inspire people to become scientists and engineers … but how well could they motivate women to go into STEM if all these brilliant people are men?
I’m pleased to say we’ve come a long way since Heinlein wrote these stories in that regard—we regularly depict women as scientists, at least. Also, I saw a great discussion on Twitter the other day about how Gillian Anderson inspired a generation of women to enter STEM with her portrayal of Scully. (And I think Amanda Tapping deserves an honourable mention for her stellar portrayal of Captain/Major/Colonel Samantha Carter, the scientist/warrior of Stargate SG-1.)
Also, I am a dude talking about the portrayal of women in SF, so let me just say that I’m aware I’m not saying anything new here. I’m just trying to use my privilege to amplify what I’ve heard many women say. Because while things have improved, there is still a tendency to fridge women and to objectify or marginalize women, even when they are in scientific roles.
But I digress. As I tend to do, and as I’ve done in this review quite a bit, because I don’t actually have much to say about this book. This is a solid collection of stories. I don’t think it’s a matter of recommending or panning Heinlein: I would say that you should read at least one Heinlein story, just because he is unarguably a juggernaut in the field of science fiction. Whether you continue on the journey is entirely up to you. I’ll probably keep reading Heinlein, leisurely over the years, just to continue getting a good perspective on how science fiction has changed over the past century. After all, Campbell was right: these are some good yarns.
December 12, 2020
(3.5 of 5 stars) This collection of “Future History” stories was enjoyable to re-read, though my 1951 paperback was falling apart as I went through again. Despite Heinlein getting almost every guess about the future wrong, each of them was reasonable to suppose when he wrote them (three stories in 1940 and the novella in 1950.)
(I’ve published a longer review on my website, complete with mini-reviews for each of the four stories.)
November 22, 2010
3.5 stars. This set of short stories plus the title Novella is a good introduction to Heinlein's "Future History" especially the title novella and "The Roads Must Roll." The latter is my favorite from the collection and was included as one of the best short stories of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
October 15, 2018
A collection of some of RAH's older stories & they vary a lot by edition, I think. This edition starts off with a really good foreword by John Campbell who 'discovered' RAH (A happy slush pile find of "Life Line".) & published a lot of his short stories over the years. Campbell points out how difficult it is for SF short story writers to put the reader into the world of the story quickly & completely. There aren't pages of description & cultural mores shift a lot. In some places & cultures, the biggest liar & thief is the most highly regarded while that's not the case in our society at least publicly. So the ability to make the future world seem real & put a great story into it is one of RAH's strengths.
Both he & RAH (later, in the Preface) agree that RAH's 'Future History' isn't to be taken too seriously. He was not trying for prophecy. It is a framework he swiped from Sinclair Lewis that he uses to keep his stories straight. He points out that he put the first moon landing in 1978, but won't make any bets on when it will happen. It could happen even sooner, but 1978 is unlikely. He wrote this in the 50s. Of course, things didn't take off right after that as they do in his stories. That's OK. They are good stories.
Yes, there's some racism & sexism, although he tries pretty hard to avoid both. He's fairly clunky about it, but it was the times. His effort to avoid both is one of the surprising things about his good relationship with Campbell.
Cold Light is a neat story about the entrenched power of the 1% & how tough it is to upset the status quo if inventions cause economic problems for them. Very relevant today & probably where a lot of conspiracy theories were born.
Lifeline similar to the above with the status quo issue. His very first SF story that he sold to Campbell.
The Roads Must Roll is sort of a silly device, but fun. The roads are slide-ways that span the continent & run from 5mph up to 100mph carrying cargo, commuter traffic & even have cafes on the 100mph slide so that people can enjoy themselves while traveling. The main story is about labor issues, though. He makes a lot of good points about the importance of a job both individually & en mass.
The Man Who Sold The Moon is pretty good. I generally liked the shorter stories better, but there is a lot to love about the story today more than ever with the surge of private spaceship companies. Musk & others are the DD Harimans of the story. They're not following this script, but are making quick headway against the odds. It's really cool how he puts it all on the line for his dream.
Requiem is a continuation of the previous story & MUST be read in that order or it loses a lot of its impact. Not particularly realistic, but very moving.
Blowups Happen is very much a part of the previous 2 stories & is chronologically before them so I'm not sure why it was last in the collection. It shouldn't have been, but doesn't really hurt it much. Again, not particularly realistic in some of the science, but the overall idea was very true & well done.
If you're interested, the actual order should be:
"Life-Line"
"Let There Be Light"
"The Roads Must Roll"
"Blowups Happen"
"The Man Who Sold the Moon"
"Delilah and the Space Rigger"
"Space Jockey"
"Requiem"
The struck through titles are usually included in "The Green Hills of Earth" collection, although they vary. My Signet paperback of this book doesn't include a couple of the stories in this audio edition. Speaking of which, I don't think this one is correct. Mine is an old cassette rip from used library tapes. George Guidall narrated this edition & did a good job of it.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable blast from the past. He makes me remember falling in love with the idea of space travel, social/business/government inertia, & the realization that as screwed up as the world often seems, it's damn good right now.
Both he & RAH (later, in the Preface) agree that RAH's 'Future History' isn't to be taken too seriously. He was not trying for prophecy. It is a framework he swiped from Sinclair Lewis that he uses to keep his stories straight. He points out that he put the first moon landing in 1978, but won't make any bets on when it will happen. It could happen even sooner, but 1978 is unlikely. He wrote this in the 50s. Of course, things didn't take off right after that as they do in his stories. That's OK. They are good stories.
Yes, there's some racism & sexism, although he tries pretty hard to avoid both. He's fairly clunky about it, but it was the times. His effort to avoid both is one of the surprising things about his good relationship with Campbell.
Cold Light is a neat story about the entrenched power of the 1% & how tough it is to upset the status quo if inventions cause economic problems for them. Very relevant today & probably where a lot of conspiracy theories were born.
Lifeline similar to the above with the status quo issue. His very first SF story that he sold to Campbell.
The Roads Must Roll is sort of a silly device, but fun. The roads are slide-ways that span the continent & run from 5mph up to 100mph carrying cargo, commuter traffic & even have cafes on the 100mph slide so that people can enjoy themselves while traveling. The main story is about labor issues, though. He makes a lot of good points about the importance of a job both individually & en mass.
The Man Who Sold The Moon is pretty good. I generally liked the shorter stories better, but there is a lot to love about the story today more than ever with the surge of private spaceship companies. Musk & others are the DD Harimans of the story. They're not following this script, but are making quick headway against the odds. It's really cool how he puts it all on the line for his dream.
Requiem is a continuation of the previous story & MUST be read in that order or it loses a lot of its impact. Not particularly realistic, but very moving.
Blowups Happen is very much a part of the previous 2 stories & is chronologically before them so I'm not sure why it was last in the collection. It shouldn't have been, but doesn't really hurt it much. Again, not particularly realistic in some of the science, but the overall idea was very true & well done.
If you're interested, the actual order should be:
"Life-Line"
"Let There Be Light"
"The Roads Must Roll"
"Blowups Happen"
"The Man Who Sold the Moon"
"Requiem"
The struck through titles are usually included in "The Green Hills of Earth" collection, although they vary. My Signet paperback of this book doesn't include a couple of the stories in this audio edition. Speaking of which, I don't think this one is correct. Mine is an old cassette rip from used library tapes. George Guidall narrated this edition & did a good job of it.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable blast from the past. He makes me remember falling in love with the idea of space travel, social/business/government inertia, & the realization that as screwed up as the world often seems, it's damn good right now.
May 27, 2021
My old Signet paperback edition of this second collection of Heinlein's Future History stories (the first was The Green Hills of Earth) contains four of the six stories that were included in the original Shasta hardcover edition. (The whole series is included in the omnibus The Past Through Tomorrow, which I highly recommend.) Let There Be Light is a fine story that mixes economics and politics with the science, and features one of his first female strong characters, scientist Mary Lou Martin. The Roads Must Roll is a classic about patriotism and loyalty that I liked very much but never felt that it fit in the sequence too convincingly. The other two, The Man Who Sold the Moon and its sequel, Requiem, are the very touching story of a man who did what he felt was the most important thing by all means necessary; it's how space exploration should have been initiated. The stories have been criticized some for what are now seen as sexist and racist attitudes, but it must be remembered that they were written seventy or eighty years ago. Compared to most of the other works of the time, not just in the sf field, they're remarkably advanced in social attitude. I believe Heinlein will always be one of the most important writers in the history of the genre.
May 9, 2019
1989 grade B+
2019 grade B+
Series book FH1
This book contains 5 short stories and one short novel. The publishing dates range from 1939 to 1953 so some of them are rather out of date (actually all of them, but only "Blowups..." is so bad as to be unreadable). The science discrepancies are understandable considering successful basic rockets were only developed in WW2. The stories also have a fictional chronology and one story will include an occurrence from a previous story. I will cover the stories individually below in book order with C for the copyright date, O for the fictional order, and Pg for the page count.
The title story is the short novel. It is about very wealthy and powerful tycoon who wants to go to the moon so bad that he sells everything he owns and any moon right he can get to fund the project. The Requiem ends the Moon story and is recommended even if sad.
As with most Heinlein books, these stories remind me of a cake with a small frosting center. The cake being the bulk of the story which is about people and the center being a proper core of hard SciFi.
C1940, 19Pg, O=1, grade A-, "Let There Be Light"
C1940, 45Pg, O=2, grade A-, The Roads Must Roll
C1950, 106P, O=4, grade B+, The Man Who Sold The Moon
C1940, 20Pg, O=5, grade A, Requiem
C1939, 22Pg, O=?, grade C+, Life Line (optional)
C1940, 54Pg, O=3, grade C+, Blowups Happen, (can be skipped)
As you can see, the four better stories are at the front and in fictional order.
2019 grade B+
Series book FH1
This book contains 5 short stories and one short novel. The publishing dates range from 1939 to 1953 so some of them are rather out of date (actually all of them, but only "Blowups..." is so bad as to be unreadable). The science discrepancies are understandable considering successful basic rockets were only developed in WW2. The stories also have a fictional chronology and one story will include an occurrence from a previous story. I will cover the stories individually below in book order with C for the copyright date, O for the fictional order, and Pg for the page count.
The title story is the short novel. It is about very wealthy and powerful tycoon who wants to go to the moon so bad that he sells everything he owns and any moon right he can get to fund the project. The Requiem ends the Moon story and is recommended even if sad.
As with most Heinlein books, these stories remind me of a cake with a small frosting center. The cake being the bulk of the story which is about people and the center being a proper core of hard SciFi.
C1940, 19Pg, O=1, grade A-, "Let There Be Light"
C1940, 45Pg, O=2, grade A-, The Roads Must Roll
C1950, 106P, O=4, grade B+, The Man Who Sold The Moon
C1940, 20Pg, O=5, grade A, Requiem
C1939, 22Pg, O=?, grade C+, Life Line (optional)
C1940, 54Pg, O=3, grade C+, Blowups Happen, (can be skipped)
As you can see, the four better stories are at the front and in fictional order.
December 20, 2017
Difficult to review, even more so than the regular collection of short stories.
This is, almost by definition, classic science-fiction, practically historical sci-fi, if there can be such a thing. Heinlein was one of the founding greats of the genera, he had foresight, vision and very exciting concepts. But, at times, the execution of the concepts does not enhance them as it should.
This is a collections of stories showing in a fairly linear fashion, how mankind in Heinlein's universe made it to the moon. Some of them are quite good but all of them revolve around Heinlein's standard, favourite leading man: He is a man's man, charismatic, opinionated, a bit of a shady dealer but honest by his own lights! Heinlein loves this proto-character and I think everything I have ever read by him has one. In The man who sold the moon, the signature story, is basically all about this favourite character and how he got mankind to the moon, which requires a certain tolerance from the modern reader.
You know how some peoples fathers were so overbearing and patriarchal they were family dictators and their children inevitably rebelled? That is this guy, in The Man Who Sold The Moon for 89 pages of small type. If not for the historic element I might not have made it through and I did NOT make it through Blow-Ups Happen, the story of the development of the fuel they needed for space flight. It was too tedious for me. On the Flip side, I thoroughly enjoyed The Roads Must Roll both in concept and execution even though it is as dated as the rest of the writing.
It is worth mentioning this story collection was first published in 1957. The Sputnik was launched that year, men walking on the moon was wholly speculative. The stories all explore scientific discoveries, real or imagined, all based on science of the day to greater or lesser extent. However, while imagining the society of the future, Heinlein is still writing from the society he belonged to with unfortunate effects at times. The levels of sexism were horrific, as any google of adverts from that year will show; so it is not surprising that females barely exist in these stories. There are a few nagging wives and a diner owner, there is a woman in Life-Line written with the intent, I suspect, of making a scientist and intellectual equal, but it is embarrassingly tough to read. Younger women, in particular may find this series of stories difficult to read for this reason.
Not easy to read, though some of the shorter stories are memorable.
This is, almost by definition, classic science-fiction, practically historical sci-fi, if there can be such a thing. Heinlein was one of the founding greats of the genera, he had foresight, vision and very exciting concepts. But, at times, the execution of the concepts does not enhance them as it should.
This is a collections of stories showing in a fairly linear fashion, how mankind in Heinlein's universe made it to the moon. Some of them are quite good but all of them revolve around Heinlein's standard, favourite leading man: He is a man's man, charismatic, opinionated, a bit of a shady dealer but honest by his own lights! Heinlein loves this proto-character and I think everything I have ever read by him has one. In The man who sold the moon, the signature story, is basically all about this favourite character and how he got mankind to the moon, which requires a certain tolerance from the modern reader.
You know how some peoples fathers were so overbearing and patriarchal they were family dictators and their children inevitably rebelled? That is this guy, in The Man Who Sold The Moon for 89 pages of small type. If not for the historic element I might not have made it through and I did NOT make it through Blow-Ups Happen, the story of the development of the fuel they needed for space flight. It was too tedious for me. On the Flip side, I thoroughly enjoyed The Roads Must Roll both in concept and execution even though it is as dated as the rest of the writing.
It is worth mentioning this story collection was first published in 1957. The Sputnik was launched that year, men walking on the moon was wholly speculative. The stories all explore scientific discoveries, real or imagined, all based on science of the day to greater or lesser extent. However, while imagining the society of the future, Heinlein is still writing from the society he belonged to with unfortunate effects at times. The levels of sexism were horrific, as any google of adverts from that year will show; so it is not surprising that females barely exist in these stories. There are a few nagging wives and a diner owner, there is a woman in Life-Line written with the intent, I suspect, of making a scientist and intellectual equal, but it is embarrassingly tough to read. Younger women, in particular may find this series of stories difficult to read for this reason.
Not easy to read, though some of the shorter stories are memorable.
June 28, 2025
3.5/5
The stories ranged from decent to good, but I'm not a big short story fan, and in general, I found myself feeling dissatisfied at the end of each story.
The stories ranged from decent to good, but I'm not a big short story fan, and in general, I found myself feeling dissatisfied at the end of each story.
March 20, 2012
This is a collection of short stories from the master of Science Fiction, Heinlein. I’ve been a big fan of his for years, devouring a lot of his novels. Amy bought this for me for Christmas thinking that it was a novel. I was, admittedly, a little put off from reading it initially because I don’t typically enjoy short stories. But I read the foreword and discovered that Heinlein had written several of his books with the same overarching “story” such that the events of one story are the history and background of another.
The first story is of an inventor who, working with a colleague, invents solar panels in the process of inventing “cold light” – or a light source that doesn’t emit a lot of heat. Mind you, this book was written in the 50′s. The second story is about getting rid of cars and having moving walkways (like in airports) that go up to 100 mph.
The main story is about an entrepreneur who wants to travel to the moon. But he goes through a convoluted process of “buying” the moon so that he can make money off the cost of developing a rocket to get to the moon, and then doing so. It’s sad because he does this because of his lifelong dream of going to the moon, but his partners refuse to let him go because of the risk if he should die. We learn in the next story that he never made it to the moon, by the time the risk was gone, he was too frail to make the journey (now regulated by the government). So he hires a couple of decommissioned pilots and engineers to build him a ship and fly him to the moon illegally. When he gets there, he has just a moment of bliss, and dies. It was sad, but fulfilling.
So, this is very classic Sci-Fi, dating back to the 50′s – if you enjoy classic Sci-Fi you should really enjoy these short stories.
The first story is of an inventor who, working with a colleague, invents solar panels in the process of inventing “cold light” – or a light source that doesn’t emit a lot of heat. Mind you, this book was written in the 50′s. The second story is about getting rid of cars and having moving walkways (like in airports) that go up to 100 mph.
The main story is about an entrepreneur who wants to travel to the moon. But he goes through a convoluted process of “buying” the moon so that he can make money off the cost of developing a rocket to get to the moon, and then doing so. It’s sad because he does this because of his lifelong dream of going to the moon, but his partners refuse to let him go because of the risk if he should die. We learn in the next story that he never made it to the moon, by the time the risk was gone, he was too frail to make the journey (now regulated by the government). So he hires a couple of decommissioned pilots and engineers to build him a ship and fly him to the moon illegally. When he gets there, he has just a moment of bliss, and dies. It was sad, but fulfilling.
So, this is very classic Sci-Fi, dating back to the 50′s – if you enjoy classic Sci-Fi you should really enjoy these short stories.
January 27, 2025
#4/ El hombre que vendió la luna (1950)
Periodo en que está basada: mediados de los 80
En éste MAGNÍFICO RELATO, nos situamos posteriormente a ‘Ocurren explosiones’ Y PREDECESOR EN EL TIEMPO A SU GENIAL OBRA: ‘LA LUNA ES UNA CRUEL AMANTE’. La situación energética general es crítica nuevamente, debido a la explosión del astro que generaba energía para la tierra. Además, cada vez el índice de población y estancamiento es mayor. Hay que buscar otras alternativas, una a gran escala....
George Strong y Delos Harriman, socios de fletes especiales y transcontinentales de las antípodas, de nuevos hogares e inversionistas de carreteras y transportes por cinta (‘las carreteras deben rodar’) se han beneficiado conjuntamente en el pasado de su unión de aptitudes para los negocios. Pero ahora Delos le propone a George que ya es hora de poner el primer pie en la luna, apropiarse de ésta, nacionalizarla (como independiente, que no sea propiedad de ningún estado de la tierra) que sea un hogar, colonia lunar y una provechoso futuro para todos y para el transporte y exploración interplanetario, lo cual le parece a su compañero de equipo una auténtica locura. Pese a ello, lo secunda y ésta propuesta es llevada por Harriman al sindicato energético de energía de los continentes (del cual Delos es presidente) , por el cual consigue que le sean cedidas las patentes y procesos relacionados con el viaje espacial para desarrollar un nuevo artefacto para viajar al espacio. Así mismo, quiere establecer corporaciones territoriales en puntos estratégicos del planeta, para custodiar legalmente la luna (según las leyes terrestres) y de paso amortizar su proyecto, sacando suculentos beneficios de esas compañías mediante capitales en blanco, publicidad, sobornos, marketing, manipulación...
Un GENIAL RELATO AL MÁS GENUINO ESTILO DEL AUTOR, YA TOTALMENTE DEPURADO, EN EL CUAL SUELTA A RAUDALES SU INGENIO, ENTUSIASMO y CRÍTICA. ES IRÓNICO, ÁCIDO E INTELIGENTE. UNA BUENA MEZCLA DE SCI FI, POLÍTICA, SOCIEDAD, FAMILIA Y DE PERSONAJES DECIDIDOS Y VALIENTES CON BRILLANTES DIÁLOGOS.
Las críticas alcanzan a casi todos: a la inacabable corrupción económica (‘-nunca estará demasiado ordeñada mientras hayan hombres ricos que prefieran hacer donativos a pagar impuestos’), a ciertas profesiones y su ‘ilegalidad’ bien vista (abogados), a la ambición, egocentrismo y uso de la tecnología por parte los EEUU ( Harriman no quiere que la luna sea USA: ‘ NI PONGAN SUS PIES ‘LOS GORROS DE PLATO’, pues se le daría un mal uso a la propiedad y se produciría una guerra atómica), los convencionalismo de los americanos, su arrogancia y ambición, sea cual sea su edad ( sórdida mofa en un pasaje en el cual Harriman y su equipo piensan en vender carnés lunares a los Boys y Girls scout)
Pero más allá de toda esta grandeza, LA PERFECCIÓN DEL RELATO RADICA EN LA CONMOVEDORA FIGURA DE HARRIMAN. Es un personaje admirable, fuerte y decidido, es ‘EL ÚLTIMO BANDOLERO ROMÁNTICO’, según las mismas palabras de su socio Strong (a pesar de sus triquiñuelas). UN NUEVO PIONERO con un FONDO HONESTO E IDEALISTA EN CUANTO A PRINCIPIOS, que planea un mejor futuro y quiere abrir la galaxia (al más estilo héroes de Heinlein y el mejor cine de Capra), al cual acompañaremos en su PARTICULAR SUEÑO HASTA HACERSE REALIDAD, COMO LO VA DESARROLLANDO POR ETAPAS: financiera, política, ingeniera, publicitaria...
Una GRAN HISTORIA Y UN PERFECTO TRATADO DE LA EXPOLIACIÓN Y LOS NEGOCIOS, PERO SOBRETODO ES UNA BELLA NARRACIÓN ACERCA DE LOS SUEÑOS, LA AMISTAD, LA CONFIANZA EN LAS PERSONAS Y LA GRANDEZA DE UN HOMBRE, SU VALENTÍA, OPTIMISMO Y SACRIFICIO PERSONAL PARA EL BIEN COMÚN. Imprescindible obra de lectura.
Avances y/ o predicciones tecnológicas:
· Creación primer cohete espacial (Verne ya nos habló de ello, en la realidad en los sesenta)
Avances y/ o predicciones sociales:
· Huelga de uranio en Australia
· Crisis energética: debido a la explosión del 'satélite energético' (pila enviada en ' Ocurren explosiones alrededor de la luna)
· Fundación de Luna city
· Primer cohete a la luna (es claro por todos, en 1969, supuestamente...)
Periodo en que está basada: mediados de los 80
En éste MAGNÍFICO RELATO, nos situamos posteriormente a ‘Ocurren explosiones’ Y PREDECESOR EN EL TIEMPO A SU GENIAL OBRA: ‘LA LUNA ES UNA CRUEL AMANTE’. La situación energética general es crítica nuevamente, debido a la explosión del astro que generaba energía para la tierra. Además, cada vez el índice de población y estancamiento es mayor. Hay que buscar otras alternativas, una a gran escala....
George Strong y Delos Harriman, socios de fletes especiales y transcontinentales de las antípodas, de nuevos hogares e inversionistas de carreteras y transportes por cinta (‘las carreteras deben rodar’) se han beneficiado conjuntamente en el pasado de su unión de aptitudes para los negocios. Pero ahora Delos le propone a George que ya es hora de poner el primer pie en la luna, apropiarse de ésta, nacionalizarla (como independiente, que no sea propiedad de ningún estado de la tierra) que sea un hogar, colonia lunar y una provechoso futuro para todos y para el transporte y exploración interplanetario, lo cual le parece a su compañero de equipo una auténtica locura. Pese a ello, lo secunda y ésta propuesta es llevada por Harriman al sindicato energético de energía de los continentes (del cual Delos es presidente) , por el cual consigue que le sean cedidas las patentes y procesos relacionados con el viaje espacial para desarrollar un nuevo artefacto para viajar al espacio. Así mismo, quiere establecer corporaciones territoriales en puntos estratégicos del planeta, para custodiar legalmente la luna (según las leyes terrestres) y de paso amortizar su proyecto, sacando suculentos beneficios de esas compañías mediante capitales en blanco, publicidad, sobornos, marketing, manipulación...
Un GENIAL RELATO AL MÁS GENUINO ESTILO DEL AUTOR, YA TOTALMENTE DEPURADO, EN EL CUAL SUELTA A RAUDALES SU INGENIO, ENTUSIASMO y CRÍTICA. ES IRÓNICO, ÁCIDO E INTELIGENTE. UNA BUENA MEZCLA DE SCI FI, POLÍTICA, SOCIEDAD, FAMILIA Y DE PERSONAJES DECIDIDOS Y VALIENTES CON BRILLANTES DIÁLOGOS.
Las críticas alcanzan a casi todos: a la inacabable corrupción económica (‘-nunca estará demasiado ordeñada mientras hayan hombres ricos que prefieran hacer donativos a pagar impuestos’), a ciertas profesiones y su ‘ilegalidad’ bien vista (abogados), a la ambición, egocentrismo y uso de la tecnología por parte los EEUU ( Harriman no quiere que la luna sea USA: ‘ NI PONGAN SUS PIES ‘LOS GORROS DE PLATO’, pues se le daría un mal uso a la propiedad y se produciría una guerra atómica), los convencionalismo de los americanos, su arrogancia y ambición, sea cual sea su edad ( sórdida mofa en un pasaje en el cual Harriman y su equipo piensan en vender carnés lunares a los Boys y Girls scout)
Pero más allá de toda esta grandeza, LA PERFECCIÓN DEL RELATO RADICA EN LA CONMOVEDORA FIGURA DE HARRIMAN. Es un personaje admirable, fuerte y decidido, es ‘EL ÚLTIMO BANDOLERO ROMÁNTICO’, según las mismas palabras de su socio Strong (a pesar de sus triquiñuelas). UN NUEVO PIONERO con un FONDO HONESTO E IDEALISTA EN CUANTO A PRINCIPIOS, que planea un mejor futuro y quiere abrir la galaxia (al más estilo héroes de Heinlein y el mejor cine de Capra), al cual acompañaremos en su PARTICULAR SUEÑO HASTA HACERSE REALIDAD, COMO LO VA DESARROLLANDO POR ETAPAS: financiera, política, ingeniera, publicitaria...
Una GRAN HISTORIA Y UN PERFECTO TRATADO DE LA EXPOLIACIÓN Y LOS NEGOCIOS, PERO SOBRETODO ES UNA BELLA NARRACIÓN ACERCA DE LOS SUEÑOS, LA AMISTAD, LA CONFIANZA EN LAS PERSONAS Y LA GRANDEZA DE UN HOMBRE, SU VALENTÍA, OPTIMISMO Y SACRIFICIO PERSONAL PARA EL BIEN COMÚN. Imprescindible obra de lectura.
Avances y/ o predicciones tecnológicas:
· Creación primer cohete espacial (Verne ya nos habló de ello, en la realidad en los sesenta)
Avances y/ o predicciones sociales:
· Huelga de uranio en Australia
· Crisis energética: debido a la explosión del 'satélite energético' (pila enviada en ' Ocurren explosiones alrededor de la luna)
· Fundación de Luna city
· Primer cohete a la luna (es claro por todos, en 1969, supuestamente...)
March 3, 2018
There are some really good stories here. Most of them were familiar to me, though this is the first time I had many of them in audio.
Merged review:
I read this story before, but I didn't know exactly when this story was written or or how that compares with the history of the development of solar energy. Heinlein could be relied upon to be fairly accurate if he followed it, but I wondered if this were one of the cases where he anticipated the development, and if so, how close he got to how it turned out.
It turns out in this case he did follow. I had no idea that Einstein had done substantial work with photovoltaics or that it was for such work that he won his Nobel Prize! So rather than one of the several cases in which Heinlein more or less accurately anticipates a development, this is one of the also-common instances of his intimate knowledge of scientific goings-on allowing him to take something actually scientifically accomplished, but still nearly completely unknown to the general public, and to make a good story.
It isn't yet a great story. If you eliminate a clever scientific idea (presented in startling detail for decent fiction) the story boils down to clever young inventors hassled by government and industry people who don't want their apple cart disturbed. I grant that story wasn't as threadbare in 1939 as it is today, but it probably even then couldn't support a four-star story. The depth of detail in the discovery adds a lot, and though this is not yet an instance of Heinlein digging deep on how social structures can be driven by technology or a subtle look at what makes people tick, both of those elements are hinted at, and I've very glad that those glimmers were seen by those positioned to take early stories like this and provide Heinlein with the stage for his later work.
Merged review:
I read this story before, but I didn't know exactly when this story was written or or how that compares with the history of the development of solar energy. Heinlein could be relied upon to be fairly accurate if he followed it, but I wondered if this were one of the cases where he anticipated the development, and if so, how close he got to how it turned out.
It turns out in this case he did follow. I had no idea that Einstein had done substantial work with photovoltaics or that it was for such work that he won his Nobel Prize! So rather than one of the several cases in which Heinlein more or less accurately anticipates a development, this is one of the also-common instances of his intimate knowledge of scientific goings-on allowing him to take something actually scientifically accomplished, but still nearly completely unknown to the general public, and to make a good story.
It isn't yet a great story. If you eliminate a clever scientific idea (presented in startling detail for decent fiction) the story boils down to clever young inventors hassled by government and industry people who don't want their apple cart disturbed. I grant that story wasn't as threadbare in 1939 as it is today, but it probably even then couldn't support a four-star story. The depth of detail in the discovery adds a lot, and though this is not yet an instance of Heinlein digging deep on how social structures can be driven by technology or a subtle look at what makes people tick, both of those elements are hinted at, and I've very glad that those glimmers were seen by those positioned to take early stories like this and provide Heinlein with the stage for his later work.
November 12, 2013
I liked this a lot better than "Stranger in a Strange Land" because I feel that Heinlein is a lot better as a short-story writer. With "Stranger in a Strange Land" it seemed like he got a little bit carried away with some of his fantasies and the story kind of ran away with him, but in this collection of somewhat-interconnected stories, the stories are cohesive and succinct and flow together nicely, and his ideas come across well without being shoved down the reader's throat. I still feel like he doesn't really understand women, as his women characters are always either nagging housewives or ridiculously subservient women who have no interest in getting married. In the first story, "Let there be Light!" a woman biologist talks to a physical chemist about her idea for creating light based on fireflies. The man comes up with it while the woman cooks eggs over a bunsen burner and even though she came up with the idea she showers him with praise and says he is the real genius behind it all. I found this pretty annoying and much preferred stories in which there were no women at all present, in particular "Blowups Happen," because I was not distracted by Heinlein's inability to understand women.
August 16, 2018
The Man Who Sold The Moon is a collection of short stories by Robert Heinlein, all set within his fictional history timeline. He attempted to explain this in a preface by saying “The stories in this and later volumes of this series were not written as prophecy, nor as history.” Not a great explanation, but it’s my mistake for not reading more carefully. I’m wasting valuable words here because you need to know that the stories, while taking place in the same timeline/universe, are really not related. I went through the whole collection wondering “What happened to that doctor in the first chapter? Where did the rolling roads go?” It didn’t affect my opinion of the title story, “The Man Who Sold the Moon”, but it did hamper my reading experience.
“Let There Be Light” is a very short story (15 pages in my edition), and it provided some very amusing dialog between two characters on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. Dr. Martin and Dr. Archibald Douglas collaborate on manufacturing ‘power screens’, and when they devise the perfect process, they decide to keep the patent for their technique while still releasing the general info to the public. Of course, Dr. Martin is a total babe and also a genius, which fuels the flirty dialog between her and her partner. That’s really the extent of this story.
“The Roads Must Roll” has far more development, and introduces an interesting concept of a world covered in ‘rolling roads’ (like those airport escalator things that don’t escalate; I’m sure there’s a word for them). As one would imagine, maintaining such an expansive mechanical network can lead to many problems, mechanical failure being the least of them. What makes this story interesting is the power struggle within the dominant corporation that owns the roads. We get to see an obvious hero with some anti-hero tendencies versus a stereotypical villain, a lifelong loser who uses his influence within the company to attempt a hostile takeover. This was actually a pretty cool story.
To offer my opinion, I’ll say that these are probably 3 or 4-star stories, but since they were included with “The Man Who Sold The Moon,” I had no choice but to give the collection 5 stars. That’s how good the title story is.
I made a huge mistake by reading the first 30 pages or so and then setting the book aside for a few weeks. When I finally decided to pick it back up, I couldn’t put it down. The title says it all- but who could possibly ‘sell’ the Moon? A man with a dream and a plan to follow through, that’s who. The protagonist of this story, Delos Harriman, is a shrewd business man who always dreamed of going to the Moon. Working for a major corporation (again, we get to see the business side of science fiction), he looks at court cases over land ownership rights and determines that the Moon belongs to them, based on where it’s located above the Earth. He starts funding research into ship development, selling shares of the company, and drumming up interest in space travel by planning promotional gimmicks for potential investors, etc. Every time a setback arises, he manages to find a way past it (and there sure were a lot of them).
As the story continues, we learn more about Delos’s dreams and just how far he’s willing to go to achieve them. The business dealings take on a new meaning, and I found myself rooting for the guy. Even after a conversation with one of his partners, where they discuss how to “milk the kids for their allowance money” by offering some kind of junior cadet space program. Sure, he’s a shady business man who takes some crazy risks, like using the same fuel for space flight that caused the first rocket to explode in the stratosphere. For all his talk of investment and profits, however, it’s apparent that the dream is what he’s really pursuing. This is why I envy him, and this is why he’s such an interesting character. It’s a great testament to Heinlein’s writing ability; that he was able to create a compelling character who exhibits such a range of qualities. I don’t think I’ve ever sympathized with a businessman, in any scenario, until now. Even his partners believe he’s slightly delusional, thinking things like “Why the hell did we go along with this?” And yet, they never back out. He managed to sell them on his dream, too.
Here’s where thing’s get really interesting (*SPOILERS AHEAD*). Plans change; they need to cut back on certain expenses, and now they’re so deep into it that they have to do whatever it takes to put a man on the Moon. Originally it was going to be a 3-man spacecraft, but due to logistics, they could only send one. It had to be the pilot, who weighs far less than Delos and the lead engineer. They make the successful flight, and eventually establish Luna City, effectively colonizing the Moon. So Harriman tries to arrange for a trip of his own. Knowing that a failed expedition would mean certain doom for the company, and even future space flight, his business partners evoke their rights as partners and refuse to allow it. They need a return on their investments, after all. Any normal businessman would be ecstatic at the success of this whole operation. But remember, Delos only wanted to set foot on the moon for himself. Money ain’t a thing for him. I couldn’t imagine going to the lengths that this man went to in order to make his childhood dream come true, only to have someone else live that dream due to “logistics.” If you don’t sympathize with him at this point, reader, then you are cruel and heartless. (*END OF SPOILERS*)
I think I’ve spoiled enough of the plot, but I had to give a sense of what this story is really about. Most science fiction stories introduce some sort of innovative technology and quirky jargon, but it usually happens at the expense of the characters. They’re simply there to show off the cool gadgets. This story gives sci-fi diehards a strong dose of the usual, but what makes it a great story is Delos Harriman and his dream. You don’t have to enjoy science fiction to enjoy this story. It’s very readable, and it’s mostly in the form of witty dialogue and banter, rather than tech-heavy description. I now see why Robert Heinlein is regarded as ONE OF THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS EVER. And I’m super stoked that I was able to find this edition at a used bookstore- it was printed in 1951.
“Let There Be Light” is a very short story (15 pages in my edition), and it provided some very amusing dialog between two characters on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. Dr. Martin and Dr. Archibald Douglas collaborate on manufacturing ‘power screens’, and when they devise the perfect process, they decide to keep the patent for their technique while still releasing the general info to the public. Of course, Dr. Martin is a total babe and also a genius, which fuels the flirty dialog between her and her partner. That’s really the extent of this story.
“The Roads Must Roll” has far more development, and introduces an interesting concept of a world covered in ‘rolling roads’ (like those airport escalator things that don’t escalate; I’m sure there’s a word for them). As one would imagine, maintaining such an expansive mechanical network can lead to many problems, mechanical failure being the least of them. What makes this story interesting is the power struggle within the dominant corporation that owns the roads. We get to see an obvious hero with some anti-hero tendencies versus a stereotypical villain, a lifelong loser who uses his influence within the company to attempt a hostile takeover. This was actually a pretty cool story.
To offer my opinion, I’ll say that these are probably 3 or 4-star stories, but since they were included with “The Man Who Sold The Moon,” I had no choice but to give the collection 5 stars. That’s how good the title story is.
I made a huge mistake by reading the first 30 pages or so and then setting the book aside for a few weeks. When I finally decided to pick it back up, I couldn’t put it down. The title says it all- but who could possibly ‘sell’ the Moon? A man with a dream and a plan to follow through, that’s who. The protagonist of this story, Delos Harriman, is a shrewd business man who always dreamed of going to the Moon. Working for a major corporation (again, we get to see the business side of science fiction), he looks at court cases over land ownership rights and determines that the Moon belongs to them, based on where it’s located above the Earth. He starts funding research into ship development, selling shares of the company, and drumming up interest in space travel by planning promotional gimmicks for potential investors, etc. Every time a setback arises, he manages to find a way past it (and there sure were a lot of them).
As the story continues, we learn more about Delos’s dreams and just how far he’s willing to go to achieve them. The business dealings take on a new meaning, and I found myself rooting for the guy. Even after a conversation with one of his partners, where they discuss how to “milk the kids for their allowance money” by offering some kind of junior cadet space program. Sure, he’s a shady business man who takes some crazy risks, like using the same fuel for space flight that caused the first rocket to explode in the stratosphere. For all his talk of investment and profits, however, it’s apparent that the dream is what he’s really pursuing. This is why I envy him, and this is why he’s such an interesting character. It’s a great testament to Heinlein’s writing ability; that he was able to create a compelling character who exhibits such a range of qualities. I don’t think I’ve ever sympathized with a businessman, in any scenario, until now. Even his partners believe he’s slightly delusional, thinking things like “Why the hell did we go along with this?” And yet, they never back out. He managed to sell them on his dream, too.
Here’s where thing’s get really interesting (*SPOILERS AHEAD*). Plans change; they need to cut back on certain expenses, and now they’re so deep into it that they have to do whatever it takes to put a man on the Moon. Originally it was going to be a 3-man spacecraft, but due to logistics, they could only send one. It had to be the pilot, who weighs far less than Delos and the lead engineer. They make the successful flight, and eventually establish Luna City, effectively colonizing the Moon. So Harriman tries to arrange for a trip of his own. Knowing that a failed expedition would mean certain doom for the company, and even future space flight, his business partners evoke their rights as partners and refuse to allow it. They need a return on their investments, after all. Any normal businessman would be ecstatic at the success of this whole operation. But remember, Delos only wanted to set foot on the moon for himself. Money ain’t a thing for him. I couldn’t imagine going to the lengths that this man went to in order to make his childhood dream come true, only to have someone else live that dream due to “logistics.” If you don’t sympathize with him at this point, reader, then you are cruel and heartless. (*END OF SPOILERS*)
I think I’ve spoiled enough of the plot, but I had to give a sense of what this story is really about. Most science fiction stories introduce some sort of innovative technology and quirky jargon, but it usually happens at the expense of the characters. They’re simply there to show off the cool gadgets. This story gives sci-fi diehards a strong dose of the usual, but what makes it a great story is Delos Harriman and his dream. You don’t have to enjoy science fiction to enjoy this story. It’s very readable, and it’s mostly in the form of witty dialogue and banter, rather than tech-heavy description. I now see why Robert Heinlein is regarded as ONE OF THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS EVER. And I’m super stoked that I was able to find this edition at a used bookstore- it was printed in 1951.
May 29, 2017
It's a pretty fantastic collection of short stories which are then blended together into a novel. The author's insight into the human condition and corporate America is mind boggling and is therefore a book that I heartily recommend that you read.
November 10, 2018
Following my reread of Heinlein’s juveniles over the last few years at SFFWorld, I thought I would read more from where he started - with his short stories. The Man Who Sold the Moon is generally regarded as the first collection of Heinlein’s Future History stories, which showed us, in the Golden Age of SF, how Heinlein saw humanity expanding beyond Earth into space. It includes much of Heinlein’s early short stories and in this first set involves love, death, union issues and one of Heinlein’s most enduring characters.
The stories included here (in the order of this edition of the book) are:
"Life-Line" (1939; Heinlein’s first published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
"Let There Be Light" (1940; Heinlein’s fifth published story, originally published in Super Science Stories, May 1940 by “Lyle Munroe”)
"The Roads Must Roll" (1940; Heinlein’s sixth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1940)
"Blowups Happen" (1940; Heinlein’s eighth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, September 1940)
"The Man Who Sold the Moon" (1950; first appearance is in this collection)
"Requiem" (1940; Heinlein’s fourth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, Jan 1940)
I’ll look at each one in turn.
Lifeline was Heinlein’s first published story. It is a story that, like many of its SF contemporaries, is based around a ‘magic thingumajig’ – in this case, it is a story of Professor Pinero, who has invented a way of calculating the date and time of someone’s death. It’s an interesting idea, and whilst the magic invention may be hokum, the story still holds up, as the insurance companies rally against Pinero and his apparatus.
It’s a solid story, well told, that manages to generate pathos in its few pages. For a debut it is even more startling, lacking the whizz-bang experiments that are detailed in other stories of that time, but genuinely quite moving.
My only issue with it is that I don’t really see it as part of the Future History. According to William Patterson, Heinlein added it later. The idea of linking stories together did not really occur until Heinlein and Astounding’s editor John W. Campbell had a conversation in 1940, which would have been after Lifeline was published. Nevertheless, it is included in Heinlein’s original chart, drawn up and published by Campbell in Astounding’s March 1941 issue. I feel that it is included more for completeness than as a genuine element of the Future History. It is a good place to start, but feels a little out of place when you look at what else is to come.
Let There Be More Light feels to me to be more typically science-fictional than Lifeline, though it tends to still follow the basic s-f template. Like Lifeline, it too is a story of ‘a grand invention’, this time a means of generating cheap light and energy. It involves two scientists, Doctors Douglas and Martin, one of whom is – gasp – a girl. It shows many of the mannerisms of the pulp fiction of the time, intended as a story to sell. According to Patterson, there are three versions of this story. Damon Knight felt that it was different in tone and weaker than the rest of Heinlein’s Future History and removed it from the US edition of The Past Through Tomorrow in 1967. I wouldn’t go that far, but the wisecracking comments of inventor Archibald Douglas sound like something out of a gangster novel. Perhaps its slight difference in tone is explained by (or the reason for!) the story’s first publication in Super-Science Stories, a lesser magazine than Campbell’s Astounding.
By comparison, The Roads Must Roll is an all-out straight adventure story that is much more Astounding-type in style and tone – so much so that it became Heinlein’s second Astounding cover story. (The first was in February 1940 with “If This Goes On…”, a later tale of the Future History.)
Roads Must Roll includes science-fictional inventions – the development of huge conveyor belts for pedestrians and the motor-towns on which people and goods travel across the USA – combined with an exciting adventure story, where some of the workers go on strike and hold the system to ransom. There’s a fight between the two groups and in the end the situation is resolved. Heinlein’s focus is clearly on the resumption of order from chaos. The unions are not dealt with sympathetically, which may reflect his own personal politics (or not.)
Blowups Happen is another adventure story that tells us of how humans deal with the latest invention, nuclear power (and the weapons created by such an innovation.) There’s an unusual idea of lunar history - that the Moon craters were possibly created by nuclear power gone wrong – but overall it is a story about the sociological effects of running nuclear power stations, and the need to move nuclear energy production into space, where there is less risk of damage.
According to Patterson, this story was rewritten at least three times. I’m not sure which version this is, but I’m going to assume that this is the first version published, mainly because, like many of its 1940’s contemporaries, action is always taken with a certain degree of ‘drama’ – there’s lots of bellowing and shouting, rather than just speaking. Perhaps the interesting point here for me was the mention of nuclear power in September 1940. Considering that this story was written before nuclear power was widely known, it sounds right and holds the reader's attention pretty well. It also is the first time in this collection that I’ve seen Heinlein refer to ‘the Crazy Years’, a time (about 1969) of political & social unrest that is referred to on his Future History timechart.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is the youngest of the stories in this collection, and is perhaps Heinlein’s greatest template for the future. Delos D. Harriman is the industrialist who has always wished to go to space, and this novella is the story of how he gets there. It is the ultimate tale of capitalist mercantilism by a gifted (or lucky – you choose) entrepreneur. Think perhaps Richard Branson or Elon Musk, the characterisation is one that will see later in other characters such as Lazarus Long or Jubal Harshaw. Harriman’s work will be mentioned, usually briefly, in many of these early Future History stories, as he is the main person through which Mankind gets into space. (Note – Heinlein’s view here, like many others at the time, is that it will happen through gifted industrialists rather than mega-corporations like NASA.)
What is striking here is that, a decade or so after Lifeline, how much more confident Heinlein's voice is here. Harriman is everything that later Heinlein books emulate in their characters – boisterous, snappy, hectoring, even arrogant and clearly in command. Bearing in mind that Heinlein at this time had just had Farmer in the Sky published in his juvenile series and was at the same time working on the Destination Moon film (a movie that copies this style of fast-talking entrepreneur enormously) it appears at a time when Heinlein is perhaps at his zenith. It shows.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is one of the best stories from the 1950’s that encapsulate that feeling of optimism that existed after WW2. In it Heinlein effectively summarises and makes explicit that view common in the 1950’s that the future for Mankind is in Space and that development into Space is through skilful entrepreneurship. It will be expensive in money, time and resources, but the long-term evolution of the human race can only be ensured by extending the frontier beyond the Earth.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is a rallying call to all of the visionaries of the 1940’s and 1950’s who were determined to make things better after the Second World War.
It is also the story that (so far) most actively links his Future History stories together – there’s mention of the road towns of The Roads Must Roll and a specific statement that places the story three years after the means of synthetically producing nuclear energy (now called ‘the Harper-Erickson process’) was created, in Blowups Happen.
Lastly, Requiem is the sequel to this lengthy story, although strangely it was one of Heinlein’s first published, in January 1940. It rather suggests that Harriman had been important from the start of Heinlein’s tales. By contrast with The Man Who Sold the Moon, this is a much more sombre piece which tells us of Harriman’s demise. Though it could be said to be ‘downbeat’, it is a fitting end to this collection. It made me think that Harriman was as Heinlein would like himself to be remembered – a patrician of science fiction, knowledgeable and wise, who at the end feels that he has had a life lived well.
And it is from these fledgling steps that we reach the end of this first collection, to be continued in The Green Hills of Earth. It’s an interesting read, although far from perfect. It is perhaps fairest to say that The Man Who Sold the Moon is uneven, but even at this stage of his career (mainly 1939-40) he is a writer to be reckoned with. This collection shows an author finding his voice, which he has reached by the titular story.
In short, The Man Who Sold the Moon is a good start to reading Heinlein's short stories. It's not perfect, and shows a new writer honing his craft, but some of what we see here is indicative of what a major influence as a writer Heinlein was to become.
As a point of context, if you get chance to look at the original magazines these stories were first published in, (for example, many of the Astoundings are available here as downloadable pdf’s here: http://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm ) you will see how much these stories were in advance of their contemporaries. They are dated now, but their impact at the time is obvious.
The stories included here (in the order of this edition of the book) are:
"Life-Line" (1939; Heinlein’s first published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
"Let There Be Light" (1940; Heinlein’s fifth published story, originally published in Super Science Stories, May 1940 by “Lyle Munroe”)
"The Roads Must Roll" (1940; Heinlein’s sixth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1940)
"Blowups Happen" (1940; Heinlein’s eighth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, September 1940)
"The Man Who Sold the Moon" (1950; first appearance is in this collection)
"Requiem" (1940; Heinlein’s fourth published story, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, Jan 1940)
I’ll look at each one in turn.
Lifeline was Heinlein’s first published story. It is a story that, like many of its SF contemporaries, is based around a ‘magic thingumajig’ – in this case, it is a story of Professor Pinero, who has invented a way of calculating the date and time of someone’s death. It’s an interesting idea, and whilst the magic invention may be hokum, the story still holds up, as the insurance companies rally against Pinero and his apparatus.
It’s a solid story, well told, that manages to generate pathos in its few pages. For a debut it is even more startling, lacking the whizz-bang experiments that are detailed in other stories of that time, but genuinely quite moving.
My only issue with it is that I don’t really see it as part of the Future History. According to William Patterson, Heinlein added it later. The idea of linking stories together did not really occur until Heinlein and Astounding’s editor John W. Campbell had a conversation in 1940, which would have been after Lifeline was published. Nevertheless, it is included in Heinlein’s original chart, drawn up and published by Campbell in Astounding’s March 1941 issue. I feel that it is included more for completeness than as a genuine element of the Future History. It is a good place to start, but feels a little out of place when you look at what else is to come.
Let There Be More Light feels to me to be more typically science-fictional than Lifeline, though it tends to still follow the basic s-f template. Like Lifeline, it too is a story of ‘a grand invention’, this time a means of generating cheap light and energy. It involves two scientists, Doctors Douglas and Martin, one of whom is – gasp – a girl. It shows many of the mannerisms of the pulp fiction of the time, intended as a story to sell. According to Patterson, there are three versions of this story. Damon Knight felt that it was different in tone and weaker than the rest of Heinlein’s Future History and removed it from the US edition of The Past Through Tomorrow in 1967. I wouldn’t go that far, but the wisecracking comments of inventor Archibald Douglas sound like something out of a gangster novel. Perhaps its slight difference in tone is explained by (or the reason for!) the story’s first publication in Super-Science Stories, a lesser magazine than Campbell’s Astounding.
By comparison, The Roads Must Roll is an all-out straight adventure story that is much more Astounding-type in style and tone – so much so that it became Heinlein’s second Astounding cover story. (The first was in February 1940 with “If This Goes On…”, a later tale of the Future History.)
Roads Must Roll includes science-fictional inventions – the development of huge conveyor belts for pedestrians and the motor-towns on which people and goods travel across the USA – combined with an exciting adventure story, where some of the workers go on strike and hold the system to ransom. There’s a fight between the two groups and in the end the situation is resolved. Heinlein’s focus is clearly on the resumption of order from chaos. The unions are not dealt with sympathetically, which may reflect his own personal politics (or not.)
Blowups Happen is another adventure story that tells us of how humans deal with the latest invention, nuclear power (and the weapons created by such an innovation.) There’s an unusual idea of lunar history - that the Moon craters were possibly created by nuclear power gone wrong – but overall it is a story about the sociological effects of running nuclear power stations, and the need to move nuclear energy production into space, where there is less risk of damage.
According to Patterson, this story was rewritten at least three times. I’m not sure which version this is, but I’m going to assume that this is the first version published, mainly because, like many of its 1940’s contemporaries, action is always taken with a certain degree of ‘drama’ – there’s lots of bellowing and shouting, rather than just speaking. Perhaps the interesting point here for me was the mention of nuclear power in September 1940. Considering that this story was written before nuclear power was widely known, it sounds right and holds the reader's attention pretty well. It also is the first time in this collection that I’ve seen Heinlein refer to ‘the Crazy Years’, a time (about 1969) of political & social unrest that is referred to on his Future History timechart.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is the youngest of the stories in this collection, and is perhaps Heinlein’s greatest template for the future. Delos D. Harriman is the industrialist who has always wished to go to space, and this novella is the story of how he gets there. It is the ultimate tale of capitalist mercantilism by a gifted (or lucky – you choose) entrepreneur. Think perhaps Richard Branson or Elon Musk, the characterisation is one that will see later in other characters such as Lazarus Long or Jubal Harshaw. Harriman’s work will be mentioned, usually briefly, in many of these early Future History stories, as he is the main person through which Mankind gets into space. (Note – Heinlein’s view here, like many others at the time, is that it will happen through gifted industrialists rather than mega-corporations like NASA.)
What is striking here is that, a decade or so after Lifeline, how much more confident Heinlein's voice is here. Harriman is everything that later Heinlein books emulate in their characters – boisterous, snappy, hectoring, even arrogant and clearly in command. Bearing in mind that Heinlein at this time had just had Farmer in the Sky published in his juvenile series and was at the same time working on the Destination Moon film (a movie that copies this style of fast-talking entrepreneur enormously) it appears at a time when Heinlein is perhaps at his zenith. It shows.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is one of the best stories from the 1950’s that encapsulate that feeling of optimism that existed after WW2. In it Heinlein effectively summarises and makes explicit that view common in the 1950’s that the future for Mankind is in Space and that development into Space is through skilful entrepreneurship. It will be expensive in money, time and resources, but the long-term evolution of the human race can only be ensured by extending the frontier beyond the Earth.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is a rallying call to all of the visionaries of the 1940’s and 1950’s who were determined to make things better after the Second World War.
It is also the story that (so far) most actively links his Future History stories together – there’s mention of the road towns of The Roads Must Roll and a specific statement that places the story three years after the means of synthetically producing nuclear energy (now called ‘the Harper-Erickson process’) was created, in Blowups Happen.
Lastly, Requiem is the sequel to this lengthy story, although strangely it was one of Heinlein’s first published, in January 1940. It rather suggests that Harriman had been important from the start of Heinlein’s tales. By contrast with The Man Who Sold the Moon, this is a much more sombre piece which tells us of Harriman’s demise. Though it could be said to be ‘downbeat’, it is a fitting end to this collection. It made me think that Harriman was as Heinlein would like himself to be remembered – a patrician of science fiction, knowledgeable and wise, who at the end feels that he has had a life lived well.
And it is from these fledgling steps that we reach the end of this first collection, to be continued in The Green Hills of Earth. It’s an interesting read, although far from perfect. It is perhaps fairest to say that The Man Who Sold the Moon is uneven, but even at this stage of his career (mainly 1939-40) he is a writer to be reckoned with. This collection shows an author finding his voice, which he has reached by the titular story.
In short, The Man Who Sold the Moon is a good start to reading Heinlein's short stories. It's not perfect, and shows a new writer honing his craft, but some of what we see here is indicative of what a major influence as a writer Heinlein was to become.
As a point of context, if you get chance to look at the original magazines these stories were first published in, (for example, many of the Astoundings are available here as downloadable pdf’s here: http://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm ) you will see how much these stories were in advance of their contemporaries. They are dated now, but their impact at the time is obvious.
October 29, 2023
This is Robert Heinlein's first short story collection published in 1950. It contains six of the early stories in his Future History series. The book was influential when it came out but is not considered 'essential Heinlein' today--only because all the stories found their way into subsequent Heinlein collections:
"Life-line" (1939) -- Inventor Hugo Pinero has perfected a gadget that can predict the date of anyone's death down to the precise hour. (When viewed from the perspective of the fourth dimension--time--a human life appears as a continuous conduit that reaches from birth date to death date. By pinging this conduit with electrical current, its exact termination point in space-time can be discovered.) His machine wrecks the insurance industry, and it surfaces all sorts of uncomfortable questions about free will, predestination, and the proper limits of scientific understanding. A bona fide sci-fi classic.
"Let There Be Light" (1940) -- Two scientists invent a solar panel that can create cold light. That is, it can convert energy to light with near 100% efficiency (no energy lost in the form of ambient heat) or in reverse it can convert sunlight into electricity. They should get filthy rich from their invention, but big industry fights back to protect itself. This is a hammy story on the whole, but the 'Douglas-Martin sunpower screens' are foundational to how Heinlein's future unfolds over subsequent stories.
"The Roads Must Roll" (1940) -- In the US, free solar energy makes it possible to replace asphalt interstates and gas-guzzling cars with eco-friendly, high-speed conveyors to move people around the country. (This is a concept borrowed by Isaac Asimov for his Robot novels, but Heinlein explains exactly how they could work.) This story tells of the dire and deadly consequences when the road technicians go on strike. Won the Retro Hugo for Best Novelette of 1941.
"Blowups Happen" (1940) -- A supervisor deals with the various stresses and labor problems inherent in running a nuclear power plant. This story is noteworthy for its postulation that the Moon was once a planet capable of sustaining carbon-based life, until its inhabitants destroyed it with atomic power. It also proposes nuclear power plants could be built in orbit and the energy transferred back to Earth's surface. This story was written in 1940, then revised in 1946 to incorporate new knowledge about nuclear reactions learned from the Manhattan Project.
The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950) -- D.D. Harriman is obscenely wealthy and obsessed with his dream of building a rocket and flying it to the moon. He is part Elon Musk and part P.T. Barnum. He will run any scam or make any promise to raise funds--Do you want to own a moon ranch? Do you want to build a missile base? Do you want to create a lunar suburb of Los Angeles? Do you want to advertise your soft drink on the face on the moon? No idea is too far-fetched when it comes to moving mankind to the stars in this tale of commercialism run amok. (I felt déjà vu while reading this story. It is the obvious template for Robert Silverberg's 1964 YA novel Regan's Planet, which I happened to read just two weeks ago.) Won the Retro Hugo for Best Novella of 1951.
Requiem (1940) -- Now an old man with brittle bones and a weak heart, Harriman still has never made it to the moon. He rigs up a rocket from salvaged parts and hustles up a two-man crew from a sideshow fair. To heck with the safety laws and his own fortune--what really matters in life is achieving your dreams!
"Life-line" (1939) -- Inventor Hugo Pinero has perfected a gadget that can predict the date of anyone's death down to the precise hour. (When viewed from the perspective of the fourth dimension--time--a human life appears as a continuous conduit that reaches from birth date to death date. By pinging this conduit with electrical current, its exact termination point in space-time can be discovered.) His machine wrecks the insurance industry, and it surfaces all sorts of uncomfortable questions about free will, predestination, and the proper limits of scientific understanding. A bona fide sci-fi classic.
"Let There Be Light" (1940) -- Two scientists invent a solar panel that can create cold light. That is, it can convert energy to light with near 100% efficiency (no energy lost in the form of ambient heat) or in reverse it can convert sunlight into electricity. They should get filthy rich from their invention, but big industry fights back to protect itself. This is a hammy story on the whole, but the 'Douglas-Martin sunpower screens' are foundational to how Heinlein's future unfolds over subsequent stories.
"The Roads Must Roll" (1940) -- In the US, free solar energy makes it possible to replace asphalt interstates and gas-guzzling cars with eco-friendly, high-speed conveyors to move people around the country. (This is a concept borrowed by Isaac Asimov for his Robot novels, but Heinlein explains exactly how they could work.) This story tells of the dire and deadly consequences when the road technicians go on strike. Won the Retro Hugo for Best Novelette of 1941.
"Blowups Happen" (1940) -- A supervisor deals with the various stresses and labor problems inherent in running a nuclear power plant. This story is noteworthy for its postulation that the Moon was once a planet capable of sustaining carbon-based life, until its inhabitants destroyed it with atomic power. It also proposes nuclear power plants could be built in orbit and the energy transferred back to Earth's surface. This story was written in 1940, then revised in 1946 to incorporate new knowledge about nuclear reactions learned from the Manhattan Project.
The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950) -- D.D. Harriman is obscenely wealthy and obsessed with his dream of building a rocket and flying it to the moon. He is part Elon Musk and part P.T. Barnum. He will run any scam or make any promise to raise funds--Do you want to own a moon ranch? Do you want to build a missile base? Do you want to create a lunar suburb of Los Angeles? Do you want to advertise your soft drink on the face on the moon? No idea is too far-fetched when it comes to moving mankind to the stars in this tale of commercialism run amok. (I felt déjà vu while reading this story. It is the obvious template for Robert Silverberg's 1964 YA novel Regan's Planet, which I happened to read just two weeks ago.) Won the Retro Hugo for Best Novella of 1951.
Requiem (1940) -- Now an old man with brittle bones and a weak heart, Harriman still has never made it to the moon. He rigs up a rocket from salvaged parts and hustles up a two-man crew from a sideshow fair. To heck with the safety laws and his own fortune--what really matters in life is achieving your dreams!
May 20, 2021
As with other Heinlein books, especially earlier ones, I had a hard time keeping the secondary characters straight as the narrator and the protagonist alternately call the men (of course they are all men!) by their first or last times. The protagonist, Delos (DD) Harriman is more fully drawn, and is an excellent character. He is the practical dreamer and rich guy who is driven to get humans to the moon. (This was written in the 1940s.) Harriman is more the childlike enthusiast than the laser-focused Asperger’s syndrome type like today’s space moguls. But Harriman and our contemporaries both won’t take no for an answer. There’s a moderate amount of science and engineering that makes the moon project believable, especially the engineering setbacks and triumphs. This is really just a short novella, not a full book. The paperback I borrowed from my husband also had the sequel “Requiem,” which is pretty good (and a bit sad). If one can get past Heinlein’s boys’ club type focus, and occasional libertarian declamations (mercifully short in this book), it is still worth a read. (Yes, I realize the author was a product of his times, but he had contemporaries who were less narrow minded.)
May 25, 2019
Each of the three stories here are in other anthologies and compilations of course, but these go well together, hence Signet publishing this edition for what must have been 20 years at least.
Cheap power, mass transportation, and lunar exploration are the main ideas here, but also the type of men and women it takes to turn these ideas into reality for the rest of us. Heinlein's individualism is not as extreme as that of Rand or other thinkers of the day. For the former Navy officer, it is the sense of responsibility to his fellow man that is as, or even more important, than his responsibility to himself.
In the end, what makes this edition so memorable is Delos Harriman - The Man Who Sold The Moon. Specifically, the Requiem to the actual tale itself. I won't spoil it, but if you do not read the last sentence with a lump in your throat and possibly a tear in your eye, you are most definitely one of the STOBOR.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
Cheap power, mass transportation, and lunar exploration are the main ideas here, but also the type of men and women it takes to turn these ideas into reality for the rest of us. Heinlein's individualism is not as extreme as that of Rand or other thinkers of the day. For the former Navy officer, it is the sense of responsibility to his fellow man that is as, or even more important, than his responsibility to himself.
In the end, what makes this edition so memorable is Delos Harriman - The Man Who Sold The Moon. Specifically, the Requiem to the actual tale itself. I won't spoil it, but if you do not read the last sentence with a lump in your throat and possibly a tear in your eye, you are most definitely one of the STOBOR.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
March 14, 2022
This collection of a number of Heinlein’s seminal short stories feels like diving in another time, where an enterprising individual is still able to improve the world by grappling with society, dragging it kicking and screaming into a better place, through judicious use of the possibilities given to him by a free and open nation. Technology is never the problem, human error or worse abuse of that technology is. And of course the people and the systems trying to clip the wings of the entrepreneurs and take their freedom to act away. These stories nevertheless are brimming with an driving optimism, a great sense of hope and faith in the future and in humanity.
A very refreshing bath in the sensibilities from a different era, It strongly reminded me of why as a kid I was so attracted to science fiction in general and Heinlein specifially. For those who like me wax nostalgically for the stories and writers of yore, I can definitely recommend this one.
A very refreshing bath in the sensibilities from a different era, It strongly reminded me of why as a kid I was so attracted to science fiction in general and Heinlein specifially. For those who like me wax nostalgically for the stories and writers of yore, I can definitely recommend this one.
January 2, 2022
These stories are part of his "Future History" series, written between 1939 and 1950. 70 years ago, Heinlein predicts the solar panel (but more efficient than we have achieved so far), moving walkways/roads, Moon colonisation (Musk and Bezos still working on it), and Zoom meetings (we got 'em). The pace of hardware advances in these stories is dazzling, far faster than we have actually achieved. All wrapped up in Heinlein's mix of machismo and ever changing political posturing, digging at almost everything. It was very challenging in its day, perhaps a bit annoying now. I would still like to reread some of his "juvenile" series, books which gave me the most pleasure as a young teenager, all of which I read multiple times back then.
July 23, 2023
An unexpected collection of stories that build out a compelling whole. Heinlein shows off his prescience here with solar power, lunar travel, high-speed transit and thorny energy concerns. A really good read.
March 22, 2021
Como me gusta decir ‘otro de cifi clasica a la saca’.
Me ha gustado mucho. Estas piezas que hasta ahora he intentado esquivar, requieren de lo cobtrario; que las vaya a leer.
Es un experiencie leer relatos de esa época y este, es formidable.
Nunca dejemos de tener y de perseguir nuestros objetivos.
Me ha gustado mucho. Estas piezas que hasta ahora he intentado esquivar, requieren de lo cobtrario; que las vaya a leer.
Es un experiencie leer relatos de esa época y este, es formidable.
Nunca dejemos de tener y de perseguir nuestros objetivos.
June 4, 2017
2.5 Stars
Alternate Title Suggestion: A Series of Unscrupulous Bureaucratic Events
I picked this up after a very pleasant binge of 3 of Heinlein’s short stories—all of which involved some redemptive aspect and/or theme of overcoming a disability set within his Future Histories series. This was an altogether different experience.
Very aptly named, The Man Who Sold The Moon is a 14 chapter book about a rich man named Delos D. Harriman who becomes obsessed with the idea of going to the moon. (Gaining possession of the moon seems to go hand in hand with this fixation.) Along with his business partner, he sets about gathering investors, finagling legalities, negotiating red tape, pushing the boundaries of engineering, and manipulating the media to his advantage. He essentially abandons all else in his shameless, single-minded quest.
I generally liked the writing style, and there are a number of pithy quotes... but I couldn’t connect with this nearly as well as I did with some of Heinlein’s other works. Harriman, while incredibly clever and business-savvy, has a large-scale used car salesman quality to him that voids relatability and empathy. It’s difficult to find bureaucracy interesting, particularly when I don't have much reason to care about any of the characters and whether or not they succeed. Aside from this, the pacing is slow and the tension is low nearly throughout the book. And consistent with some of the author’s other works, physical descriptions are sparse--sometimes non-existent.
Not Heinlein’s best work, in my limited opinion.
Favorite Quotes:
-"Intangibles are the most honest merchandise anyone can sell. They are always worth whatever you are willing to pay for them and they never wear out. You can take them to your grave untarnished."
-"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak."
-“There is nothing in this world so permanent as a temporary emergency."
Alternate Title Suggestion: A Series of Unscrupulous Bureaucratic Events
I picked this up after a very pleasant binge of 3 of Heinlein’s short stories—all of which involved some redemptive aspect and/or theme of overcoming a disability set within his Future Histories series. This was an altogether different experience.
Very aptly named, The Man Who Sold The Moon is a 14 chapter book about a rich man named Delos D. Harriman who becomes obsessed with the idea of going to the moon. (Gaining possession of the moon seems to go hand in hand with this fixation.) Along with his business partner, he sets about gathering investors, finagling legalities, negotiating red tape, pushing the boundaries of engineering, and manipulating the media to his advantage. He essentially abandons all else in his shameless, single-minded quest.
I generally liked the writing style, and there are a number of pithy quotes... but I couldn’t connect with this nearly as well as I did with some of Heinlein’s other works. Harriman, while incredibly clever and business-savvy, has a large-scale used car salesman quality to him that voids relatability and empathy. It’s difficult to find bureaucracy interesting, particularly when I don't have much reason to care about any of the characters and whether or not they succeed. Aside from this, the pacing is slow and the tension is low nearly throughout the book. And consistent with some of the author’s other works, physical descriptions are sparse--sometimes non-existent.
Not Heinlein’s best work, in my limited opinion.
Favorite Quotes:
-"Intangibles are the most honest merchandise anyone can sell. They are always worth whatever you are willing to pay for them and they never wear out. You can take them to your grave untarnished."
-"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak."
-“There is nothing in this world so permanent as a temporary emergency."
December 15, 2017
My voyage through the Golden Age of Science Fiction: Part 3
The Man Who Sold the Moon is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Some of the stories originally appeared in the American magazines Astounding Science Fiction and Super Science Stories in 1939 and 1940, while the award-winning title novella was written especially for this edition. Together these stories were woven together into a 288 page book for publication by Shasta in 1950. Also included is a preface by the author and an introduction by writer/editor John W. Campbell, Jr.
The book is the first in a series that chronicles the technological advancement of the earth and maps the human race’s adventures into space. Each story in this “Future History” occurs on a timeline that stretches from 1951 to 2600 A.D., with this particular volume focusing on the immediate future as developments in energy, transportation and rocketry change the landscape of our planet and may even take us to the moon!
I love Heinlein's capable and cocksure protagonists. These driven men (and woman - the lovely Dr. Mary Lou Martin) will drag mankind to its destiny-kicking and screaming if need be. No amount of corporate resistance, government malfeasance or conspiratorial trouble making is going to stop the march to a better tomorrow! And if a little profit can be made, all the better.
My favorites are "The Roads Must Roll" and the title story. "Roads" is based on a very cool transportation development. Practicality may be questionable, but it provides a fascinating visual and solid framework for a gripping struggle behind the mechinism. "The Man Who Sold the Moon" features a character I quickly grew to love - D.D. Harriman. He is so perfectly presented as a well-meaning, good-hearted, likable scoundrel who is willing to manipulate and obfuscate any person or situation to realize a dream. The smart dialogue and Harriman's ever-changing challenges made this one a joy to read.
The Man Who Sold the Moon is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Some of the stories originally appeared in the American magazines Astounding Science Fiction and Super Science Stories in 1939 and 1940, while the award-winning title novella was written especially for this edition. Together these stories were woven together into a 288 page book for publication by Shasta in 1950. Also included is a preface by the author and an introduction by writer/editor John W. Campbell, Jr.
The book is the first in a series that chronicles the technological advancement of the earth and maps the human race’s adventures into space. Each story in this “Future History” occurs on a timeline that stretches from 1951 to 2600 A.D., with this particular volume focusing on the immediate future as developments in energy, transportation and rocketry change the landscape of our planet and may even take us to the moon!
I love Heinlein's capable and cocksure protagonists. These driven men (and woman - the lovely Dr. Mary Lou Martin) will drag mankind to its destiny-kicking and screaming if need be. No amount of corporate resistance, government malfeasance or conspiratorial trouble making is going to stop the march to a better tomorrow! And if a little profit can be made, all the better.
My favorites are "The Roads Must Roll" and the title story. "Roads" is based on a very cool transportation development. Practicality may be questionable, but it provides a fascinating visual and solid framework for a gripping struggle behind the mechinism. "The Man Who Sold the Moon" features a character I quickly grew to love - D.D. Harriman. He is so perfectly presented as a well-meaning, good-hearted, likable scoundrel who is willing to manipulate and obfuscate any person or situation to realize a dream. The smart dialogue and Harriman's ever-changing challenges made this one a joy to read.
April 29, 2011
This is a collection of five short stories and the titular novella, all set in Heinlein's own future history. I enjoyed most of the stories, although the behaviour of the union in The Roads Must Roll (about the union that brings the America's trunk moving walkways to a halt) took me out of story completely. Mind you, this may be a trans-Atlantic difference - Americans have had a very different history with unions to Europeans, and may find this more believable.
The title story took a long time to get into. I found the idea of a bunch of very rich men scheming over how to effectively buy the moon to be unpleasant and unattractive, but eventually the sheer energy and enthusiasm of the protagonist got me engaged. It was worth it just for the follow-up, Requiem, which rounds off the collection and which is is wistful, sad yet uplifting as well, following the protagonist of the previous story, now as an old man.
In general, this is pretty classic Heinlein, with lots of rugged hero-engineers and scientists, making vast discoveries as individuals and having no truck with this namby-pamby government malarky.
The title story took a long time to get into. I found the idea of a bunch of very rich men scheming over how to effectively buy the moon to be unpleasant and unattractive, but eventually the sheer energy and enthusiasm of the protagonist got me engaged. It was worth it just for the follow-up, Requiem, which rounds off the collection and which is is wistful, sad yet uplifting as well, following the protagonist of the previous story, now as an old man.
In general, this is pretty classic Heinlein, with lots of rugged hero-engineers and scientists, making vast discoveries as individuals and having no truck with this namby-pamby government malarky.
April 20, 2018
The four stories contained in this paperback edition were originally published in the 1940's (two more that were in the original hardbound edition published in 1949, were omitted). The longest one included is the title story - The Man Who Sold the Moon - about how an old fashioned private business entrepreneur named H.H. Harriman financed and built the first rockets and settlements on the moon. As we all know by now, that's not how it happened. We created NASA, a big government bureaucracy with a big budget, and in 1969 we first landed on the moon. But then, after a few more landings, we never went back. NASA is expensive and the government has other priorities. So here we are in the 21st century with no moon colonies. But look what private enterprise is doing: Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic and others are developing reusable rockets which will bring down the cost of space launches, and they are seriously talking about returning to the moon and even putting astronauts on Mars. So maybe Heinlein's instincts about private enterprise in space were more correct than he ever knew.
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April 26, 2016У Роберта Хайнлайна в одной из его вселенных был цикл рассказов, в котором фигурировал один человек — Харриман — финансовый гений, щедро сыпавший невообразимыми идеями. Любая его «авантюра» приносила доход…
А сам Харриман мечтал побывать на луне, несмотря на то, что космических кораблей, способных достичь Луны, ещё не существовало. Но Харримана подобные пустяки не могли остановить, ведь если хочешь побывать на Луне — нужно построить ракету и полететь туда.
Спустя многие десятилетия люди вышли в космос, колонизировали Солнечную систему и даже отправили экспедицию к Альфе Центавра — и всё благодаря большой мечте одного маленького человека.
Рассказ "Человек, который продал Луну" — начало истории, которая растянулась на десятки произведений, и которая продолжает вдохновлять человечество и по сей день...
А сам Харриман мечтал побывать на луне, несмотря на то, что космических кораблей, способных достичь Луны, ещё не существовало. Но Харримана подобные пустяки не могли остановить, ведь если хочешь побывать на Луне — нужно построить ракету и полететь туда.
Спустя многие десятилетия люди вышли в космос, колонизировали Солнечную систему и даже отправили экспедицию к Альфе Центавра — и всё благодаря большой мечте одного маленького человека.
Рассказ "Человек, который продал Луну" — начало истории, которая растянулась на десятки произведений, и которая продолжает вдохновлять человечество и по сей день...
March 3, 2011
I go into anything Heinlein knowing he is sci-fi royalty and trying to balance my expections vs remembering many of these are 70 years old.
The stories in this collection have a definitely PULPY feel to them, lots of - "Hey chum what do you think you're doing?" - type of lines in them. A bit corny really, but all in good fun, and written in a WWII world, you have to take them with a pinch of salt.
This being a cog in the wheel of what has come to be called Heinlein's Future History - these are required reading for any old school fan of sci-fi.
Just remembering going into these, they are less mind blowing feats of inspiration / imagination - and more well constructed feats of perspiration. Built brick by brick, they are solid, and have held up for generations.
The stories in this collection have a definitely PULPY feel to them, lots of - "Hey chum what do you think you're doing?" - type of lines in them. A bit corny really, but all in good fun, and written in a WWII world, you have to take them with a pinch of salt.
This being a cog in the wheel of what has come to be called Heinlein's Future History - these are required reading for any old school fan of sci-fi.
Just remembering going into these, they are less mind blowing feats of inspiration / imagination - and more well constructed feats of perspiration. Built brick by brick, they are solid, and have held up for generations.
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