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Teen-Age Super Science Stories
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
253 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 15, 2018
I blasted off with this one right after finishing the author's Young Readers Science Fiction Stories, which was a lot of fun to read. This book was just as much fun, and the stories were more detailed, more involved, longer, and much more dramatic, being aimed at an older audience. Let me share the blurb I found at the very end of the book:
These thrilling tales recount the experiences of wide-awake, modern boys and girls who have the exceptional opportunity to venture into outer space.
Such stories as “The First Man Into Space,” “The Peril From Outer Space,” and “Mystery Eyes Over Earth” will take you into a new world, where the exciting adventures are based on sound predictions from present scientific knowledge.
Traveling in pressurized ships, dressed in special space suits, using oxygen tanks, the young travelers explore some of the heavenly bodies in super thrilling adventures requiring the utmost courage, fidelity and devotion to duty and to country.
That 'present scientific knowledge' would be from the early 50's, which of course means much of the science here will seem quaint. There is a bit more technical jargon than in the previous book, but not so much that it distracts from the story so I didn't care if it was up to date or not. Except that it was funny to read about one traveler's dinner in space, from the story titled Space Steward:
Jim was fascinated by his first meal in space. Everyone strapped himself to his seat so that he would stay put. Then the cooks brought in individual plates which adhered to the metallic table top by magnetism. Each bite of food was impaled on a toothpick stuck into a sponge-rubber mat which was fastened to the plate.
Ah, the innocent creativity of those early years, right? Where was the Tang or those squeeze tubes full of steak and potatoes? (Does anyone remember Tang? Is it still around? Wait, I'm getting distracted. I must be hungry.)
Anyway.....
This same boy Jim got to see something that i'm sure no one else will ever see: the wild unicorns of Venus, the planet's most interesting and bad-tempered creatures!
The animals were about the size of elephants, with glossy tan hides and slender antelope legs. Their huge heads carried swordlike horns just above the nose. The unicorns were browsing on patches of blue spider grass.
Wouldn't that be something?!
I sound like I am making fun, but I don't mean to. I enjoyed the imagination on display here, and the adventures the various youngsters got themselves into (and out of, luckily). Although I would suggest that anyone wanting to become an astronaut really needs to be good at maths. In at least two stories, there were errors in human calculations that the various young heroes had to discover before they could get themselves out of tricky situations. The 'electronic brain' was still not being used for everything in space flight at that time: plenty of formulas had to be worked out by hand. One little mistake was all it took to mess up everything.
I guess it is a good thing that I was never a cadet. My math skills stink. I would have been the one to send the ship out beyond the edges of the solar system. But at least in this book that trip is only a few weeks long!
These thrilling tales recount the experiences of wide-awake, modern boys and girls who have the exceptional opportunity to venture into outer space.
Such stories as “The First Man Into Space,” “The Peril From Outer Space,” and “Mystery Eyes Over Earth” will take you into a new world, where the exciting adventures are based on sound predictions from present scientific knowledge.
Traveling in pressurized ships, dressed in special space suits, using oxygen tanks, the young travelers explore some of the heavenly bodies in super thrilling adventures requiring the utmost courage, fidelity and devotion to duty and to country.
That 'present scientific knowledge' would be from the early 50's, which of course means much of the science here will seem quaint. There is a bit more technical jargon than in the previous book, but not so much that it distracts from the story so I didn't care if it was up to date or not. Except that it was funny to read about one traveler's dinner in space, from the story titled Space Steward:
Jim was fascinated by his first meal in space. Everyone strapped himself to his seat so that he would stay put. Then the cooks brought in individual plates which adhered to the metallic table top by magnetism. Each bite of food was impaled on a toothpick stuck into a sponge-rubber mat which was fastened to the plate.
Ah, the innocent creativity of those early years, right? Where was the Tang or those squeeze tubes full of steak and potatoes? (Does anyone remember Tang? Is it still around? Wait, I'm getting distracted. I must be hungry.)
Anyway.....
This same boy Jim got to see something that i'm sure no one else will ever see: the wild unicorns of Venus, the planet's most interesting and bad-tempered creatures!
The animals were about the size of elephants, with glossy tan hides and slender antelope legs. Their huge heads carried swordlike horns just above the nose. The unicorns were browsing on patches of blue spider grass.
Wouldn't that be something?!
I sound like I am making fun, but I don't mean to. I enjoyed the imagination on display here, and the adventures the various youngsters got themselves into (and out of, luckily). Although I would suggest that anyone wanting to become an astronaut really needs to be good at maths. In at least two stories, there were errors in human calculations that the various young heroes had to discover before they could get themselves out of tricky situations. The 'electronic brain' was still not being used for everything in space flight at that time: plenty of formulas had to be worked out by hand. One little mistake was all it took to mess up everything.
I guess it is a good thing that I was never a cadet. My math skills stink. I would have been the one to send the ship out beyond the edges of the solar system. But at least in this book that trip is only a few weeks long!
August 9, 2025
Originally titled Teen-Age Super Science Stories, this is a collection of nine short stories for young readers. It was first published in 1957, and I enjoyed reading it (and Elam's companion volume Science Fiction Stories) in 1967, having watched the Mercury and Gemini launches and waiting for Apollo. I don't remember many details, but it they led me to Bradbury and Heinlein and there was no going back. Fine nostalgic stuff!
May 12, 2022
This book pairs nicely with the Matt Mason toys and dusty chemistry sets found nearby in grandmother's basement. Her house was a time capsule of 1950-60's nostalgia and contained a lot of toys marketed to the magic of early space exploration (and probably an Ebay treasure trove... I shudder to think what went into the dumpster after she passed).
Think of this as a children's version of Heinlein's Green Hills of Earth or Bradbury's Martian Chronicles: a collection of short stories about the early (still future) days of space exploration and space tourism, but starring teenage heroes instead of adults.
The stories aren't bad. They're light-hearted, fun adventures, easy-reading and nostalgia-inducing.
The science itself is lacking, which is a bit jarring at times. And common-sense is mostly absent. (Who puts teenagers in charge of rocket launches? No one in their right mind. But otherwise I suppose we wouldn't have a story.)
If it were a movie, it would be the kind of weak summer flick I'd rent for a slumber party, but I'd never fork out money to see in theaters.
Did I enjoy it? Sure. Read it again? Probably not.
Think of this as a children's version of Heinlein's Green Hills of Earth or Bradbury's Martian Chronicles: a collection of short stories about the early (still future) days of space exploration and space tourism, but starring teenage heroes instead of adults.
The stories aren't bad. They're light-hearted, fun adventures, easy-reading and nostalgia-inducing.
The science itself is lacking, which is a bit jarring at times. And common-sense is mostly absent. (Who puts teenagers in charge of rocket launches? No one in their right mind. But otherwise I suppose we wouldn't have a story.)
If it were a movie, it would be the kind of weak summer flick I'd rent for a slumber party, but I'd never fork out money to see in theaters.
Did I enjoy it? Sure. Read it again? Probably not.
March 29, 2023
I don’t know why I persisted with this.
Read
November 3, 2016possibly read in spring of 1967
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews