Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein (introduction by William H. Patterson, Jr.; afterword by Travis S. Taylor, PhD)
Baen, $13.99, 227pp, tp, 9781416555643. Science fiction.
Baen Books has recently released a new edition of Robert Heinlein’s classic Between Planets, which was first published in 1951. To justify this new edition, they’ve commissioned a brief introduction by William H. Patterson and a slightly longer afterword by Travis S. Taylor, Ph.D., but neither of these additions are necessary, or really add much. Taylor took his brief to find some hidden gem in the book to show that Heinlein is as prescient as any other classic sf author, but we don’t read him for his fortune-telling. We read Heinlein for his story-telling.
That story-telling is at the fore here. It’s one of Heinlein’s “juveniles,” written about one per year during the 1950s for a young male audience. But as long-time Heinlein readers know, the works themselves aren’t juvenile in content or form. Indeed, I discovered them in a used book store during my college years, and the only thing that set them apart from the other Heinleins I’d read was that they were shorter/faster reads. It wasn’t until later that I learned they’d been written for a younger audience. But Heinlein doesn’t talk down to his reader: he merely excised the sex (indeed, most of the females) from the books.
In the case of Between Planets, what we have is a story of a young man suddenly forced to grow up very quickly, as he’s thrust into a harsh, uncaring universe in the midst of world-shaking events. Don Harvey, at school on Earth while his scientist-parents (off-stage for the entire novel) are working on Mars, is suddenly called “home.” But before he can leave, he’s thrown together with a man he later learns is a conspirator against an oppressive government. And then, before he can make his way to the “home” on Mars he’s never known, he’s forced by events to chose returning to the decadent, decaying home country, or make his way on a young, harsh colony. Being a Heinlein hero, he prudently chooses the challenge.
Along the way to growing up, he learns that the world really doesn’t care about any one person, but that one person, with enough will and effort, can change the world.
And one thing that stands out, in retrospect, is that Don (like many of Heinlein’s heroes) really has the makings of being a superman. The reader only thinks he’s an average, everyday person because he doesn’t realize he’s anything special. It’s a neat trick Heinlein learned early, and one I remarked on in reviewing his posthumous collaboration with Spider Robinson, Variable Star.
This is a good book to introduce a young (or not-so-young) reader to some of the classics of science fiction. Sure, the science is outdated (this was the era of Venus as a young swamp planet, and Mars as an old desert planet, but both with native intelligence), but that’s a minor point for what is otherwise a good read. If you haven’t read it, lucky you: more unread Heinlein. If you have, well, it’s like visiting an old friend you probably haven’t seen in a while. And this is a good looking edition (great Bob Eggleton cover) to hang on to and pass along to your kids.