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kathodus 's review for:
Farmer in the Sky
by Robert A. Heinlein
The writing is dated and utterly lacking in subtlety, but the science is good, and I found the technical/engineering details interesting.
First, the meh-to-bad:
This reads a bit like "Leave it to Beaver" in space. The characters are all there to teach various Boys' Life lessons - don't complain, work hard, don't shirk your studies - all very admirable, but at least to someone who didn't come of age in the 50s, more than a little condescending.
The political situation on Ganymede is pretty idealized, as well. This is basically homesteaders in space, whereas if such an expensive endeavor as colonizing a moon ever actually occurs, it will most likely be very corporate-run. No small farms, no rugged individualism. It seems much more likely the colonists would be indentured servants working massive corporate farms or digging in corporation-owned mines.
The good:
The science bits are interesting. They're written in a manner that the layperson (layboy, I guess, in 50s terms) can follow, and the engineering bits are interesting and fun, as well. If you manage to suspend your disbelief and allow Heinlein's two-dimensional characters to be real, it's a fun read with some decent sensawunda.
First, the meh-to-bad:
This reads a bit like "Leave it to Beaver" in space. The characters are all there to teach various Boys' Life lessons - don't complain, work hard, don't shirk your studies - all very admirable, but at least to someone who didn't come of age in the 50s, more than a little condescending.
The political situation on Ganymede is pretty idealized, as well. This is basically homesteaders in space, whereas if such an expensive endeavor as colonizing a moon ever actually occurs, it will most likely be very corporate-run. No small farms, no rugged individualism. It seems much more likely the colonists would be indentured servants working massive corporate farms or digging in corporation-owned mines.
The good:
The science bits are interesting. They're written in a manner that the layperson (layboy, I guess, in 50s terms) can follow, and the engineering bits are interesting and fun, as well. If you manage to suspend your disbelief and allow Heinlein's two-dimensional characters to be real, it's a fun read with some decent sensawunda.