Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Hei
Series
Collection
Publication
Atheneum (1988), Edition: First Thus
Description
A classic novel from the mind of the storyteller who captures the imagination of readers from around the world, and across two generationsThe final exam for Dr. Matson's Advanced Survival class was meant to be just that: only a test. But something has gone terribly wrong...and now Rod Walker and his fellow students are stranded somewhere unknown in the universe, beyond contact with Earth, at the other end of a tunnel in the sky. Stripped of all comforts, hoping for apassage home that may never appear, the castaways must band together or perish. For Rod and his fellow survivors, this is one test where failure is not an option....
Subjects
Original publication date
1955
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User reviews
LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
A great book to give to a bright kid. Kids typically (and correctly) feel powerless - this book shows what great potential exists within a typical group of adolescent castaways.
LibraryThing member annbury
Another entry from Heinlein's series of juveniles, and less impressive than some of the others. A group of young people are stranded on a distant planet where they must struggle to survive, against the dangers of the planet and against each other. Interesting story, but the characters are less
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fully developed than in some of the other juveniles, and the premise is limiting. Show Less
LibraryThing member Meggo
This early Heinlein book is largely enjoyable, except where he gets all political and "Lord of the Flies" in the middle. And, as with some of the books, the ending feels tacked on. Frankly, I lost interest once the tension was resolved. Still, it's an enjoyable read, about students of a survival
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skills class who need to unexpectedly survive in the field much longer than originally intended. But am I the only one who thought that "stobor" was going to turn out to be "robots"? I was disappointed when it wasn't. Show Less
LibraryThing member mfassold
This is my favorite book of all time. I read it for the first time when I was 13 and have read it every year since then at least once. I taught the book this year as a culmination of my civilization and government unit. One of my favorite activities was to have my students pick out all the errors
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on the cover. All my students missed the fact that Rod was black, not a 30 year old white guy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cubine
Very Well Written story of students stranded on a deserted planet, light years from Earth. Heinlein's Themes on survival, politics and coming of age are nicely presented. The protagonist, Rod Walker, is a rarity for Heinlein's heroes; an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances. No supermen
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here, just normal teens surviving by learning to live and work together. Show Less
LibraryThing member Clueless
This tale of a teenage survival course, in space, in the future is riveting. Everywhere you go there is going to be some big scary monster that you're going to have to contend with. Or a small vicious monster.
LibraryThing member hermit_9
This wasn’t the first science fiction/fantasy book I read, but it was (as far as I can remember) the first one I chose for myself, knowing that it was sci-fi. It is a great coming of age tale set in a future where we have achieved interstellar travel in the form of teleportation. It hooked me on
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Heinlein for life. I wish I still had a copy. Show Less
LibraryThing member VVilliam
A great survival novel of Rod and his classmates who get stranded on a jungle planet. Heinlein brings great insight and action to the table for an entertaining yet thought provoking tale. I especially liked thinking about how much of society we take for granted, which would take generations to
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rebuild. The ending falls flat, but overall a fun way to see Heinlein in a less sci-fi setting. I would definitely recommend other Heinlein books first, though, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Double Star. Show Less
LibraryThing member Loptsson
This is a great book. I read this when I was young and have read it many times since then. The testing of the abilities of young folks are something which our society has somewhat lost in this day, and for this book to deal with it as a requirement for a job as leading settlers to other worlds is
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pretty cool. Perhaps someday our own tunnel in the sky will give us the ability to do the same before we blow ourselves off this rock. LOL..... well one can wish! Show Less
LibraryThing member Zare
Rod Walker is one of the many students that wants to see and explore outlands - wild and untamed planets not yet colonized by Terran Federation. But in order to achieve his goal [and become officially certified explorer] he must take and pass survival test, test taking place in unknown surroundings
All starts fine (well, let us say there are gradations of fine, ok :)) but soon all test takers find themselves cut off from civilization and forced to group themselves in order to survive.
Like all Heinlein's books this one also explores human nature and society, what works and what does not work, role of true leadership etc (readers may not agree with every point author makes but again that is not the goal - goal is to make readers think about "what-if" scenarios). Test-takers are not your average kids, they know a lot and they are ready to use that knowledge to survive but is that all that is required to survive in the unknown surroundings?
Very interesting book.
Recommended.
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crawling with unexpected dangers.All starts fine (well, let us say there are gradations of fine, ok :)) but soon all test takers find themselves cut off from civilization and forced to group themselves in order to survive.
Like all Heinlein's books this one also explores human nature and society, what works and what does not work, role of true leadership etc (readers may not agree with every point author makes but again that is not the goal - goal is to make readers think about "what-if" scenarios). Test-takers are not your average kids, they know a lot and they are ready to use that knowledge to survive but is that all that is required to survive in the unknown surroundings?
Very interesting book.
Recommended.
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LibraryThing member thomasJamo
This is another book written for a younger audience in mind. It's not a bad read. It's just not his best work. Again, worth a trip to the library for a Heinlein fan.
LibraryThing member nateberly
This was a fun and interesting read, it was intended for a young audience, but anyone should enjoy it. I really liked the way it progressed. It shows human interaction in a primitive society, while having knowledge of the modern world.
I am amazed at the level of survivorship the testers had. How
I didn't appreciate the small jabs on the females in the book, but as with many Heinlein books, I wonder if he is just giving his characters this attitude, while keeping his own thoughts on gender to himself (granted, this was written in 1955, I think, and you can never really tell what his intentions were).
Sometimes it was tough to tell how much time had passed, until it was said in the book, and I found the transitions, or lack thereof, difficult.
Overall, it was a great read though, sometimes I find it hard not to be critical in a review. I would recommend it to any Heinlein fans, or anyone, especially young adolescents, interested in survival skills.
I am amazed at the level of survivorship the testers had. How
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many of us would know the basics of survival, let alone be able to build a society with no resources from the modern world, and be so successful at hunting and tracking?I didn't appreciate the small jabs on the females in the book, but as with many Heinlein books, I wonder if he is just giving his characters this attitude, while keeping his own thoughts on gender to himself (granted, this was written in 1955, I think, and you can never really tell what his intentions were).
Sometimes it was tough to tell how much time had passed, until it was said in the book, and I found the transitions, or lack thereof, difficult.
Overall, it was a great read though, sometimes I find it hard not to be critical in a review. I would recommend it to any Heinlein fans, or anyone, especially young adolescents, interested in survival skills.
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LibraryThing member PaulWW
Some prefer a lot of "science" in thier SciFi, you'll find a little of that here in the begining of the book. I prefer great characters and situations, and that's what this book is full of!
LibraryThing member JessiAdams
I was shocked after reading this book to learn that it was written in 1955. You can generally tell when science fiction was written a very long time ago, but this book is wonderfully written and timeless. The only hint that I got while reading was the strange interactions between men and women. The
The basic story of the book is that a group of adolescents and young adults are sent to a distant planet as part of a survival test to graduate from a class they're taking. The test was supposed to last no more than 10 days. Due to some sort of mishap, they end up being there much, much longer. I enjoyed the book as a fun science fiction read. Although I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Robert Heinlein before, I believe I will be reading more of his books soon.
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relationship between men and women in this book is pretty much the same as it would have been in the 1940's and 50's. I'm not sure if that's because the author lacked imagination to change it, or if he was making a statement of some sort. In any case, it didn't bother me as much as some readers. Before realizing when the book was written, I just found it an entertaining part of the setting that men and women would have regressed some in their roles, especially (as one character eludes to) in a world where there are so many more women than men. The basic story of the book is that a group of adolescents and young adults are sent to a distant planet as part of a survival test to graduate from a class they're taking. The test was supposed to last no more than 10 days. Due to some sort of mishap, they end up being there much, much longer. I enjoyed the book as a fun science fiction read. Although I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Robert Heinlein before, I believe I will be reading more of his books soon.
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LibraryThing member Karlstar
The ultimate Survivor! How to survive when you have been randomly dumped on unknown planets when your transport mechanism goes haywire. Not sophisticated or philosophic, just good old science fiction. Stargate fans should be able to relate very well.
LibraryThing member mrtall
Robert Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky is a delight. This story of a group of young people forced to deal with sudden isolation from society is in many ways the photographic negative of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
Tunnel in the Sky follows Rod Walker, our young protagonist, as he and a
One particularly interesting aspect of Tunnel in the Sky is how Heinlein is so forward-looking in some ways, and yet so rooted in his own era’s values in others. For example, several of the key events in the story involve the young students pairing off and marrying. This need to observe a cornerstone of traditional society draws firm boundaries around the new culture the class develops in its lost world, and it also adds shape and meaning to the story. This is in great contrast to similar novels that might be written today in which it would be taken for granted that healthy young people would pair off casually and switch sexual partners with impunity.
Although Heinlein intended Tunnel in the Sky to be a young adult novel, I’d recommended it to all science-fiction fans.
Tunnel in the Sky follows Rod Walker, our young protagonist, as he and a
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group of his classmates take a field trip through a matter transfer gate into an unknown, primordial planet where they are intended to undergo a survival course something like a high-stakes Outward Bound. As you might expect, there’s a hitch in their transport, and it turns out this group of students is stranded on a new world, and find that they must survive on their own for far longer than they had expected. Much of the book recounts their efforts to organize, defend and provide for themselves.One particularly interesting aspect of Tunnel in the Sky is how Heinlein is so forward-looking in some ways, and yet so rooted in his own era’s values in others. For example, several of the key events in the story involve the young students pairing off and marrying. This need to observe a cornerstone of traditional society draws firm boundaries around the new culture the class develops in its lost world, and it also adds shape and meaning to the story. This is in great contrast to similar novels that might be written today in which it would be taken for granted that healthy young people would pair off casually and switch sexual partners with impunity.
Although Heinlein intended Tunnel in the Sky to be a young adult novel, I’d recommended it to all science-fiction fans.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is one of Heinlein's "juvenile" novels centered upon and written for teens. Rod Walker and other teens start out taking a basic survival test, but something goes wrong and they're stranded on a deserted jungle planet. The novel has been described as the inverse of Lord of the Flies and I even
I saw some reviews noting how dated the book is in that the boys and girls pair off so neatly and speculated that Heinlein being a product of his times didn't have the imagination to do otherwise. That would be a no. There was even a very early novel written by him in 1938, not published until after his death, For Us, the Living, that included nudism and "free love," both themes he'd take up with a vengeance in books such as Stranger in a Strange Land published in 1961. But Tunnel in the Sky was contracted for a teen market--and in 1955. Suffice to say Heinlein certainly had even back then the imagination to create alternate lifestyles--he just wasn't free to describe such a world here. And ironically, I think his juveniles are the better for it, even if they strike a rather old-fashioned note from time to time.
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saw a recommendation comparing it to Hunger Games. This is a novel about survival, but here the group of young people struggling against nature itself, not each other, and leadership and cooperation is the theme sounded, not a destructive tearing each other to peaces. I saw some reviews noting how dated the book is in that the boys and girls pair off so neatly and speculated that Heinlein being a product of his times didn't have the imagination to do otherwise. That would be a no. There was even a very early novel written by him in 1938, not published until after his death, For Us, the Living, that included nudism and "free love," both themes he'd take up with a vengeance in books such as Stranger in a Strange Land published in 1961. But Tunnel in the Sky was contracted for a teen market--and in 1955. Suffice to say Heinlein certainly had even back then the imagination to create alternate lifestyles--he just wasn't free to describe such a world here. And ironically, I think his juveniles are the better for it, even if they strike a rather old-fashioned note from time to time.
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LibraryThing member BrendanPMyers
Read this one as a kid and it had a profound effect on me. Read it again every few years as well. One of my favorite books. "Beware the Stobor" remains very good advice indeed.
Nutshell plot is that in the future, high schoolers must complete an outdoor adventure course, however their adventures
Glad this was my introduction to Heinlein, as it is (mostly) bereft of the polemics that both add to and detract from Starship Troopers. Had I started with that one, I'm not sure I'd have gone on to this.
Nutshell plot is that in the future, high schoolers must complete an outdoor adventure course, however their adventures
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take place on other worlds. They don't know if the world they're going to is hot or cold, wet or dry, and so must prepare for every eventuality. Alas, for this group of outdoor adventurers, when it is time for them to be summoned home, nobody comes . . .Glad this was my introduction to Heinlein, as it is (mostly) bereft of the polemics that both add to and detract from Starship Troopers. Had I started with that one, I'm not sure I'd have gone on to this.
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LibraryThing member gecizzle
Awesome book. Quite the compelling read. Damn thing kept me up all night. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. Which kind of sucked because I started it around 2am. So, here I am. It's 6am now, and I just finished this book. And there's no way I'm getting any sleep because damn... This book
That being said, the book is pretty much "The lord of the flies" in space. Or, on a different planet, anyway. Its a pretty simple story. It's just very well written and full of wonder. I do, however, wish there was a bit more conflict. I mean, they throw 100 teenagers on a distant earth-like planet, with just a few knives, and a couple scarce guns. They're stuck there for 2 years. They have to create their own society. Build their own habitat. Create their own laws.
100 teenagers... and there is literally 2 fights in the whole damn book. Seriously? That's total bullshit. They would be fighting constantly, just like The Lord of the Flies. So, if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough to finish this book, it's well worth it. But damn, Bobby boy. They didn't all have to be shiny happy people all the time for f*ck's sake.
So, f*ck Bobby Heinlein in his shiny happy *ssh*l*. Because, f*ck man. Teenagers are not this happy. Teenagers are f*ck*ng miserable. They would have killed each other so fast, and you f*ck*ng know it, you dead hippy f*ck.
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was so gripping. It has my mind in a vise.That being said, the book is pretty much "The lord of the flies" in space. Or, on a different planet, anyway. Its a pretty simple story. It's just very well written and full of wonder. I do, however, wish there was a bit more conflict. I mean, they throw 100 teenagers on a distant earth-like planet, with just a few knives, and a couple scarce guns. They're stuck there for 2 years. They have to create their own society. Build their own habitat. Create their own laws.
100 teenagers... and there is literally 2 fights in the whole damn book. Seriously? That's total bullshit. They would be fighting constantly, just like The Lord of the Flies. So, if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough to finish this book, it's well worth it. But damn, Bobby boy. They didn't all have to be shiny happy people all the time for f*ck's sake.
So, f*ck Bobby Heinlein in his shiny happy *ssh*l*. Because, f*ck man. Teenagers are not this happy. Teenagers are f*ck*ng miserable. They would have killed each other so fast, and you f*ck*ng know it, you dead hippy f*ck.
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LibraryThing member NickHowes
One of my favorites...not counting all the other Heinlein novels. This one sends a high school class of survival students for a short jaunt onto an alien world. Their stargate connection is broken by a nova and they wind up spending much more time there than they expected. The high school students
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are way more capable than I would give most credit for in any world, but it is a small point more than offset by the adventure faced by Rod Walker and his fellow survivors, many of whom don't make it to rescue. Like others of a certain (now advanced) age, I started along the science fiction path with Heinlein's juvenile novels. They are and always will be great fun even if the basic concepts Heinlein pioneered are old hat to modern readers. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Venryx
Was fine overall.
Characters' dialogue seemed unrealistic in places; they talked like adults sometimes, and other times like kids (and not very thoughtful ones at that).
Also, I think the characters were either just not interesting, or the author didn't succeed in revealing what made them
Personal note
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From this point forward, my ratings have a different distribution--they're just bucketed into the five star values based on their ranking, among all the books I've rated.
So 1 just means it's in the lowest 20% bucket, and 5 stars, in the highest 20%.
This makes it easier to choose a rating value, as I just compare to my existing ratings and set its rating to that of its closest match--with redistribution procedures occurring every once in a while to keep the 5 buckets with about the same count. (eventually I'll probably automate this based on a persistent ranking list)
Unfortunately, this system means I'll actually be dragging down the global ratings of the books I found promising enough to read; but oh well. My local rating distribution (visible to friends) is more important to me overall than my impact on the global ratings.
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Characters' dialogue seemed unrealistic in places; they talked like adults sometimes, and other times like kids (and not very thoughtful ones at that).
Also, I think the characters were either just not interesting, or the author didn't succeed in revealing what made them
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interesting/thoughtful toward their place in the world. (I may just be picky on this point)Personal note
==========
From this point forward, my ratings have a different distribution--they're just bucketed into the five star values based on their ranking, among all the books I've rated.
So 1 just means it's in the lowest 20% bucket, and 5 stars, in the highest 20%.
This makes it easier to choose a rating value, as I just compare to my existing ratings and set its rating to that of its closest match--with redistribution procedures occurring every once in a while to keep the 5 buckets with about the same count. (eventually I'll probably automate this based on a persistent ranking list)
Unfortunately, this system means I'll actually be dragging down the global ratings of the books I found promising enough to read; but oh well. My local rating distribution (visible to friends) is more important to me overall than my impact on the global ratings.
==========
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LibraryThing member Razinha
He still couldn't think outside his social box, and the yokelisms grew tiresome again, but this was the best of his I've read so far.
LibraryThing member fuzzi
One of the better books by this author, a tale of a teen's fight for survival in the wilds of a remote planet. One evening I read past my usual bedtime, not wanting a pause in the story. Definitely recommended.
LibraryThing member bederson
Surprisingly like The Martian - people stranded on another planet that need to figure out a lot of stuff to survive. The Martian was all about managing resources and technical details. Tunnel in the Sky had some of that, but more about social structures.
LibraryThing member octoberdad
All I know is, I'm glad none of my final exams were ever like this.