Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
New York: Ballantine Books, 1977, c1952.
Description
Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML: One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly. Join the Stone twins as they connive, cajole, and bamboozle their way across the solar system in the company of the most high-spirited and hilarious family in all of science fiction. It all starts when the twins decide that life on the lunar colony is too dull and buy their own spaceship to go into business for themselves. Before long they are headed for the furthest reaches of the stars, with stops on Mars, some asteroids, Titan, and beyond. This lighthearted tale has some of Heinlein's sassiest dialogue�??not to mention the famous flatcats incident. Oddly enough, it's also a true example of real family values, for when you're a Stone, your family is your highest priority.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member RRHowell
Sure liked this as a kid. The source of the Star Trek tribbles, IMHO. Nothing terribly deep, but good fun.
LibraryThing member aulsmith
I would like to recommend the full cast audio edition of this book as well as the print version. The knowing smirk in Mrs. Stone's "Yes, dear" and the real fear in Mr. Stone's voice when she's off taking care of an epidemic are just a couple of the wonderful additions that make listening to this as
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much a pleasure as reading it yourself. (To address the intellectual property speculations in previous reviews -- you can't copyright ideas, only the way you express them, which is a damned good thing. The world is much richer for having Flatcats and Tribbles. Show Less
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
Teenaged twins Castor and Pollux Stone cajole their father into buying a space ship, and the entire family goes on a trip around the galaxy. But Castor and Pollux repeatedly end up in trouble with their schemes to make a fortune on distant planets.
This is a hard book for me to review, so I'll keep
This is a hard book for me to review, so I'll keep
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it short. I've only read one other book by Heinlein, A Stranger in a Strange Land, and that was as a teenager, so I expected something a bit more serious and meaningful in this book. Is this what pulp is? I've only read one pulp-fiction book, A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, so I'm very inexperienced with the genre. It took me a while to get over the cheese. But I recognize that when you're reading a book that was written in a style foreign to you, it's better to view the book within its context rather than comparing it to your usual type. And after I approached the book from this perspective, I began to really enjoy the humor and even became emotionally invested in the characters. I wouldn't say I highly recommend this book, but I enjoyed my second pulp experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member Karlstar
I think the best single word description for this novel is 'quaint'. I enjoyed it, but this is basically the story of a family that buys a rocket and tours the inner Solar System for a year. The idea that a family could buy a rocket as if it were a Winnebago, pilot it themselves and wander around
Otherwise this is classic Heinlein, basically standard fiction with his odd sense of humor, quirky characters and emphasis on the 'gee whiz' of being in outer space.
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the Solar System for months on end may have seemed likely in the 1940's, but today's fiction recognizes the difficulties involved in such a thing. It would be great if it were possible, but both costs and government regulation make it a dream now. Otherwise this is classic Heinlein, basically standard fiction with his odd sense of humor, quirky characters and emphasis on the 'gee whiz' of being in outer space.
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LibraryThing member EmScape
The family Stone goes Rolling across the solar system to see what they can see. Tough and wise Grandma Hazel, Captain and Doctor Stone, daughter Meade, irascible twins Castor and Pollux, and baby Lowell have all kinds of interesting adventures in space.
Despite the excess of mathematics and
(I recommend you read “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” prior to this.)
Despite the excess of mathematics and
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ballistics, this is a very readable and exciting tale. Taking place a few decades after the revolt of Luna in “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, we are able to infer how the Free State has matured, and also become a place where pioneering souls are anxious to strike out from. Except for Meade, who doesn’t have much of a storyline, the family is full of interesting characters with strong personalities. Also, I really really want a Martian ‘Flat Cat.’ (I recommend you read “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” prior to this.)
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LibraryThing member Fosforus
A light, easy read. Don't expect a very dramatic plotline, but the banter is good and the long descriptions of basic spaceflight are, for the most part, interesting. I believe this was intended for younger audiences. It also has a few errors/typos in the text, suggesting that Heinlein milled it out
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rather quickly. I don't mind. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is a fun romp dealing with the space-faring family Stone, from sharp-tongued Grandma Hazel Stone, veteran of the Luna War, to the parents and four children. It's one of the better of Robert Heinlein's "juveniles" which I like better than many of his later novels which featured such
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eccentricities as polyamory. Yes, some social and technological detail is dated, this was written in 1952. Yes, there is sexism--right there in the banter and other content. Yet at the same time the mother of this bunch is a surgeon, unusual for that era to say the least. And yes, the Martian flat-cats do bear a great resemblance to Star Trek's Tribbles. The producers made sure Heinlein was fine with that--David Gerrold, the author of the script said he probably did unconsciously get the idea from here, even though he thought he was telling the Australian rabbit story. That aside the dialogue is witty, the story fast-paced, and the book very enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member ragwaine
This was fun. The narrator was perfect for the part. He made it feel even more like I was reading about the smarter, more efficient and sciency Jetsons, in space. There was enough hard science for the hard sci-fi fans and enough witty banter for everyone else. Would love to see a movie or tv show
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adaptation of this. It definitely left me wonder if flat cats inspired tribbles or vice versa. Show Less
LibraryThing member fulner
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. While I have loved everything in Heinlein's "The Scribner's juveniles" series. But this one has been the best. Unlike "Rocket Ship Galleio" this one is actually believable. I really love this old time science-fiction. It is great to see what the author
The story of the Martian Flat cat was so similar to the "Trouble With Tribbles" we would see 15 years later, I can't imagine that Roddenberry hadn't read The Rolling Stones.
I laughed a lot, I even cried a little when it appeared my favorite character had died. The "Full Cast Audio" is freaking amazing in "cinematography." I encourage you to follow on the foot steps of the Space family Stone and their journey from Luna to Mars and then to make their fortune mining the asteroids. There is real math, or at least what looks like real math, there is family dynamics, really I think this book is great and don't want to give away anymore than I already have.
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for the 1950s thought of, that we already have, and what he didn't think of, that we already have. For example there is a scene where Grandma Hazel is going out for the day so she can't stay home and play Chess with the 5 year old. They, however, indicate that they could play by phone. I thought it was great, Heinleni though of cell phones and playing games on then. However before the end of the chapter we learn that he had thought of cell phones, but not of playing games on them, instead she called in her moves to him and he made the moves on a physical chess board. The story of the Martian Flat cat was so similar to the "Trouble With Tribbles" we would see 15 years later, I can't imagine that Roddenberry hadn't read The Rolling Stones.
I laughed a lot, I even cried a little when it appeared my favorite character had died. The "Full Cast Audio" is freaking amazing in "cinematography." I encourage you to follow on the foot steps of the Space family Stone and their journey from Luna to Mars and then to make their fortune mining the asteroids. There is real math, or at least what looks like real math, there is family dynamics, really I think this book is great and don't want to give away anymore than I already have.
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LibraryThing member cpotter
A lunar family decided to travel between planets for a change of scenery. The family consists of dad, mom, grandma, teenage twin sons, young adult daughter, and young son. Written in the 1950's it is family friendly but stereotypes women. Scientific terms abound. If you are a Star Trek fan you will
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see some where some of the ST episode ideas originated. Show Less
LibraryThing member Razinha
Hard to figure out what Heinlein was going for on this one; part Hardy Boys, part sitcom without the laugh track (think Partridge family), part soap opera, part Hatfields/granny Clampett, with a measure of Eastern mysticism thrown in...with a Harold Ramis/Dan Ackroyd screenplay dialogue ... all
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wrapped in a sciency blanket. As I read his books in (mostly) the order of publication, I keep wondering when the Heinlein of fame will make an appearance. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
An absolutely wonderful audio production of a favorite Heinlein juvenile.
Castor and Pollux Stone may be the most entertaining twins in sf for the reader, but it's hard to imagine why their parents didn't strangle them at birth to preserve their own sanity. Ever since the adults (Luna Founding
Castor and Pollux of course do not let up on their money-making schemes, and figure out that they can buy used bicycles cheap on Luna, fix them up on the way to Mars, and sell them to prospectors there for a fraction of the price of new bikes shipped from Earth's much deeper gravity well, while still making a huge profit.
They do not, of course, ask themselves why no one before them has been smart enough to come up with this idea, and that's a recurring theme as the Unheavenly Twins wreak hilarious havoc across the solar system, with brushes with jail, bankruptcy, and assorted mayhem.
(One very funny episode will seem oddly familiar to anyone whose age and background caused them to encounter the original Star Trek first. However, Heinlein's flat cats predated the tribbles by about fifteen years.)
Great fun.
Castor and Pollux Stone may be the most entertaining twins in sf for the reader, but it's hard to imagine why their parents didn't strangle them at birth to preserve their own sanity. Ever since the adults (Luna Founding
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Father grandmother Hazel Meade Stone, mother Dr. Edith Stone, and father Roger Stone, engineer, former mayor of Luna City, and screenwriter) let their guard slip long enough to let the twins invent something genuinely useful (the frostproof rebreather valve) these native-born Lunatics have been scheming to repeat the accomplishment—at least the money-making part of it—with the not very well thought-out goal of eluding adult control before they've learned enough caution to keep themselves alive, out of debt, and out of jail. When their latest caper involves an attempt to buy a spaceship and launch their own trade expedition to the asteroid belt, grandmotherly and paternal restlessness morphs the scheme into a family tour of the planets, starting with Mars and possibly stretching to include the rings of Saturn.Castor and Pollux of course do not let up on their money-making schemes, and figure out that they can buy used bicycles cheap on Luna, fix them up on the way to Mars, and sell them to prospectors there for a fraction of the price of new bikes shipped from Earth's much deeper gravity well, while still making a huge profit.
They do not, of course, ask themselves why no one before them has been smart enough to come up with this idea, and that's a recurring theme as the Unheavenly Twins wreak hilarious havoc across the solar system, with brushes with jail, bankruptcy, and assorted mayhem.
(One very funny episode will seem oddly familiar to anyone whose age and background caused them to encounter the original Star Trek first. However, Heinlein's flat cats predated the tribbles by about fifteen years.)
Great fun.
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LibraryThing member antao
(Original Review, 1980)
THE ROLLING STONES happens to be a fascinating example of degeneration --- Grandma quit engineering because three less-competent men were promoted over her, Mother is a competent but very womanly doctor, and Daughter (what little we find out of her) is mostly hormones. I
As for Spider Robinson --- well, both of the Robinsons are friends and I value them, but Spider's literary judgment simply isn't of the highest or most balanced (someone put it very neatly: "Spider worships the ground Heinlein walks above.") For a good example, see his vitriolic review of Clute's and Nicholls' THE SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA in the latest (well, latest but one by now) ANALOG; having read the sections he bitches about, I'll grant that Disch may be over-praised but Heinlein is not treated nearly as brutally as Spider claims. The author of the RAH article is quite right that RAH has difficulties with sex (even though he fills books with it). Look at “Time Enough to Screw Around”: a man bedding his mother is a classic fantasy; a man being tripped into bed by his daughters is becoming a stock modern fantasy (the "funny uncle" is a much smaller part of child molestation today than the father after his daughter; there's even a substantial slice of the porn market devoted to this appetite); and his claim that a woman is at her most beautiful when she's 8-9 months pregnant is the result of his own bile at never having had kids --- in this direction, strangely enough, the closest author thematically (although both of them would probably deny it furiously) is Spinrad, who has written several books in which the leading woman is there mostly because she has a thing for strong men's implements.
Oh well, enough flaming (well, almost). Probably some of you will consider this ridiculously puritanical of me, but I think the strongest condemnation of NUMBER OF THE BEAST was the monstrous advance paid for it. Most of us started reading SF because it offered entertainment on a level completely removed from both the "literature" beloved of schoolteachers and the sludge that winds up as popular fiction; that Fawcett saw such a goldmine in this that they were willing to advance $600,000 is an indicator of how far towards the trivially marketable RAH has gone.
THE ROLLING STONES happens to be a fascinating example of degeneration --- Grandma quit engineering because three less-competent men were promoted over her, Mother is a competent but very womanly doctor, and Daughter (what little we find out of her) is mostly hormones. I
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think it's also fair to say that TRS is the most liberal portrayal of women that Heinlein has ever created. Granted, Heinlein liked to write most of his famous material to well-defined audiences (THE STAR BEAST, complete with tiresome mother and conniving female chum, might have been written to order for BOY'S LIFE, but my copy doesn't mention any serialization (means nothing, though; I have the Ace reissue and they are among the worst at crediting prior publication). Not even Anne McCaffrey, perhaps the most conservative serious female SF writer, has a good word for Podkayne --- calls her "that unbelievable minx". As for Joan Eunice Smith --- when Laumer included a short piece (in THE TIME TRAP) assuming that attitudes were the result of biology, at least he made it funny/.As for Spider Robinson --- well, both of the Robinsons are friends and I value them, but Spider's literary judgment simply isn't of the highest or most balanced (someone put it very neatly: "Spider worships the ground Heinlein walks above.") For a good example, see his vitriolic review of Clute's and Nicholls' THE SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA in the latest (well, latest but one by now) ANALOG; having read the sections he bitches about, I'll grant that Disch may be over-praised but Heinlein is not treated nearly as brutally as Spider claims. The author of the RAH article is quite right that RAH has difficulties with sex (even though he fills books with it). Look at “Time Enough to Screw Around”: a man bedding his mother is a classic fantasy; a man being tripped into bed by his daughters is becoming a stock modern fantasy (the "funny uncle" is a much smaller part of child molestation today than the father after his daughter; there's even a substantial slice of the porn market devoted to this appetite); and his claim that a woman is at her most beautiful when she's 8-9 months pregnant is the result of his own bile at never having had kids --- in this direction, strangely enough, the closest author thematically (although both of them would probably deny it furiously) is Spinrad, who has written several books in which the leading woman is there mostly because she has a thing for strong men's implements.
Oh well, enough flaming (well, almost). Probably some of you will consider this ridiculously puritanical of me, but I think the strongest condemnation of NUMBER OF THE BEAST was the monstrous advance paid for it. Most of us started reading SF because it offered entertainment on a level completely removed from both the "literature" beloved of schoolteachers and the sludge that winds up as popular fiction; that Fawcett saw such a goldmine in this that they were willing to advance $600,000 is an indicator of how far towards the trivially marketable RAH has gone.
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LibraryThing member KarenCollyer
Always one of my favourites.
LibraryThing member szarka
This is solid juvenile sci-fi. It sounds dated now, not least because Heinlein was too pessimistic about changes in gender roles (even though the idea of a female doctor or pilot was quite progressive when he wrote it!), but that doesn't make it less enjoyable. Tom Weiner does a good job with the
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audiobook, acting out the voices of all the family members. Recommended after The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, although that's not essential even though the stories take place in sequence. [2022-02-23] Show Less
LibraryThing member spaceowl
Hopelessly dated but well-written, typical fifties Heinlein with competent males, obedient (but pleasantly bright) females and slide rules. There's always slide rules.
Nothing special but a nice stroll down memory lane, with more rigorous science and maths than most of what gets written in the
Nothing special but a nice stroll down memory lane, with more rigorous science and maths than most of what gets written in the
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present day. Show Less
LibraryThing member jdavidhacker
The Rolling Stones was a fun re-read, especially after the recent re-read of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (which was less fun).
I don't think this is technically classified as part of Heinlein's juvenalia, but it probably should as its pretty straightforward, light, and easily accessible.
The
Anyway, definitely worth the quick read, especially as it lacks some of the normal Heinlein trappings many people find objectionable. A straightforward, fun, swiss family robinson style adventure in space.
I don't think this is technically classified as part of Heinlein's juvenalia, but it probably should as its pretty straightforward, light, and easily accessible.
The
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titular Stones are a family ala Lost In Space (thought significantly less lost, and if anything even more capable) adventuring around the solar system (mars, luna, the asteroids) essentially on a lark. Dad (a maybe sometimes professor? a scriptwriter who doesn't want to be one anymore? someone with a military and/or professional space man past?) figures dragging the family around the solar system is a good way to train and keep an eye on his genius, overachieving sons so they don't run off on escapades of their own. Those sons, Castor and Pollux, are some of the call-backs we get later in TCWTW, as is grandma Hazel. I find the Hazel here significantly more fun, interesting, and less off-putting than Hazel from the end of the World-As-Myth. Here she's at least believable as the matriarch of a family of geniuses, and isn't quite as broad ranging a polymath as she is later. This is also the origin, in some ways, of the World As Myth as the Galactic Overload is created here, by the family, as an ongoing antagonist in the scripts they continue to write to support themselves. We even get a weird hint at one point that perhaps the Overload is already real and interacting with this world.Anyway, definitely worth the quick read, especially as it lacks some of the normal Heinlein trappings many people find objectionable. A straightforward, fun, swiss family robinson style adventure in space.
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
Castor and Pollux Stone may be the most entertaining twins in sf for the reader, but it's hard to imagine why their parents didn't strangle them at birth to preserve their own sanity. Ever since the adults (Luna Founding Father grandmother Hazel Meade Stone, mother Dr. Edith Stone, and father Roger
Castor and Pollux of course do not let up on their money-making schemes, and figure out that they can buy used bicycles cheap on Luna, fix them up on the way to Mars, and sell them to prospectors there for a fraction of the price of new bikes shipped from Earth's much deeper gravity well, while still making a huge profit.
They do not, of course, ask themselves why no one before them has been smart enough to come up with this idea, and that's a recurring theme as the Unheavenly Twins wreak hilarious havoc across the solar system, with brushes with jail, bankruptcy, and assorted mayhem.
(One very funny episode will seem oddly familiar to anyone whose age and background caused them to encounter the original Star Trek first. However, Heinlein's flat cats predated the tribbles by about fifteen years.)
Great fun.
Show More
Stone, engineer, former mayor of Luna City, and screenwriter) let their guard slip long enough to let the twins invent something genuinely useful (the frostproof rebreather valve) these native-born Lunatics have been scheming to repeat the accomplishment—at least the money-making part of it—with the not very well thought-out goal of eluding adult control before they've learned enough caution to keep themselves alive, out of debt, and out of jail. When their latest caper involves an attempt to buy a spaceship and launch their own trade expedition to the asteroid belt, grandmotherly and paternal restlessness morphs the scheme into a family tour of the planets, starting with Mars and possibly stretching to include the rings of Saturn.Castor and Pollux of course do not let up on their money-making schemes, and figure out that they can buy used bicycles cheap on Luna, fix them up on the way to Mars, and sell them to prospectors there for a fraction of the price of new bikes shipped from Earth's much deeper gravity well, while still making a huge profit.
They do not, of course, ask themselves why no one before them has been smart enough to come up with this idea, and that's a recurring theme as the Unheavenly Twins wreak hilarious havoc across the solar system, with brushes with jail, bankruptcy, and assorted mayhem.
(One very funny episode will seem oddly familiar to anyone whose age and background caused them to encounter the original Star Trek first. However, Heinlein's flat cats predated the tribbles by about fifteen years.)
Great fun.
Show Less
LibraryThing member gbanville
Several things happen in this book among them the apparent inspiration for the Star Trek episode, The Trouble With Tribbles. Though Heinlein gallantly suggested that both stories were actually based on an older story, "Pigs is Pigs."
There are probably a couple of worthwhile points to ponder about
There are probably a couple of worthwhile points to ponder about
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intellectual property in the information age right there. Show Less
LibraryThing member Treebeard_404
Heinlein's snappy dialog is always what I most enjoyed about his writing, and it is on full display here. The Rolling Stones also provides some nice beginner's physics about bodies in freefall and planetary navigation. If you can get past the 1950s characters, you can have an imaginative romp.
Subjects
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Science Fiction — 2006)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1952
Physical description
6.9 inches
ISBN
0345275810 / 9780345275813
Local notes
A Dell Rey Book
Published by Ballantine Books
Copyright © 1952 by Robert A. Heinlein
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Ballantine Books of Canada, Ltd., Toronto, Canada.
A condensed version of this book was published in Boy's Life under the title Tramp Space Ship.
First Ballantine Books Edition: June 1977
Fourth Printing: October 1978
Published by Ballantine Books
Copyright © 1952 by Robert A. Heinlein
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Ballantine Books of Canada, Ltd., Toronto, Canada.
A condensed version of this book was published in Boy's Life under the title Tramp Space Ship.
First Ballantine Books Edition: June 1977
Fourth Printing: October 1978
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