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Summary: I wonder why nobody reprints it:...
Review: "I wonder why nobody reprints it: look at all the good marks it gets!!! "Fantastic book, but holds way too much in the way of stories that can be (and are) printed and sold seperately.
It's unfortunate for new Sci-Fi fans, very hard to find a decent paperback copy somewhere. Mine is so worn, I need to rebind it.
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Summary: An insightful collection of possibilities and yearnings
Review: ... and incredibly out of print. I found this book in a big pile of sci-fi books including Frank Herbert, Pohl, Asimov, etc. Together with it, there was Stranger in a Strange Land, and they were both the best in the pile :). My girlfriend was also a sci-fi fan: I got the 'Stranger' and she got the 'Past' in the idea that we'll share them. Unfortunately, when we separated I had read only half of the anthology. Since then, my first question to every clerk in every used book shop I enter is: "Do you have Heinlein's 'Past through Tomorrow?'" It's a possible set of improbable future events from the perspective of a writer interested in equal measure in the well-being of the human society and in the development of the individual. It avoids paradoxes pragmatically, by applying them to themselves in amusing Turtle vs. Rabbit solutions; it's full of no-nonsense characters who are excellent role models and passive educators. Like most of Heinlein's work that I read, it's spanning the spectrum of emotions from hysterical laughter to the occasional tear. The technology depicted may get outdated, but the juice of humanity that Heinlein injected in all his work will always remain a wish and hope for the future. It tied me to a chair in an office for the few precious hours before I had to return the book to my ex-girlfriend. I wonder why nobody reprints it: look at all the good marks it gets!!!
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Summary: Heinlein newbies: Read this one first!
Review: I stumbled upon this book in my younger days when I was tearing through the Sci-Fi genre and I have repeatedly since then gone back to it. Unfortunately, I lost my copy in a move and have ever since scoured garage sales and bargain book stores in vain. It is probably the best collection of short stories and novellas ever gathered in binding. The way Heinlein tells a story is not only mesmerizing but kind of eerie in the way he is able to almost predict a future from so far back. The events and times may not be correct but his vision isn't far off. Aside from being a visionary, the characters in his stories are as real as anyone you know today. In Heinlein's futures people act exactly as they always have..greed, lust, murder, love, loss of love, etc. The magic that is Heinlein is that he allows us to see our flawed selves through his mid-20th century eyes. I highly recommend this book especially if you have never read any Heinlein. I warn you though when you start,(if you can find a copy), be prepared to lose sleep and possibly a few meals....YES, IT'S THAT GOOD!!!!!
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Summary: Great Read!!!! Heinlein at his prophetic best!!!!!!
Review: I stumbled upon this book in my younger days when I was tearing through the Sci-Fi genre and I have repeatedly since then gone back to it. Unfortunately, I lost my copy in a move and have ever since scoured garage sales and bargain book stores in vain. It is probably the best collection of short stories and novellas ever gathered in binding. The way Heinlein tells a story is not only mesmerizing but kind of eerie in the way he is able to almost predict a future from so far back. The events and times may not be correct but his vision isn't far off. Aside from being a visionary, the characters in his stories are as real as anyone you know today. In Heinlein's futures people act exactly as they always have..greed, lust, murder, love, loss of love, etc. The magic that is Heinlein is that he allows us to see our flawed selves through his mid-20th century eyes. I highly recommend this book especially if you have never read any Heinlein. I warn you though when you start,(if you can find a copy), be prepared to lose sleep and possibly a few meals....YES, IT'S THAT GOOD!!!!!
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Summary: The backbone of the Master's work.
Review: I too find it puzzling that there are few reviews of this collection. I would advise anyone interested in truly visiting the vast world of RAH to make this book a high priority. Along with Expanded Universe this is the glue which holds the theories and stories of both his early "pulp" works - Farmer in the Sky, Tunnel in the Sky, Red Planet - as well as his later more philosophical works - Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Job, Stranger in a Strange Land - together. Read it now...go ahead...endulge yourself...nobody is watching.
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Summary: Desperately Wanting...and Still Searching
Review: I too, agree that Robert Heinlein's works are maserpieces in their own right. I'm young, so I have barely begun to delve fully into the world of RAH, but I love all of the books I've read so far, especially the, the Past Through Tomorrow volume. My father had it high on a bookshelf, and after discovering it and devouring its contents, that 1967 copy just fell apart. My goal: To find another copy, one that is stronger, and perferably in hardcover! I must admit though, the first novel I ever read of Heinlein's was Double Star, and it holds a special place in my heart. Since then, I've loaned it to a friend and am now deperately searching for another copy, just like the one I had before. Big Clue: Never loan any book you love to another person; if you really want them to read it, buy them their own copy! I think my favorite thing about the Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories is how they are all interconnected, and how RAH mapped that out for his readers as well. I love things like that! Definately a book to buy in hardcver and keep on your shelves for years to come. If you haven't started already, go hunt down a copy for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: Desperately Wanting...and Still Searching
Review: I too, agree that Robert Heinlein's works are masterpieces in their own right. I'm young, so I have barely begun to delve fully into the world of RAH, but I love all of the books I've read so far, especially the, the Past Through Tomorrow volume. My father had it high on a bookshelf, and after discovering it and devouring its contents, that 1967 copy just fell apart. My goal: To find another copy, one that is stronger, and perferably in hardcover! I must admit though, the first novel I ever read of Heinlein's was Double Star, and it holds a special place in my heart. Since then, I've loaned it to a friend and am now desperately searching for another copy, just like the one I had before. Big Clue: Never loan any book you love to another person; if you really want them to read it, buy them their own copy! I think my favorite thing about the Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories is how they are all interconnected, and how RAH mapped that out for his readers as well. I love things like that! Definately a book to buy in hardcver and keep on your shelves for years to come. If you haven't started already, go hunt down a copy for yourself!
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Summary: This book is the center point of Heinlein's Future History
Review: I'm surprised there are only two other reviews on this book. It is a collection of stories that forms the backbone of Heinlein's primary Future History. Although the majority of the stories are quite old (I can't remember for sure, but I think none came out after the sixties, and most are from the forties and fifties), they form, together, one of the first coherent glimpses of the power of Science Fiction to detail a potential future, one that can show us what might happen, for good or for ill, and entertain us along the way. I've read this book about eight times from cover to cover, so often that I don't read it any more because it's burned into my mind.
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Summary: Absolutely essential to a Heinlein colection.
Review: I, too, have unintentionally "destroyed" two copies of "The Past Through Tomorrow". I've also "loaned" two copies of the book, never to see them, book and borrowers, again. I saved every "leaf" as each detached itself from the hardcover edition, planning to rebind the book somehow. In the sense that I have not yet admitted defeat in my search for another copy of the book, or my wishes and prayers that another edition be published in almost FOUR years of trying, this is a review of that book. If you don't have it, get it.
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Summary: Heinlein's time line of the future
Review: John W. Campbell, editor of the sci-fi magazine "Analog" coined the term "future history" about the chain of characters and stories written by Robert A. Heinlein. It's a brilliant term, because Heinlein literally created a fictional history of an entire people, from Earth, to early space travel, to settling the moon, to moving out among the stars. This book, astonishingly out of print, contains many of Heinlein's best short stories and novellas, filling in the gaps for his major novels such as "Time Enough for Love" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress." Heinlein apparently kept a complicated character-and-time chart in his study. This book has a copy of the chart, plus the award-winning stories and short fiction. Included here: "Methuselah's Children"--the beginning of the story of the Howard Families that is taken up in the sweeping novel "Time Enough for Love." You'll also find stories that explain the founding of Luna City, pioneering space travel, and the revolution against the theocracy begun by Nehemiah Scudder. If you are a Heinlein fan, this is a great book to have--fills out the gaps in his complete works. If you aren't a Heinlein fan, start with "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" or "Starship Troopers" to find out how great Heinlein's science fiction is.
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