Time for the Stars

As overpopulation stressed the Earth’s resources past its needs, the Long Range Foundation (LRF) sought solutions. One project of the LRF was testing twins for mind-reading abilities. Sending out ships seeking inhabitable planets needed reliable communications. They aim to send one twin into space while the other stays on Earth to collect transmissions. One pair of twins recruited for this project are Tom and Pat. Pat stays on Earth as Tom flies at near-lightspeed. If Tom survives, will he return at the same age he left?

Time for the Stars is a classic novella by Robert A. Heinlein. First published in 1956, this tale of near-lightspeed space travel is an excellent example of a work from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Heinlein is a master of character development, and Tom and Pat are great examples. This story is still a relevant piece of sci-fi almost seventy years later. Though other authors have touched on the themes of near-lightspeed travel, Heinlein was a great inspiration, and this book is thick with Einstein’s theories and space travel science. For fans of Heinlein and retro sci-fi, this is an excellent read.