Receive The Man Who Sold The Moon Compiled By Robert A. Heinlein Available As Volume
on The Man Who Sold the Moon
monumental "Future History" series continues, Two scientists develop cheap solar powerand threaten the industrial status quo, The nation's cities are linked by a system of moving roadsand a strike can bring the entire country
to a halt, Workers in an experimental atomic plant crack under the mental strain, And the space frontier is opened by an unlikely heroD, D. Harriman, a billionaire with a dream: the dream of Space for All Mankind, The method Anything that works, Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far, But he will give us the, . .
I still feel like he doesn't really understand women, as his women characters are always either nagging housewives or ridiculously subservient women who have no interest in getting married.
In the first story, "Let there be Light!" a woman biologist talks to a physical chemist about her idea for creating light based on fireflies, The man comes up with it while the woman cooks eggs over a bunsen burner and even though she came up with the idea she showers him with praise and says he is the real genius behind it all.
I found this pretty annoying and much preferred stories in which there were no women at all present, in particular "Blowups Happen," because I was not distracted by Heinlein's inability to understand women.
The Man Who Sold The Moon is a collection of short stories by Robert Heinlein, all set within his fictional history timeline, He attempted to explain this in a preface by saying “The stories in this and later volumes of this series were not written as prophecy, nor as history, ” Not a great explanation, but its my mistake for not reading more carefully, Im wasting valuable words here because you need to know that the stories, while taking place in the same timeline/universe, are really not related, I went through the whole collection wondering “What happened to that doctor in the first chapter Where did the rolling roads go” It didnt affect my opinion of the title story, “The Man Who Sold the Moon”, but it did hamper my reading experience.
“Let There Be Light” is a very short storypages in my edition, and it provided some very amusing dialog between two characters on the verge of a scientific breakthrough.
Dr. Martin and Dr. Archibald Douglas collaborate on manufacturing power screens, and when they devise the perfect process, they decide to keep the patent for their technique while still releasing the general info to the public.
Of course, Dr. Martin is a total babe and also a genius, which fuels the flirty dialog between her and her partner, Thats really the extent of this story,
“The Roads Must Roll” has far more development, and introduces an interesting concept of a world covered in rolling roads like those airport escalator things that dont escalate Im sure theres a word for them.
As one would imagine, maintaining such an expansive mechanical network can lead to many problems, mechanical failure being the least of them, What makes this story interesting is the power struggle within the dominant corporation that owns the roads, We get to see an obvious hero with some antihero tendencies versus a stereotypical villain, a lifelong loser who uses his influence within the company to attempt a hostile takeover.
This was actually a pretty cool story,
To offer my opinion, Ill say that these are probablyorstar stories, but since they were included with “The Man Who Sold The Moon,” I had no choice but to give the collectionstars.
Thats how good the title story is,
I made a huge mistake by reading the firstpages or so and then setting the book aside for a few weeks, When I finally decided to pick it back up, I couldnt put it down, The title says it all but who could possibly sell the Moon A man with a dream and a plan to follow through, thats who, The protagonist of this story, Delos Harriman, is a shrewd business man who always dreamed of going to the Moon, Working for a major corporation again, we get to see the business side of science fiction, he looks at court cases over land ownership rights and determines that the Moon belongs to them, based on where its located above the Earth.
He starts funding research into ship development, selling shares of the company, and drumming up interest in space travel by planning promotional gimmicks for potential investors, etc, Every time a setback arises, he manages to find a way past it and there sure were a lot of them,
As the story continues, we learn more about Deloss dreams and just how far hes willing to go to achieve them, The business dealings take on a new meaning, and I found myself rooting for the guy, Even after a conversation with one of his partners, where they discuss how to “milk the kids for their allowance money” by offering some kind of junior cadet space program.
Sure, hes a shady business man who takes some crazy risks, like using the same fuel for space flight that caused the first rocket to explode in the stratosphere.
For all his talk of investment and profits, however, its apparent that the dream is what hes really pursuing, This is why I envy him, and this is why hes such an interesting character, Its a great testament to Heinleins writing ability that he was able to create a compelling character who exhibits such a range of qualities, I dont think Ive ever sympathized with a businessman, in any scenario, until now, Even his partners believe hes slightly delusional, thinking things like “Why the hell did we go along with this” And yet, they never back out, He managed to sell them on his dream, too,
Heres where things get really interesting SPOILERS AHEAD, Plans change they need to cut back on certain expenses, and now theyre so deep into it that they have to do whatever it takes to put a man on the Moon.
Originally it was going to be aman spacecraft, but due to logistics, they could only send one, It had to be the pilot, who weighs far less than Delos and the lead engineer, They make the successful flight, and eventually establish Luna City, effectively colonizing the Moon, So Harriman tries to arrange for a trip of his own, Knowing that a failed expedition would mean certain doom for the company, and even future space flight, his business partners evoke their rights as partners and refuse to allow it.
They need a return on their investments, after all, Any normal businessman would be ecstatic at the success of this whole operation, But remember, Delos only wanted to set foot on the moon for himself, Money aint a thing for him, I couldnt imagine going to the lengths that this man went to in order to make his childhood dream come true, only to have someone else live that dream due to “logistics.
” If you dont sympathize with him at this point, reader, then you are cruel and heartless, END OF SPOILERS
I think Ive spoiled enough of the plot, but I had to give a sense of what this story is really about, Most science fiction stories introduce some sort of innovative technology and quirky jargon, but it usually happens at the expense of the characters, Theyre simply there to show off the cool gadgets, This story gives scifi diehards a strong dose of the usual, but what makes it a great story is Delos Harriman and his dream, You dont have to enjoy science fiction to enjoy this story, Its very readable, and its mostly in the form of witty dialogue and banter, rather than techheavy description, I now see why Robert Heinlein is regarded as ONE OF THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS EVER, And Im super stoked that I was able to find this edition at a used bookstore it was printed in, This Brilliance Audio performance of Heinlein's second collection of his Future History stories the first was The Green Hills of Earth contains all six of the stories that were included in the original Shasta hardcover edition.
I'm not wild about the orange cover is that supposed to be David Bowie, but the book is very nicely read by Buck Schirner, Most of the paperback editions only contained four of the original six, The whole series is included in the omnibus The Past Through Tomorrow, which I highly recommend, LifeLine was Heinlein's first published story, and is an interesting character study but doesn't fit in too well with the themes and continuity he was later to develop, Let There Be Light is a fine story that mixes economics and politics with the science, and features one of his first female strong characters, scientist Mary Lou Martin.
The Roads Must Roll is a classic about patriotism and loyalty that I liked very much but never felt that it fit in the sequence too convincingly, Blowups Happen is another classic, and is a examination of the psychology of warfare, Remember, in thes schoolchildren had atom bomb drills the way later generations executed fire drills, The other two, The Man Who Sold the Moon and its sequel, Requiem, are the very touching story of a man who did what he felt was the most important thing by all means necessary it's how space exploration should have been initiated.
The stories have been criticized some for what are now seen as sexist and racist attitudes, but it must be remembered that they were written seventy or eighty years ago.
Compared to most of the other works of the time, not just in the sf field, they're remarkably advanced in social attitude, I believe Heinlein will always be one of the most important writers in the history of the genre, Una novela temprana de Heinlein, precursora de La Luna es una amante cruel, Trata de un empresario que decide que el hombre al fin debe ir a la Luna, Escrita en, aborda el viaje entonces fantástico con un enfoque más bien ingenuo, y enfocándose más bien en los aspectos económicos y políticos del asunto.
Es el sueño de un hombre, los compromisos que debe hacer para llevarlo a cabo y las inevitables consecuencias que deberá enfrentar,
Se trata de una historia simple, pero con el sello inconfundible de Heinlein, Sin embargo, no es aún el Heinlein de las grandes obras como Forastero en tierra extraña o Estrella doble,
No me gustó mucho el libro, Sin embargo, Requiem, el pequeño cuento que lo acompaña al final y que sirve de necesario epílogo a la novela es excelente, This collection of a number of Heinleins seminal short stories feels like diving in another time, where an enterprising individual is still able to improve the world by grappling with society, dragging it kicking and screaming into a better place, through judicious use of the possibilities given to him by a free and open nation.
Technology is never the problem, human error or worse abuse of that technology is, And of course the people and the systems trying to clip the wings of the entrepreneurs and take their freedom to act away, These stories nevertheless are brimming with an driving optimism, a great sense of hope and faith in the future and in humanity,
A very refreshing bath in the sensibilities from a different era, It strongly reminded me of why as a kid I was so attracted to science fiction in general and Heinlein specifially.
For those who like me wax nostalgically for the stories and writers of yore, I can definitely recommend this one, The four stories contained in this paperback edition were originally published in the's two more that were in the original hardbound edition published in, were omitted, The longest one included is the title story The Man Who Sold the Moon about how an old fashioned private business entrepreneur named H, H. Harriman financed and built the first rockets and settlements on the moon, As we all know by now, that's not how it happened, We created NASA, a big government bureaucracy with a big budget, and inwe first landed on the moon, But then, after a few more landings, we never went back, NASA is expensive and the government has other priorities, So here we are in thest century with no moon colonies, But look what private enterprise is doing: Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic and others are developing reusable rockets which will bring down the cost of space launches, and they are seriously talking about returning to the moon and even putting astronauts on Mars.
So maybe Heinlein's instincts about private enterprise in space were more correct than he ever knew, Each of the three stories here are in other anthologies and compilations of course, but these go well together, hence Signet publishing this edition for what must have beenyears at least.
Cheap power, mass transportation, and lunar exploration are the main ideas here, but also the type of men and women it takes to turn these ideas into reality for the rest of us.
Heinlein's individualism is not as extreme as that of Rand or other thinkers of the day, For the former Navy officer, it is the sense of responsibility to his fellow man that is as, or even more important, than his responsibility to himself,
In the end, what makes this edition so memorable is Delos Harriman The Man Who Sold The Moon, Specifically, the Requiem to the actual tale itself, I won't spoil it, but if you do not read the last sentence with a lump in your throat and possibly a tear in your eye, you are most definitely one of the STOBOR.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!,
to a halt, Workers in an experimental atomic plant crack under the mental strain, And the space frontier is opened by an unlikely heroD, D. Harriman, a billionaire with a dream: the dream of Space for All Mankind, The method Anything that works, Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far, But he will give us the, . .
Contents:
Preface The Man Who Sold the Moon
"Let There Be Light" Future History
The Roads Must Roll Future History
The Man Who Sold the Moon D.
D. Harriman
Requiem D, D. Harriman
I liked this a lot better than "Stranger in a Strange Land" because I feel that Heinlein is a lot better as a shortstory writer, With "Stranger in a Strange Land" it seemed like he got a little bit carried away with some of his fantasies and the story kind of ran away with him, but in this collection of somewhatinterconnected stories, the stories are cohesive and succinct and flow together nicely, and his ideas come across well without being shoved down the reader's throat.I still feel like he doesn't really understand women, as his women characters are always either nagging housewives or ridiculously subservient women who have no interest in getting married.
In the first story, "Let there be Light!" a woman biologist talks to a physical chemist about her idea for creating light based on fireflies, The man comes up with it while the woman cooks eggs over a bunsen burner and even though she came up with the idea she showers him with praise and says he is the real genius behind it all.
I found this pretty annoying and much preferred stories in which there were no women at all present, in particular "Blowups Happen," because I was not distracted by Heinlein's inability to understand women.
The Man Who Sold The Moon is a collection of short stories by Robert Heinlein, all set within his fictional history timeline, He attempted to explain this in a preface by saying “The stories in this and later volumes of this series were not written as prophecy, nor as history, ” Not a great explanation, but its my mistake for not reading more carefully, Im wasting valuable words here because you need to know that the stories, while taking place in the same timeline/universe, are really not related, I went through the whole collection wondering “What happened to that doctor in the first chapter Where did the rolling roads go” It didnt affect my opinion of the title story, “The Man Who Sold the Moon”, but it did hamper my reading experience.
“Let There Be Light” is a very short storypages in my edition, and it provided some very amusing dialog between two characters on the verge of a scientific breakthrough.
Dr. Martin and Dr. Archibald Douglas collaborate on manufacturing power screens, and when they devise the perfect process, they decide to keep the patent for their technique while still releasing the general info to the public.
Of course, Dr. Martin is a total babe and also a genius, which fuels the flirty dialog between her and her partner, Thats really the extent of this story,
“The Roads Must Roll” has far more development, and introduces an interesting concept of a world covered in rolling roads like those airport escalator things that dont escalate Im sure theres a word for them.
As one would imagine, maintaining such an expansive mechanical network can lead to many problems, mechanical failure being the least of them, What makes this story interesting is the power struggle within the dominant corporation that owns the roads, We get to see an obvious hero with some antihero tendencies versus a stereotypical villain, a lifelong loser who uses his influence within the company to attempt a hostile takeover.
This was actually a pretty cool story,
To offer my opinion, Ill say that these are probablyorstar stories, but since they were included with “The Man Who Sold The Moon,” I had no choice but to give the collectionstars.
Thats how good the title story is,
I made a huge mistake by reading the firstpages or so and then setting the book aside for a few weeks, When I finally decided to pick it back up, I couldnt put it down, The title says it all but who could possibly sell the Moon A man with a dream and a plan to follow through, thats who, The protagonist of this story, Delos Harriman, is a shrewd business man who always dreamed of going to the Moon, Working for a major corporation again, we get to see the business side of science fiction, he looks at court cases over land ownership rights and determines that the Moon belongs to them, based on where its located above the Earth.
He starts funding research into ship development, selling shares of the company, and drumming up interest in space travel by planning promotional gimmicks for potential investors, etc, Every time a setback arises, he manages to find a way past it and there sure were a lot of them,
As the story continues, we learn more about Deloss dreams and just how far hes willing to go to achieve them, The business dealings take on a new meaning, and I found myself rooting for the guy, Even after a conversation with one of his partners, where they discuss how to “milk the kids for their allowance money” by offering some kind of junior cadet space program.
Sure, hes a shady business man who takes some crazy risks, like using the same fuel for space flight that caused the first rocket to explode in the stratosphere.
For all his talk of investment and profits, however, its apparent that the dream is what hes really pursuing, This is why I envy him, and this is why hes such an interesting character, Its a great testament to Heinleins writing ability that he was able to create a compelling character who exhibits such a range of qualities, I dont think Ive ever sympathized with a businessman, in any scenario, until now, Even his partners believe hes slightly delusional, thinking things like “Why the hell did we go along with this” And yet, they never back out, He managed to sell them on his dream, too,
Heres where things get really interesting SPOILERS AHEAD, Plans change they need to cut back on certain expenses, and now theyre so deep into it that they have to do whatever it takes to put a man on the Moon.
Originally it was going to be aman spacecraft, but due to logistics, they could only send one, It had to be the pilot, who weighs far less than Delos and the lead engineer, They make the successful flight, and eventually establish Luna City, effectively colonizing the Moon, So Harriman tries to arrange for a trip of his own, Knowing that a failed expedition would mean certain doom for the company, and even future space flight, his business partners evoke their rights as partners and refuse to allow it.
They need a return on their investments, after all, Any normal businessman would be ecstatic at the success of this whole operation, But remember, Delos only wanted to set foot on the moon for himself, Money aint a thing for him, I couldnt imagine going to the lengths that this man went to in order to make his childhood dream come true, only to have someone else live that dream due to “logistics.
” If you dont sympathize with him at this point, reader, then you are cruel and heartless, END OF SPOILERS
I think Ive spoiled enough of the plot, but I had to give a sense of what this story is really about, Most science fiction stories introduce some sort of innovative technology and quirky jargon, but it usually happens at the expense of the characters, Theyre simply there to show off the cool gadgets, This story gives scifi diehards a strong dose of the usual, but what makes it a great story is Delos Harriman and his dream, You dont have to enjoy science fiction to enjoy this story, Its very readable, and its mostly in the form of witty dialogue and banter, rather than techheavy description, I now see why Robert Heinlein is regarded as ONE OF THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS EVER, And Im super stoked that I was able to find this edition at a used bookstore it was printed in, This Brilliance Audio performance of Heinlein's second collection of his Future History stories the first was The Green Hills of Earth contains all six of the stories that were included in the original Shasta hardcover edition.
I'm not wild about the orange cover is that supposed to be David Bowie, but the book is very nicely read by Buck Schirner, Most of the paperback editions only contained four of the original six, The whole series is included in the omnibus The Past Through Tomorrow, which I highly recommend, LifeLine was Heinlein's first published story, and is an interesting character study but doesn't fit in too well with the themes and continuity he was later to develop, Let There Be Light is a fine story that mixes economics and politics with the science, and features one of his first female strong characters, scientist Mary Lou Martin.
The Roads Must Roll is a classic about patriotism and loyalty that I liked very much but never felt that it fit in the sequence too convincingly, Blowups Happen is another classic, and is a examination of the psychology of warfare, Remember, in thes schoolchildren had atom bomb drills the way later generations executed fire drills, The other two, The Man Who Sold the Moon and its sequel, Requiem, are the very touching story of a man who did what he felt was the most important thing by all means necessary it's how space exploration should have been initiated.
The stories have been criticized some for what are now seen as sexist and racist attitudes, but it must be remembered that they were written seventy or eighty years ago.
Compared to most of the other works of the time, not just in the sf field, they're remarkably advanced in social attitude, I believe Heinlein will always be one of the most important writers in the history of the genre, Una novela temprana de Heinlein, precursora de La Luna es una amante cruel, Trata de un empresario que decide que el hombre al fin debe ir a la Luna, Escrita en, aborda el viaje entonces fantástico con un enfoque más bien ingenuo, y enfocándose más bien en los aspectos económicos y políticos del asunto.
Es el sueño de un hombre, los compromisos que debe hacer para llevarlo a cabo y las inevitables consecuencias que deberá enfrentar,
Se trata de una historia simple, pero con el sello inconfundible de Heinlein, Sin embargo, no es aún el Heinlein de las grandes obras como Forastero en tierra extraña o Estrella doble,
No me gustó mucho el libro, Sin embargo, Requiem, el pequeño cuento que lo acompaña al final y que sirve de necesario epílogo a la novela es excelente, This collection of a number of Heinleins seminal short stories feels like diving in another time, where an enterprising individual is still able to improve the world by grappling with society, dragging it kicking and screaming into a better place, through judicious use of the possibilities given to him by a free and open nation.
Technology is never the problem, human error or worse abuse of that technology is, And of course the people and the systems trying to clip the wings of the entrepreneurs and take their freedom to act away, These stories nevertheless are brimming with an driving optimism, a great sense of hope and faith in the future and in humanity,
A very refreshing bath in the sensibilities from a different era, It strongly reminded me of why as a kid I was so attracted to science fiction in general and Heinlein specifially.
For those who like me wax nostalgically for the stories and writers of yore, I can definitely recommend this one, The four stories contained in this paperback edition were originally published in the's two more that were in the original hardbound edition published in, were omitted, The longest one included is the title story The Man Who Sold the Moon about how an old fashioned private business entrepreneur named H, H. Harriman financed and built the first rockets and settlements on the moon, As we all know by now, that's not how it happened, We created NASA, a big government bureaucracy with a big budget, and inwe first landed on the moon, But then, after a few more landings, we never went back, NASA is expensive and the government has other priorities, So here we are in thest century with no moon colonies, But look what private enterprise is doing: Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic and others are developing reusable rockets which will bring down the cost of space launches, and they are seriously talking about returning to the moon and even putting astronauts on Mars.
So maybe Heinlein's instincts about private enterprise in space were more correct than he ever knew, Each of the three stories here are in other anthologies and compilations of course, but these go well together, hence Signet publishing this edition for what must have beenyears at least.
Cheap power, mass transportation, and lunar exploration are the main ideas here, but also the type of men and women it takes to turn these ideas into reality for the rest of us.
Heinlein's individualism is not as extreme as that of Rand or other thinkers of the day, For the former Navy officer, it is the sense of responsibility to his fellow man that is as, or even more important, than his responsibility to himself,
In the end, what makes this edition so memorable is Delos Harriman The Man Who Sold The Moon, Specifically, the Requiem to the actual tale itself, I won't spoil it, but if you do not read the last sentence with a lump in your throat and possibly a tear in your eye, you are most definitely one of the STOBOR.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!,
Robert A. Heinlein