The story needs to be put into the context of its period and the target market. As a book from 1953 written for teenage boys it even now reads as a wonderfully constructed science fiction story. It's not quite Horatio Alger in the stars. Max Jones, as the poor boy who makes good, doesn't do it by marrying the rich guy's daughter. In fact, after Max escapes with her from a tribe of carnivorous equines and then jets into space to get her home, she either dumps him for her previous fancy boy or Max's teenage libido is remarkably quiescent – added to his eidetic memory for numbers he could almost push Spock to one side.

Of course, there are all sorts of points one could highlight to show its age. The space ship taking off from a standing position like a V2 rocket and no explanation offered as to how it entered the Earth's atmosphere and landed vertically without burning up. The roles of women appear to be either bad mothers, prostitutes, secretaries, sassy girls next door, or accessories to wealthy husbands. Just leave the science and technology to the men, girls. And the business, and the politics, and the military. There's always the kitchen to keep clean and washing to be done. The male camaraderie among the crew is not at all suspicious, even though they are all sitting in a giant phallic symbol. Officer selection for space service seems a little ropey: the Chief Astrogator's health is so bad he collapses and dies from a heart attack, the Captain's likelihood of clinical depression is so severe that he may have committed suicide, if he didn't then the mentally unbalanced deputy astrogator killed him with a drug overdose. And Max gets away with impersonating a crewman years older than his true self while all the time talking and behaving as a sixteen year old.

Predictions are a bit hit and miss. Computer produced answers must be checked by officers using books of tables, photographs, and an ability for mental arithmetic honed by years of grinding application. Smoking tobacco is still OK. And the spaceship, the Asgard. I couldn't help comparing it to the Enterprise and, silly romantic that I am, bringing to mind John Masefield's poem “Cargoes.”

The Enterprise is the “Stately Spanish galleon coming from the isthmus/Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,” its cargo of ease and affluence – and I would have to keep the ending of “gold moidores” as I can't think of a rhyme for gold-pressed latinum. While the Asgard is the “Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack/Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,” and its cargo of function and utility - and probably even “cheap tin trays.” I'm sorry but I had to put that bit in. It's been rolling round my mind for a few days now and had to come out.

Having said all that, the story is plotted so well and told so smoothly. The characters, given their limitations in the heart of an old-style adventure, work and each in its own way is just about believable. Max is not an all-action hero. It is not at all certain that he will win through in the end, but God loves a trier – even a trier who has told more lies to officialdom than most villains manage in an episode of Star Trek. The aliens are such a simple idea: intelligent equines with their own civilization and culture that are beyond human understanding. Humans just learn the hard way that they are dangerous when protecting their territory and are best left in peace. If it were brought up to date with twenty-first century attitudes and characters it would still work. That is not something you can say about many science fiction stories from the 1950s.

I'm upping my rating on this re-read.

Why?
Because it hit all the right spots.

1951 Heinlein Juvenile.

I guess I simply had a great time about an angry farm boy running off to see the sea--um, I mean, the stars. Of course he gets to know scoundrels and pretty girls, but also strange animals and aliens, too. But more importantly, this is a tale about shipboard regulations, climbing that competence ladder, and throwing yourself on the mercy of good men.

Or failing that, surviving long enough to get everyone else home.

It kinda sounds like an old, CLASSIC tale, but it reads fresh, lively, innocent, and full of wonder.

And pure technical terms, I'd call this a classic. Well-written to the core. For enjoyment? Same. All I know is that I've read a number of long-running series from even a handful of years ago that do exactly this kind of thing, and they're also extremely popular.

But what can I say? Heinlein is kinda a master.

My synesthesia smells bananas and rations, but that isn't a bad thing. My back is certainly a bit straighter now. I feel a bit of pride, too.


Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to requests. Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.

Arctunn.com

“Starman Jones” è stato il mio primo Heinlein.
Una classica e affascinante epopea spaziale con un giovane protagonista, Max Jones, aspirante Astrogatore in una Terra sovraffollata dove lavorare è un privilegio e le occupazioni più ambite, come l’astrogazione, sono trasmesse per via ereditaria. Max, però, è anche un genio matematico che conosce a memoria calcoli e segreti dell’astrogazione grazie alle letture fatte e agli insegnamenti dell’amato zio Chet. Max è destinato a diventare molto più che un semplice astrogatore.
Forse non è il romanzo più importante e noto di Heinlein, appartiene alla sua serie juveniles, ma resta un piccolo classico, molto coinvolgente e che mette in mostra le sue abilità di narratore, specialmente quando l’azione si sposta nello spazio.

I read this as a mere boy in the 60's. I'm now almost 68 and enjoyed it perhaps more now than I did then. It's a YA book, but the writing is superb and the story is relevant even today. Essentially, all of Heinlein's Juveniles Books were morality plays. Hard work is rewarded. Taking responsibility is hard, but shows integrity. Accepting a difficult burden (in the case of this story in particular) shows our main character, Max Jones, making the final transition from boyhood to manhood.

Some of the science in this story has yet to be invented (if it's even possible) and other technology is out of date. It doesn't matter because the technology isn't the point of the story. The characters and what they do for good or ill is what the story is all about.

There is an excellent forward to the Kindle edition of this book, and an afterword that's like a book review at the end that are both excellent and worth the readers time. And I discovered a new author! The author of the afterward, and Air Force veteran, is also the author of the Freehold series which I shall read soon. It had lot's of good reviews on Amazon, so I'm hopeful.

Lui Max îi plăcea această perioadă a zilei, în acest anotimp. De când recolta fusese strânsă, îşi putea sfârşi mai devreme corvezile şi putea să lenevească. După ce hrăni porcii şi găinile, în loc să intre în casă pentru cină, o luă pe cărarea ce ducea la o movilă aflată la vest de grajd, şi se întinse în iarbă, fără să-i pese de gângănii. Îşi luase cu sine o carte, pe care o împrumutase de la bibliotecă în urmă cu câteva zile, o carte a lui Bonforte intitulată Animale cereşti: un ghid al zoologiei exotice. Nu se apucă însă să citească, ci şi-o puse sub cap, drept pernă. O gaiţă albastră păru a-l mustra pentru fapta-i nepotrivită, dar îşi ţinu gura de îndată ce el schiţă o mişcare. O veveriţă roşcată se opri pe o buturugă şi se zgâi la el o vreme, după care îşi văzu mai departe de alunele ei.

  Max îşi aţintise privirea spre nord-vest. Îi plăcea priveliştea aceea, căci într-acolo se zăreau cataligele de oţel şi inelele de ghidaj ale Căii Inelare Chicago, Springfield & Earthport, ce se ivea dintr-o despicătură a colinei din dreapta sa. Unul dintre inelele de ghidaj se afla chiar pe buza crăpăturii, un cerc uriaş de oţel cu un diametru de aproximativ douăzeci de picioare. O pereche de tripozi asemeni unor catalige susţineau un alt inel la o distanţă de vreo sută de picioare. Cel de-al treilea şi ultim inel, având stâlpii de susţinere mai înalţi de treizeci şi cinci de metri, pentru a fi la acelaşi nivel cu celelalte, era situat spre apus, acolo unde panta devenea şi mai abruptă, pe măsură ce valea se adâncea. În susul văii se zărea antena verigii energetice, orientată spre defileu. Spre stânga, ghidajele Căii C. S.&E. apăreau din nou, în partea opusă trecătorii. Inelul de intrare era mai larg, pentru a permite o deviere maximă pe care vântul ar fi putut-o provoca. Pe cataligele sale era fixată antena receptoare a verigii energetice. Dealul acela era mai abrupt; se mai vedea un singur inel, după care calea dispărea într-un tunel. Citise undeva că, pe Lună, inelele de intrare nu erau mai largi decât inelele de pe parcurs, căci, acolo, nu existau vânturi care să pricinuiască variaţii balistice. Pe vremea când era copil, inelul acela de intrare fusese mult mai strâmt. În timpul unei furtuni cum nu se mai văzuse, un tren se lovise de inel. Nu mai rămăsese din el decât o epavă, şi mai mult de patru sute de oameni îşi pierduseră viaţa. El însă nu văzuse nimic din toate astea. Tatăl său nu-i îngăduise să hoinărească pe acolo, din pricina nenorocirii. Cicatricea mai putea fi văzută şi acum pe panta dealului din stânga, o pată de verdeaţă mai închisă la culoare decât suprafeţele înconjurătoare.

This is typical Heinlein youth fiction. Though, this isn’t the best of the youth novels; it certainly isn’t the worst. Heinlein takes a stab at the injustice of the class system. He loves his guns, the constitution, freedom, etc. My favorite part of the book is Max’s (the protagonist) obsession with his library book. Of course it is dated, but it was written in the early 50s. Usually I find Heinlein’s sexism almost endearing, but in this book, I was almost offended. I didn’t think that he really respected the female character that he wrote. As a whole, I would recommend this, but not as a first encounter with Heinlein’s youth fiction.

So I just read this book, and now on Goodreads see that I read it in 1988; this is probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read it. It's a good story, good quality sf for 1953. It's funny how Heinlein made the future seem so real in his books, but he's always got one leg stuck directly in the past (or perhaps half his body). In this future of starships, the main character still grows up isolated on a farm (which is one reason I identified with the thing when I read it when I was in the 7th or 8th grade). Too, he totally missed the computer revolution of course. And the language tricks he used to get around FTL travel were very noticeable. Still, it's a brisk, engaging read.

"Max, a lot of things can happen to a man when he thinks he has the world by the tail."

Lost in space!

That's not the only reference that came to mind. Max entering Earthport for this first time and staring at an alien reminded me of Men in Black. I'm sure this book has been a source of inspiration for many over the years. It's one of his best juveniles and a special one to me for having a plot that takes place outside the solar system for the first time (if I'm not mistaken). How exciting!

Astrogators in space!

One of Heinlein's earlier juvenile novels, this is one where RAH describes in great detail the machinations of the astrogators, quite a bit dated now with computers and it is amusing to imagine as he did a trio of math geniuses sitting in chairs with slide rules charting out a space ship's course, but that was part of his charm.

Some thin characterizations along with some very 1950sish language, but Heinlein was working his very peculiar magic and this is all the while a fine sci-fi story.

**** 2019 Re-read

Was this 1953 publication an influence on Star Trek the original series and Lost in Space? Was Max Jones an idea for James Kirk?

Their characters are very different, but this bildungsroman does follow our protagonist from farm boy to ship’s captain in spectacular fashion in a way that would be suited to fiery Kirk. The description of 3D chess would indicate the possibility that Roddenberry and crew had read this. Likewise, getting some decimals misplaced resulted in the spaceship in Heinlein’s story to be lost could have been a seed for the later 1965 TV series.

Heinlein published his twelve Scribner’s juvenile books between 1947 and 1958 and this one is the seventh. Starman Jones describes Max Jones’ journey from the hills of the Ozarks to command of the Starship Asgard and the many adventures he had on the way.

This is packed full of Heinlein’s campy wisecracks and homey logic, but also tells a damn fine SF story and one particularly enjoyable to anyone who’s stood watch of naval ships as RAH adds his personal knowledge of all things nautical and in his own inimitable way.

Heinlein wrote this book 60 years ago, and it has to be nearly 50 years since I last read it as a teenager. It is one of his earlier Juvenile novels and, although it's not the best of them, it is still a fine adventure story. The story is dated in a few ways - there is a level of sexism that was common in sci-fi novels (and society) of the 50s that readers with more modern sensibilities may find somewhat jarring, and this is not one of RAH's best efforts at predicting the future. To his credit, Heinlein does have computers involved in piloting the starship, but humans are still doing all the mathematical calculations before entering the data. Slide rules are not mentioned, but charts of logarithmic tables (a staple of my high school maths classes) are prominently featured. This is an excellent example of Heinlein's early work and an enjoyable story.

Why read this book?
When it comes to YA fiction I hate it. I feel that the over the top emotions expressed in many of the most popular YA books only serves to make YA readers more whiny. Starman Jones serves to show that life is really difficult but can be overcome with self-control and lots of hard work. I found the characters to be interesting and a whole lot more fun to read about than other books. Another reason to read this book is because Heinlein works hard to keep the Science in Science Fiction. This book is also well written and enjoyable for YA and up.

Should this book be read in schools?
Well this book is no worse than old books like Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies and so I think it should. It is engaging for youth and offers a nice touch of science. I don't think all YA will be interested but the craft of the author mixed with good form does inspire a reader to try writing for ones self.

Warnings for the faint of heart.
none

6/10 en 2012.

Autor que me encantaba en mi juventud pero que al leer alguna de sus obras ya más mayorcito no me enganchaba tanto. Me quedo con los recuerdos de juventud y sigo teiendo en el Olimpo de la CF a este señor, Gran Maestro de la Edad de Oro.