I really enjoy the concepts of alternate realities and such introduced in Heinlein's World as Myth/Lazarus Long books, but I also really enjoyed his earlier works, since his later books tended to get smutty in an unneccessary way.

This book is suitable for younger audiences, and was a light and easy read. Don't let the synopsis fool you - most of this book happens BEFORE Starman Jones is forced to save the ship. Like some other books Heinlein wrote about this time, the main character is lucky. In this, he was lucky enough to have the talent to remember things, and lucky enough to have a mentor who picked him up and helped him along. A bit cliche, but a entertaining book nonetheless.

Another one of Heinlein's "juvenile" tales, Starman Jones follows the progression of Max Jones from farm hand to astrogator.

As the story beings, Max only dreams of being in outer space, on a starship. He works the farm that his father left behind when he died. But when his mother unexpectedly marries her no-count boyfriend, who subsequently sells the farm, Max decides to run away.

He manages, with the help of one Sam Anderson, to lie his way onto a starship. The lie is eventually found out, of course, but Max is so good at numbers and calculations that he is allowed to stay on. His dream of becoming an astrogator (space navigator) has the potential to become reality. He has several obstacles he must overcome, on the way, though. At least one of them is human, but the main one involves the ship on which they are traveling getting "lost in space." (The book never uses that phrase, that was my idea. Of course this book was written long before the TV show appeared.)

As is typical with Heinlein's work of this type, there is a lot of science and math in the story. Of course, the science is speculative, and well ahead of its time. And, as Heinlein was so good at doing, there is a side character that threatens to steal the show, a "spider puppy" named "Mr. Chips." The interesting thing about this "spider puppy" is that, as depected on the cover graphics, it looks more like a monkey than a puppy. Also, "Mr. Chips" was female. At one point, I thought surely that there would be some romantic interest between Mr. Chips's owner, Ellie, and Max, but that was only hinted at and teased.

Starman Jones is a fun story, and pretty typical of Heinlein's juvenile fiction. A right fine space tale, it is.

Encouraged to re-read this by seeing other goodreads people writing about Heinlein and the big difference between his earlier and later books. As a young adult I read this and Starship Trooper more than once, identifying with the male leads. Even now the fact that the only working women in this book are a cafe waitress and a bar 'hostess', comes across as parochial and stupid rather than anything sinister. How he could write like this in 1953 is beyond me, I guess he was living in his own little bubble - but the story is well told and I've enjoyed the re-read, especially the books of mathematical tables and the entry of binary into the computer, so have another bit of a star.

I could not get into this. Max Jones is set up in such a way that I never had any reason to worry about whether he'd make it through his various scrapes and struggles. Maybe I could've enjoyed this if I were 10-12 (the age group this book is written for), but reading it for the first time as an adult in the Year of Our Lord 2017 meant I found it boring, predictable, a bit preachy, and quite sexist. (Although I hear that for 1953 this book was progressive for even including female characters who take part in the plot.) It's not actively bad, but definitely not what I need right now.

Also: the introduction for my edition, written in 2011, got a dig in at "lazy, entitled millennials" (I guess because we're not all running away from home to work ourselves almost to death on starships?) which set a very bad tone for the book.

I've read a lot by Heinlein, but hadn't read Starman Jones until now. I'm one of those who prefer the early Heinlein and don't care for the stories he wrote later. To repeat other reviewers, Starman Jones is dated, but charmingly so.

I'm struck by the patterns established in this early RAH book that he also employed in later books: (1) giving the protagonist an unusual first name and a common last name, (2) the poor kid from nowhere who has a knack for mathematical computation - a kind of savant syndrome - later mimicked by RAH's character Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby, (3) and older and crustier character who helps the young protagonist and really represents RAH himself, (4) the emphasis on legal or contractual nuances that constrain character choices but sometimes have loopholes, and (5) a reasonably strong and bright female character who puts the male character in his place quite a bit.

I do recommend the book, but keep in mind you're reading a book from the early 1950s with the attitudes, stereotypes, and technology level of that time.

From ISawLightningFall.com

Reputations accrete in funny ways, and often we end up with a mental picture of a person or his work that's less than accurate. Take Robert A. Heinlein for example, the so-called dean of science fiction writers. Though Heinlein's career spanned nearly half a century, most folks today know him for the militaristic Starship Troopers, whose characters blasted not only intergalactic arachnids but Marxism as well. But theme-heavy SF doesn't compose the entirety of his oeuvre. Indeed, most everyone except his devotees seems to have forgotten that Heinlein began his career by writing juvenile fiction, a good example of which is his farmer-turned-spaceman adventure Starman Jones.

Ever since he was a child, Max Jones has yearned to go into space. His uncle, a space navigator (or astrogator, as they're called), used to regale him with stories of interstellar travel and let him peruse his manuals, thick compendiums stuffed with calculations used to guide spaceships through charted territories. But he had little hope of getting into the astrogator guild. After his father died, Max ended up working the family farm day in and day out, which left little time for anything but dreaming. Then one day Max's mother showed up with an unwelcome surprise -- a new husband, one Biff Montgomery, a man whose sole achievement lay in avoiding honest work like the plague. Now Max has to discover if he can break into a guild or, barring that, an actual ship. Apprentice or stowaway, either option sounds fine to Max. With Biff in the picture, it's off-world or bust.

There's plenty in Starman Jones that hasn't aged well. I had to suppress a smile when reading about Max cooking up biscuits and ham at his farm on one page and then calculating inverse cubes on his slide rule the next. Anachronisms abound, as one could rightly expect from a book coming out of the golden age of science fiction. But if you look past the outdated stuff, you'll find a novel with surprisingly strong bones. Heinlein's characterizations are quite deft, from a mysterious interloper who may or may not have a checkered military past to a headstrong ambassador's daughter with more gumption and savvy than is immediately apparent. And the action picks up nicely once Max makes it into the void. (Honestly, with the word "starman" in the title, was there ever any doubt?) Jones may be a little creaky in the joints, but it still gets along pretty well in the end.

Another of Heinlein's juvenile-themed stories of boy from hardscrabble upbringing making good in space. In this case, Max Jones, farm boy from the Ozarks, runs away from the homestead, hoping to follow in the footsteps of his uncle who had been an astrogator. Thwarted initially in that ambition by the arcane rules of that Guild, he manages to gain passage on a starship with the help of Sam, a worldly wise character with a shady background. Adventure and unexpected opportunity await in the galaxy. As with all Heinlein, it's fast paced, fun, a bit corny and fairly wholesome. At this late date, it's also amusing to note how his vision of the future missed cell phones, massive computing power and the Internet and nothing resembling anything close to his starship engines is anywhere near in sight.

While I'm tooling around the world and history of writers I tripped upon Robert Heinlein. I decided I had to read at least one, so I picked Starman Jones. I have to say during the first two chapters I almost stopped reading because I felt like I was back in high school and it just wasn't sitting well with me. Then we finally got to space I got it, I really enjoyed it.
The main character, a few extra characters and of course space were interesting. What didn't work was it feel very old. The book it was written in 1951 and I have to say it was very sexist and for someone like me who rarely notices things like that it really bugged me. I don't know if I'll read anymore of his books but I will say I'm really glad I did. Robert Heinlein is an amazing writer puts together a beautiful sentence.

Starman Jones is a 50s Science Fiction escapist novel. It's written directly to appeal to teenage boys of dysfunctional families who have no greater wish than to run away and be special. Max Jones, our protagonist, is just such a teenager. He runs away from home, from Earth, and becomes a seasoned space traveller.

Let's get one thing straight: Like most science fiction of its era, this book did not age well in that its science is somewhere between fluffy and dumb. There is wireless power transmission, levitating trucks, supersonic trains that are a health & safety nightmare, and one of the jobs on starships is a human translating from decimal numbers to binary numbers (and vice versa) for a computer. Because clearly, computers can never do that. Granted, in 1953 computers were big, slow, and mostly useless; and Heinlein does redeem himself with Moon is a Harsh Mistress. But you will need quite a bit of suspension of disbelief to make the tech work.

Where it gets really ludicrous though is that the method of FTL travel is exceeding the speed of light at the right time and in the right space, to break out of local space and into a new location. Obviously, exceeding the speed of light does not work, and Heinlein should have known that in 1953.

On the plus side, the characters in Starman Jones are fairly well developed for a Heinlein book. Max undergoes a surprising amount of character development over the course of the book, too.

The novel would be a charming "let's travel from planet to planet" romp, were it not for the part in which the ship gets lost (hey, it's on the dustjacket, so it's hardly a spoiler, right?). I feel like Heinlein intended this to show that Max had become a leader, but I just can't buy that - Max does come across as an asshole instead. Add the cheesy setup for that planet, and that whole section just pulls the book down for me. A lot.

I do love Starman Jones, do not misunderstand me. But it's a very flawed book. You'll enjoy it if, like I, you like space travelogues. You'll enjoy it if you, too, secretly dream of running away from Earth. You'll enjoy it if you appreciate a retro feel with your sci-fi. But if you're into hard sci-fi, you'll probably find Starman Jones a stomach turner.

Rating: Very difficult, but in the end, my love for escapist space travel adventuring wins out on this one, plus I like the characters (for the most part), I decided to award it 4 out 5. 3 out of 5 without the "travelogue" bonus, and 2 out of 5 as a sciency sci-fi story.

Coming of a space age ιστορία με τον νεαρό Μάξ να ξεκινάει ως αγρότης και να καταλήγει κυβερνήτης του σκάφους. Απόλυτο highlight οι περιγραφές του διαστημικού ταξιδιού.

An SF Juvenile originally published 60 years ago, 1953, & it shows its age in a few places, but was still a wonderful yarn with one of my favorite characters in it, Sam. Hardly the perfect hero or role model, he was a lot of fun & showed the main character, Max, the ropes.

The age of the story was most apparent in the technology. Max has to study a computer by opening a panel & tracing circuits. Logs were pulled out of the tables in books (Anyone else remember those?), problems were mostly worked by humans & input to the computer in binary. Exactly what the poor machine actually did isn't readily apparent, but it wasn't much. Still, it didn't really harm the story even though it was one of the major points that everything revolved around. It was more interesting because of it. Kind of a blast from the past & a reminder of how far we've come in such a short time.

The way star & commuter ships moved held up pretty well as did the almost military discipline of the ship. No women in the ranks, but Heinlein does manage to strike a great blow for sexual equality at one point. It was masterfully delivered, too. Unfortunately, there was just the one.

There are a lot of good morals running through the story, too. Kind of hoaky in some ways, but I liked it. I originally read these stories as a kid & aspired to be like Heinlein's boy heroes. I think there are far worse role models. He addresses systems injustice & how a boy with few choices lies & cheats his way into his dream. He also pays the price for doing so, but gets his dream. Rather neat, IMO. Great book.

I plan on listening to a few more of these. I read The Star Beast within the last year or two & felt about the same. These books have stood the test of time far better than his later books, IMO.

Starman Jones (Paperback) by Robert A. Heinlein

Maximilian (Max) Jones was a farmer living with his stepmother. One day, Nelly Jones comes home and tells Max that she just married Biff (Monty) Montgomery. Monty tells Max that he's selling the farm and everything in it. Max decides to take whatever possessions he relishes and run away.

On his trail, he meets Sam Anderson who helps Max become a crewmember of the Asgard by falsifying their credentials. They board the ship and soon it becomes clear that Max has the ability to be an Astrogator - people used to calculate the space jumps as they fly through warped space. Max's uncle, Chet Jones, was an astrogator and taught Max all he knew about it. Max possesses a photographic memory so he can remember everything that was in Uncle Chet's Astrogator books.

As Max is promoted to the inner circle of the Asgard crew, the chief Astrogator, Dr. Hendrix dies. On their last jump, mistakes happen, and the Asgard ends up lost in space somewhere out in the middle of another unheard Galaxy. Everyone in the Asgard crew dies on the planet they discover and land.

Will Max be able to captain the ship back home? Will he face punishment for falsifying his record to get on the Asgard?

Narrated from the third person point of view, this is an easy, fast read. The plot is fun, the characters are alive and come out of the page. Recommended to Heinlein fans and science fiction fans.