Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Intellect Genre: Science Fiction

Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Title: Tunnel in the Sky
Genre: Science Fiction
Publication Date: 1955
Number of Pages: 262 pgs.
Geographical Setting: Earth, Moon and a distant planet
Time Period: Future, when earth’s overpopulated and outer planets are being settled and interplanetary travel happens through “gates” to “tunnels in the sky” or wormholes.
Series: stand alone


Annotation:

The story centers around participants in a 2-10 day final exam for high school and college Advanced Survival students on a wilderness planet. Test conditions include: “any planet, any climate, any terrain, no rules, all weapons, any equipment.” When Rod Walker and his fellow survival students are sent to their test planet through a wormhole in space, things go awry and the test lasts far longer than planned. The students must choose to band together in community building a settlement, or try to survive alone.

Classroom or YA reading appropriate: 

This could be an alternate choice for a survival novel for the kid who’s already read everything else or doesn’t want to read Girl Who Owned a City because it’s about a girl. Faith is represented in an “all are equal light.” The main character is calmed by his family’s rituals but is more of pragmatist than a believer in a faith. The young people make some very deliberate and positive choices about the nature of their community and it’s survival.

Subject Headings: Civilization, Examinations, Life on other planets, Wilderness survival, Students, Teenage boys, Wilderness survival. (from NoveList)
Appeal: Adventure, Survival Stories, Strange New World, Future.
Great crossover tale for adventure lovers into the sci-fi realm.
Three terms that best describe this book: Cooperation, Survival, Subsistence, Training.


Aha! So that’s where that idea came from:

If you love these television series or films, you’ll recognize some elemental influence possibly came from this book.
  • Firefly (2002) Joss Whedon
  • Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) Glen A. Larson
  • Stargate (1994) Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin


Read Alikes:

  • Girl Who Owned a City, O.T. Nelson. --dystopian survival tale of a group of children and their leader. 
  • Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs.-- Human surviving and adapting to new culture and alien planet. 
  • The Transall Saga, Gary Paulsen. --Teen transported to a strange world uses his survival skills.


Nonfiction Tie-Ins:

  • Time Travel and Warp Drives: A Scientific Guide to Shortcuts through Time and Space, Allen Everett and Thomas Roman. 
  • Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction, Paul J. Nahin.
  • The Ultimate Survival Manual : 333 Skills that Will Get You Out Alive, Rich Johnson.

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