Books

In my post about Lester Del Rey’s 1956 sci-fi thriller Mission to the Moon, I criticized Del Rey’s cis-lunar flight orbital mechanics. Del Rey had his moon missions leaving from a polar orbit around the earth. This struck me as very odd - all real lunar and interplanetary missions have left from a more-or-less equatorial orbit, or maybe even fly directly into an interplanetary orbit. I thought Del Rey had completely misunderstood orbital mechanics, or had mis-read von Braun.

I was wrong.

I read George Orwell’s 1984 sometime during “Junior High”, which in the 1970s was what we now call “middle school”. My district, Adair County R-III, had grades 7, 8 and 9 in their own building.

The school library had a copy of 1984. I was busy reading a lot my 7th and 8th grade years, so I read it.

More on Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 handbook of civics and military organization.

Previous Starship Troopers post

I’ve been reading science fiction for a long time, since maybe second grade, circa 1968. I believe that the first scifi book I read was Lester Del Rey’s Mission to the Moon.

I’ve been reading science fiction for a long time, since maybe second grade, circa 1968. I believe that the first sci fi book I read was Lester Del Rey’s Mission to the Moon, but that’s for another day

One of my favorite books is Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 Starship Troopers