Rolling Stones
Robert A. Heinlein

Only a year or so ago that I read this before (and, of course years ago). Just a great "family story" that holds up, despite the things that seem quaint and dated. (hundreds of years from now and still using slide rules! Difficulty communicating back to Earth when traveling in space.) You don't have to look to hard to find Heinlein's gentle libetarianism beneath the surface. Amusing how little orbital traffic he thought there'd be around earth.

I wish I could fill the gap - someone needs to raise the banner of this kind of good-hearted story that stirs the interest in space travel!

Red Planet
Robert A. Heinlein

Jim Marlow and his strange-looking Martian friend Willis were allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tuned into a treacherous plot that threatened all the colonists on Mars, and it set Jim off on a terrfying adventure that could save—or destroy—them all!

Yeah, another great classic. So far (I've been watching) I notice all of these DO include someone using a slide rule. On to a re-read of The Rolling Stones

Starman Jones

Robert A. Heinlein


The problem with reading these golden age Heinlein books is - 1) there are only so many, 2) nobody writes this kind of book anymore - or very few do.

Otherwise - they are incomparable. Like Harry Potter, this is a "worthy orphan story" - swiping the B&N description (from the book jacket?):
It's easy to stow away on an intergalactic spaceship, if you're a smart lad like Max Jones. But it's quite another thing when the spaceship touches down on an unknown planet after passage through a time warp...perhaps an unknown century. Especially when the spaceship's pilot dies, and his charts and are destroyed. Now survival was up to Max...

I remember reading this - ~1970? - borrowed from the Roosevelt High library. The cover was almost photographic,showing Max Jones in the starship. It got my attention then, and still hasn't let go.