Customer Reviews

Outpost of Jupiter

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"Outpost of Jupiter" by Lester Del Rey
This interplanetary space adventure novel first published in 1963 has not aged very well. The story concerns a couple of teenagers residing on the moon Ganymede, combating a plague and making contact with beings from Jupiter. The last time this book was republished was in 1982.

Author Del Rel (1915-93) add credability in an otherwise absurd tale with his knowledge of medical research procedures and the inherent difficulty of time-consuming space travel in the solar system. His realistic descriptions of the struggling space colony and the difficult logistics of obtaining life-required supplies add to the modest enjoyment of this book.

Adults may wish that Del Rey speculated in greater detail on the nuts and bolts of living in an isolated colony on one of Jupiter's moons. Alas, the juvenile market, for which this book was written, necessitated the insertion of several incredible challenges for our resourceful teenage boys "Bob" and "Red" to resolve.

Individuals interested in the writings of Lester Del Rey will find this a book of interest. Mr Del Rey authored a number of interplantary space adventure with titles sure to appeal to younger readers" "Battle on Mercury"; "Mysterious Planet"; "Rocket Jockey" and "Marooned on Mars". Casual readers seeking these types of novels may be better served by seeking out books in a similar vein by Isaac Asimov (1920-92) and Robert Heinlein (1907-88).

What would you do if your father suddenly falls ill? The question's rhetorical for the rest of us but for Bob Wilson, who was on his way back to Earth from Saturn, it's quite real. When he and his father are stranded on Ganymede, he's forced re-evaluate his life. He foregoes going to college to help the colonists. Does he make the right decision? I'm not saying. Read it yourself and find out.