Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories [Hardcover]

Robert A. Heinlein (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (June 1967)
• ISBN-10: 0399106200
• ISBN-13: 978-0399106200
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,974,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desperately Wanting...and Still Searching, April 15, 2001

By 

Sarah Core (Washington, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories (Hardcover)

I too, agree that Robert Heinlein's works are masterpieces in their own right. I'm young, so I have barely begun to delve fully into the world of RAH, but I love all of the books I've read so far, especially the Past Through Tomorrow volume. My father had it high on a bookshelf, and after discovering it and devouring its contents, that 1967 copy just fell apart. My goal: To find another copy, one that is stronger, and perferably in hardcover!
I must admit though, the first novel I ever read of Heinlein's was Double Star, and it holds a special place in my heart. Since then, I've loaned it to a friend and am now desperately searching for another copy, just like the one I had before. Big Clue: Never loan any book you love to another person; if you really want them to read it, buy them their own copy!
I think my favorite thing about the Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories is how they are all interconnected, and how RAH mapped that out for his readers as well. I love things like that! Definately a book to buy in hardcver and keep on your shelves for years to come. If you haven't started already, go hunt down a copy for yourself!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heinlein's time line of the future, July 1, 2002

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories (Hardcover)

John W. Campbell, editor of the sci-fi magazine "Analog" coined the term "future history" about the chain of characters and stories written by Robert A. Heinlein. It's a brilliant term, because Heinlein literally created a fictional history of an entire people, from Earth, to early space travel, to settling the moon, to moving out among the stars.

This book, astonishingly out of print, contains many of Heinlein's best short stories and novellas, filling in the gaps for his major novels such as "Time Enough for Love" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."

Heinlein apparently kept a complicated character-and-time chart in his study. This book has a copy of the chart, plus the award-winning stories and short fiction.

Included here: "Methuselah's Children"--the beginning of the story of the Howard Families that is taken up in the sweeping novel "Time Enough for Love." You'll also find stories that explain the founding of Luna City, pioneering space travel, and the revolution against the theocracy begun by Nehemiah Scudder.

If you are a Heinlein fan, this is a great book to have--fills out the gaps in his complete works. If you aren't a Heinlein fan, start with "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" or "Starship Troopers" to find out how great Heinlein's science fiction is.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful collection of possibilities and yearnings, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories (Hardcover)

... and incredibly out of print. I found this book in a big pile of sci-fi books including Frank Herbert, Pohl, Asimov, etc. Together with it, there was Stranger in a Strange Land, and they were both the best in the pile :). My girlfriend was also a sci-fi fan: I got the 'Stranger' and she got the 'Past' in the idea that we'll share them. Unfortunately, when we separated I had read only half of the anthology. Since then, my first question to every clerk in every used book shop I enter is: "Do you have Heinlein's 'Past through Tomorrow?'"

It's a possible set of improbable future events from the perspective of a writer interested in equal measure in the well-being of the human society and in the development of the individual. It avoids paradoxes pragmatically, by applying them to themselves in amusing Turtle vs. Rabbit solutions; it's full of no-nonsense characters who are excellent role models and passive educators. Like most of Heinlein's work that I read, it's spanning the spectrum of emotions from hysterical laughter to the occasional tear. The technology depicted may get outdated, but the juice of humanity that Heinlein injected in all his work will always remain a wish and hope for the future.

It tied me to a chair in an office for the few precious hours before I had to return the book to my ex-girlfriend. I wonder why nobody reprints it: look at all the good marks it gets!!!