Customer Reviews

Tom Swift and His Flying Lab:

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This is the first book in the Tom Swift Jr. series and it introduces the flying lab, an invention used throughout the series. It also introduces the message from space aliens, which arrives in the form of a meteorite that smashes into the Swift compound. The flying lab is used effectively in the later books and was an accurate prediction regarding the development of future aircraft. However, the message from the aliens was of limited value. In the first place, it makes no sense to deliver the message by crashing it into the Swift compound. It would have been simpler and less destructive for it to be delivered electronically. As the series progresses, Tom Jr. and his father make progress on deciphering the message, but at a very slow pace.
The plot line beyond the creation of the flying lab is right out of the mid-fifties. There is a search for uranium deposits in a South American country where a revolution is taking place. Some of the leaders of the revolution are of "Eurasian" descent, which is a euphemism for Soviet. The Eurasians are unscrupulous, serving only the highest bidder. The dialogue spoken by the revolutionaries is so stereotypical that it is now difficult to read. Tom and his group travel to the country and do battle with the rebels, ultimately being captured and then freed by their comrades.
Tom Swift Jr. is a new age hero, one who is considered a hero because he creates things that makes the lives of people better. This book is a good start to the series that turned so many young boys on to the wonders of science and technology.

For young boys nothing is more intriguing than gadgets and mysteries and while the Cold War and Bananna Republic politics hover over this opening book in the Tom Swift Jr series, young readers will find a lot to like. Everyone should know that there is no Victor Appleton II just like there was no Victor Appleton writing the original Tom Swift books. Nameless, workaday writers churned these out using a formula. Thousands of young boys gobbled them up in the late fifties and sixties. The science is not wildly goofy, just overblown and the sensibilities are quaint and naive. There is no magic, so they have that going for them.