Universe [Paperback]

Robert Heinlein (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell 10¢ # 36; First Edition edition (January 1, 1941)
• ASIN: B001G9BA0I
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,690,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An SF story of the first star-ship., December 21, 2008

By 

Norman Strojny "retired tech-person" (western desert of Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

"Universe" is a very good, but short, story of the first star-ship, set in the Future History series of stories by Robert Heinlein. As a novella/short story it is a good, descriptive, story of life aboard the star-ship, years after a disasterous mutiny. It was first copywritten in 1941. There is a second copywrite in 1951, with the same title.

However, Heinlein, at a later time, made this into the first part of a short novel, "Orphans of the Sky", by adding pages of script to the original ending. "Orphans ..." has another copywrite in 1963, then another in 1969.

While "Universe" is a satisfactory story, by itself, I doubt if anyone except a collector would want a copy of this story. Most of us would prefer buying "Orphans of the Sky", the finished novel. Nevertheless, a fan can buy a relatively inexpensive copy by purchasing "Silent Thunder" / "Universe" a Tor twin story book where the first story is by Dean Ing and is carried in the same book as "Universe"

Finally, please understand that there is a third Heinlein book, "Expanded Universe", which does not carry any part of the story titled, "Universe".

So, leave "Universe" to the collectors and buy, both, "Orphans of the Sky" and "Expanded Universe".