A juvenile sci-fi that has weathered the change in technology well. The storyline is based on quantum ideas without ever using that term. The events of the story and characterization are totally consistent with a youth ready to take wing. The end was believable but a bit of a let down. That is why I didn't give it 5 stars. ( )

I think of all of the classic science fiction writers, Heinlein wears the biases of his time on his sleeve more than anyone else. In most of his books, there's always some passages that make me cringe a little bit but that doesn't stop the story from being awesome.

I love the setup for this story and the follow-through. What a great way to approach both telepathic abilities and FTL travel. This is a great adventure story that does a great job at having a lot of the action occur off the page, without seeming anticlimactic. ( )

A good early (juvenile) Heinlein novel; has a fairly straightforward plot and message, a consistent moral foundation, and internally-consistent science/tech, with characters with reasonable motivations. Nothing too amazing, but it does show some of the promise of his later books. ( )

It seems odd I haven't read this one until now. I started this because I needed a book to take on tour, and didn't feel like carrying the heavy hardback I'm in the middle of reading.

The Long Range Foundation funds unlikely ventures, one of which is space travel to distant stars. One issue with this is communication with ships light-years away, and they scramble a project to find telepairs - mostly identical twins - after the discovery that telepathy is instantaneous breaks quietly.

Tom and Pat are one of several identical twins who have to decide who goes to the stars and who stays. Time for the Stars is in many ways a typical Heinlein "juvenile" novel - stock Heinlein characters, with many of the Heinleinesque tropes, such as red hair, twins, and an obsession with the long view. But stock Heinlein stuff is almost always damn good stuff.

The author follows the element of human beings functioning as communication devices to a fascinating end: People have lives apart from the noble exploration of the stars, particularly the telepath left behind on Earth and has to interrupt work or a date or class to take a message. And messages that may seem vital to those on a starship may not be as important to a child being called to the table.

I think I still have four or five Heinlein juvies I haven't read yet... ( )

It's interesting to see the directions that this particular vision of the future went. I'm also amused by the cultural / gender issues have aged. For instance, Tom (the narrator) was shocked that women no longer wore hats after he'd been out in space. Well, women (and men) haven't worn hats on a regular basis in ages, so I was taken aback in the other direction. There are also other gender-based restrictions that are no longer the norm (excluding women from the landing party in today's society wouldn't fly) and that was interesting to read, too. Still, all told, this is an enjoyable book. ( )