A Badly Dated, But Fun, Heinlein novel

The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a very enjoyable, though badly dated, book. It was written the year I was born, so that isn't too surprising. It takes place in the year 1970 and the year 2000, neither of which are much like we remember them.

Heinlein was trained as an engineer, and the hero of the story is an engineer, but Heinlein could not predict the personal computer or all of the things that it made possible. He also had never taken an electric typewriter apart, or he would have known that an electric typewriter and a computer keyboard are two very different things. (I know this myself because in high school I found an electric typewriter in someone's garbage and took it apart).

One of his inventions is similar in purpose to CAD/CAM software, but it isn't done with software. Another is much like a Roomba. His general purpose robot is built with "Thorson tubes" but anyone building something like that today would use computer programs.

The story itself is entertaining, with an appealing hero and a good sense of humor. His ideas about what 1970 and 2000 AD would be like are amusing.




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