The Menace from Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
The Menace from Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
This is one of my favorite collections of Heinlein short stories and I’ve listened to it several times over the past thirty years. It starts out with the tragic The Year of the Jackpot which has an absolutely stupid opening scene (which really doesn’t fit well with the idea of the story) but a wonderful and troubling theme which winds its way to its very sad conclusion.
By His Bootstraps shows that even a dense idiot can make it big in the end so long as he gives himself a lot of help along the way. Columbus Was a Dope is a short gimmick-dependent story that will make you smile. The title story, The Menace from Earth is simply delightful. Skylift is the most classically Heinlein tale in the set—an adventure story with an unexpected ending. And Goldfish is thought provoking.
Heinlein finishes up with my favorite two stories in the collection. Project Nightmare explores how psychic abilities might have influenced the Cold War if they exist and Water Is for Washing is a touching tale of people confronted by a natural disaster in a shockingly immediate crisis few of us would have thought of.
