An engrossing novel of a future Earth encircled by manned satellites - dangerous stepping stones to the stars.
Straightforward sci-fi account from the perspective of a teen boy who wins a stay on an orbiting space station. Classic Clarke!
Islands in the Sky was originally published in 1952 and was one of the Winston Science Fiction juvenile series published in the 1950s. I remember reading this when I was in the 5th or 6th grade back in the early 60s along with others in the Winston series. I currently have a collection of most of the series and may reread some more of these soon.
This novel takes place in the last part of the 21st Century and the protagonist is sixteen-year-old Roy Malcolm who wins a science quiz program. His prize is a trip to anywhere on earth but he convinces the judges that the Inner Space Station in orbit around earth is actually considered part of earth so he is awarded his wish to go there. While there, he experiences several adventures including an emergency trip to a space hospital several thousand miles outside of the inner space station's orbit. On the way back from the hospital, the ship accidentally goes off course and must rendezvous in the Moon's orbit to refuel. While on this trip, the Captain relates his participation in the first voyage to Mercury and how he ended up losing both his legs (which is no encumbrance on the gravity-less space station). He also witnesses the filming of a current space adventure on the station. Since this book was written in 1952, science-fiction pulps were quite prevalent and the space adventures of the novel were based on these rather than real science.
In some ways this book was rather dated (i.e. space adventures), but Clarke, as usual, was able to bring in his vast knowledge and much of the science was quite remarkable considering this was written in 1952. For example, the ship that shuttles Mars colonists and workers on the space station back to earth could have been a blueprint for the Space Shuttle program. And of course, the space stations described in the book were a prediction of the space stations of today. The science discussed relating to gravity on the station and how workers there coped with no gravity was also very realistic. Overall, I probably enjoyed this most for the nostalgia in reading something I had originally enjoyed in grade school, but I would still recommend it. I also want to reread some of Heinlein's juvenile novels to see how they compare.
This novel takes place in the last part of the 21st Century and the protagonist is sixteen-year-old Roy Malcolm who wins a science quiz program. His prize is a trip to anywhere on earth but he convinces the judges that the Inner Space Station in orbit around earth is actually considered part of earth so he is awarded his wish to go there. While there, he experiences several adventures including an emergency trip to a space hospital several thousand miles outside of the inner space station's orbit. On the way back from the hospital, the ship accidentally goes off course and must rendezvous in the Moon's orbit to refuel. While on this trip, the Captain relates his participation in the first voyage to Mercury and how he ended up losing both his legs (which is no encumbrance on the gravity-less space station). He also witnesses the filming of a current space adventure on the station. Since this book was written in 1952, science-fiction pulps were quite prevalent and the space adventures of the novel were based on these rather than real science.
In some ways this book was rather dated (i.e. space adventures), but Clarke, as usual, was able to bring in his vast knowledge and much of the science was quite remarkable considering this was written in 1952. For example, the ship that shuttles Mars colonists and workers on the space station back to earth could have been a blueprint for the Space Shuttle program. And of course, the space stations described in the book were a prediction of the space stations of today. The science discussed relating to gravity on the station and how workers there coped with no gravity was also very realistic. Overall, I probably enjoyed this most for the nostalgia in reading something I had originally enjoyed in grade school, but I would still recommend it. I also want to reread some of Heinlein's juvenile novels to see how they compare.
