Book Showcase: Citizen of the Galaxy

I haven’t posted for nearly a week—but never fear, I’m still here!

Actually I’m on vacation. We’ve been hiking and “swimming”; I’ve been trying not to get sunburned, and mostly succeeding; and trying not to get bitten by insects, and mostly failing.

Here are pictures of some mountains and water to prove it:

Some Mountains

Some Water

Anyway: I wanted an easy book to read while lazing in the sun, so I picked one I’d read before, “Citizen of the Galaxy” by Robert Heinlein. It’s one of his “juveniles”, meaning it was aimed at young adults and is quite short

I should say that I’m a fan of Heinlein: I’ve read all his fiction and some of the non-fiction, as well as his biography. Part of the reason I’m a fan is that I discovered some of his books on the family bookshelf at a young age; they made quite an impression.

My love of the em dash is probably a direct result of how Heinlein used it.

Anyway! To the topic at hand: “Citizen of the Galaxy”. Why would I write about this one first, before any of his better-known works?

It’s a tale of a young male hero gradually coming to grips with what the universe has to throw at him—and showing that with enough education and honest perseverance, anything is possible. So far, so very standard Heinlein material.

What sets it apart is that it is mostly about a series of fictional societies—and how freedom works in each, if at all.

The protagonist, Thorby, starts the story as a slave; and he is bought by a beggar. Thus, he starts with about the lowest imaginable station in life.

Then—through contrivances I will not spoil—he gets thrown into another society, a space-faring one, where he has an entirely different status; then another and must find his place again; and after one last complete change of scene, it turns out—of course—that his wide range of experiences have set him up to neatly win the day.

It’s fun, moves fast, and has plenty of nice ideas.

If you’re new to Heinlein’s work I’d say it’s a good introduction that won’t take too much of your time; if you have already read some and liked them then perhaps you haven’t read all the juveniles, in which case this one is certainly worth a look.

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