This is my first Heinlein book, and by god is it a cracker! I couldn’t stop reading and I was keen to see what 1970 thought 2000 would be. Shame we are not there yet. The story is about Dan Davis a genius and inventor who has, along with his friend, form a small company to sell his inventions all based on making life easier for the housewife (at first) then for engineers, draftsmen and more.
Climbing to success, they hire a secretary but she has plans of her own and when Dan creates a robot (Friendly Frank, I think) she plots her devious plan.
Believing he has lost everything and no longer interested in the business (as he was fired–shares were unevenly stacked), he signs up for cryogenics, only in the book it is called Cold Sleep and Long Sleep.
Waking up in the future he is impressed with the new world, and in love with some of the designs and advances of engineering. This book is heavy on engineering.
Heinlein got a lot about the future wrong but who can blame him, no one can see the future and I remember in the late 80’s thinking the future was going to be amazing (like Back to the Future) and I was looking forward to it until science turned from exploration to items to make life easier in the 90’s.
This book is un-put-down-able. The writing is crisp, clear and the twists and time paradoxes are awesome. If you haven’t read it yet, do so now.
4 stars
