Orphans of the Sky

by Robert A. Heinlein

Book Overview

Ancient myths told of a place called Earth, but the modern world knew it was nonsense. Science knew the Ship was all the Universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, lights would glow and air would flow through the miles of metal corridors. Hugh never questioned these truths until a despised mutie showed him the Control Room and he learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425032175
• ISBN13: 9780425032176
• Release Date: April 1976
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Read for an hour; Enjoy it for years!

The mutiny took place many, many years ago on an enormous star ship outfitted for a multi-generational voyage to Far Centaurus. The last remaining member of the original crew, for right or wrong, made a political decision to hide the logs and, in effect, to bury the present crew's real history. As a result, for those alive today, now drifting aimlessly in a deep space of which none of the inhabitants are even aware, the ship constitutes their entire universe. None of them has ever been outside the ship and, indeed, even the existence of "outside" is a concept beyond their ken and imagination. They farm, they eat, they raise their families, they live and die, and they battle mutants that inhabit the upper levels of the ship. Scraps of past knowledge such as a book entitled "Basic Modern Physics" have been re-interpreted as religious artifacts and scientists have become the priesthood of the ship's "religion". Hugh Hoyland, a young man who had hopes of becoming a scientist, is captured by the mutants as he indulges himself in typically reckless young men's high jinx on the upper levels of the ship. Although he has been presumed dead by the ship's crew he left behind, the mutants reveal the true nature of the ship and its place in the universe to Hugh who decides he must somehow return to the lower levels and persuade them to complete the trip to Centaurus. Like many of his other ground-breaking classics such as "Methuselah's Children" or "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", "Orphans of the Sky" can read on the surface as a short exciting adventure tale that succeeds brilliantly. Indeed, it is so simple and straight forward that one could easily classify it as juvenile fiction that would thrill the young readers in your family and convert them to life long fans of the sci-fi genre. But the discerning adult reader who cares to dig a little more deeply will appreciate that Heinlein, in the space of an incredibly short 128 pages, has provided us with the fodder for many a thoughtful conversation - science as religion; religion as science; the tendency of established religion to view thinking outside its doctrine as unforgivable heresy; the extreme societal antagonism to sea change and paradigm shifts in philosophical or scientific thought; the difficulties scientists often encounter in the interpretation of their own data when the results run counter to their intuition; and, of course, the prejudice, fear and hatred we are all prone to in dealing with societies or individuals "different" from ourselves. Heinlein no doubt took the light-hearted humorous expression "Don't look at me like I've got two heads!" and turned Joe-Jim Gregory, a mutant with two heads, into a metaphor for the whole bigotry issue. In the closing chapters, Heinlein even deals with the cruel necessity for persecuted individuals to occasionally strike out blindly on their own and establish a new pioneering society norm as an expedient for basic survival. "Orphans of the Sky" is a class

Great book from Heinline's good period

This is the story of a youth and his discovery of what his world is all about. It is a similar to Tunnel in the Sky and Time for the Stars in style. Originally penned in 1940s so it is in the author's best period. As the other reviews have stated it covers a lost colony ship and the survivors. It is not a long work, but it is great. If you like Orphans of the Sky you may want to read "The World and Thorinn" by Damon Knight. It is a similar concept and is also well done.

First of a Breed

This may not be the first generation starship tale, but it's probably the first where the passengers have forgotten that they're in a ship and that its corridors and rooms are not the universe. This novel combines the story of Galileo with political intrigue and military conquest, all aboard a starship that has lapsed into feudalism after a mutiny in the crew long ago. After the mutiny, people forgot not only their mission to travel to Far Centaurus but that there was a universe outside the ship's hull. Books are still around, but physics and astronomy are treated like elaborate allegories by the "scientists" and not realities. Barbaric muties roam the upper decks, and cannibalism is not unknown, infantcide a common practice. Scientist novitiate Hugh Hoyland plays the Galileo role. He is captured by two-headed mutant Joe-Jim and, when he's not playing checkers with either of the twins, has the run of their library and the benefit of their intellects. It's from that unlikely source that Hoyland learns the truth about the ship and the world outside. And he begins to form a plan to complete the mission.First published in 1941 as two short stories, "Universe" and "Common Sense", this story still entertains with its heroism, intrigue, and action. They are, chronologically, also the last short stories in Heinlein's Future History.

A giant ship in space becomes all that the crew know!

Orphans of the sky - Robert HeinleinThis has got to be one of Heinlein's best books; a real find if you can get it! The story is set on a giant spaceship, five miles long, one and a half wide, a colony ship on it's way to Alpha Centaurii. The ship is a spinning cylinder with hundreds of decks like the rings in a tree trunk - centrifugal force gives the impression of gravity on outer decks, while the inner ones, near the axis, are weightless, and it is in the axis that command was situated. Shortly after it set off, centuries ago from the story's perspective, there was a mutiny and the Captain and much of the original crew was lost. Those left of the crew abandoned the central command axis, and settled permanently in the outer decks. What was left of the mutineers, injured, irradiated and mutating, retreated to the axis. And thus it stayed for hundreds of years, the ship drifting on with no-one in control.Society has degenerated into a kind of medieval feudal structure, with strict class hierarchies, and even a priest caste. The "Captain" is like an emperor, his "scientists" tend the holy machines. Special poets recite the manuals and the rotas as though they were scripture. No-one really knows what all the machines are anymore, or how they work, or even what the manuals mean. All the books have become holy, the ship's routines have become religious acts, and the ship is now considered to be the entire universe. In the beginning, there was the ship.....Our hero is a teenager, who lives in one of the "villages" along the outer decks. He and some of his friends explore the forbidden upper decks, which are dark and cold, and grow steadily more weightless as they near the axis. Up a hundred decks they go, until they finally meet the "muties". Our hero is captured, and there learns just who and what the muties really are. He reads books that he has never seen before, free of the "interpretation" of the scientists down below, and finally realises the truth. He goes below to try and convince the others, but is taken for a heretic.... What does he do? Does he convince them? What happens the ship? This is a very impressive story, with a really original and fascinating plot. The characters are well developed, the detail of the setting just right, and the end is surprising! While this is a fairly short book, that just leaves you wanting more! It's a great read, that keeps you interested from the first page to the last. If you can find it, hang on to it for dear life!