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The Rolling Stones | 
| Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Publisher: Baen
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $8.14
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Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 202177
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1416591494
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781416591498
ASIN: 1416591494
Publication Date: March 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The rollicking adventures of the Stone family on a tour of the Solar System. It all started when the twins, Castor and Pollux Stone, decided that life on the Lunar colony was too dull and decided to buy their own spaceship and go into business for themselves. Their father thought that was a fine idea, except that he and Grandma Hazel bought the spaceship and the whole Stone family were on their way out into the far reaches of the Solar System, with stops on Mars (where the twins got a lesson in the interplanetary economics of bicycles and the adorable little critters called flatcats who, it turned out, bred like rabbits; or, perhaps, Tribbles . . .), out to the asteroids, where Mrs. Stone, an M.D., was needed to treat a dangerous outbreak of disease, and even further out, to Titan and beyond. Unforgettable Heinlein characters on an unforgettable adventure.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Amusing Heinlein Juvenile; Not one of his best June 2, 2009
Annette C. Nelson (Gresham, OR USA)
The "Rolling Stones" concerns a family of wandering spacefarers who encounter a series of adventures on their travels from place to place. It was clearly written with a younger, early-teens audience in mind, and unlike some of Heinlein's other juveniles doesn't hold up quite as well to adult reading. As in many of Heinlein's works, there's a fair amount of "hard" sci-fi in "Rolling Stones," but it got distracting after a while. Recommend starting with one of his other tales - for instance, "Tunnel in the Sky," "Double Star," "The Red Planet," "Podkayne of Mars"
 The Old Master Blasts Off Again! April 18, 2009
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
//The Rolling Stones// is one of those fantasy science fiction books that every child should read. The plot: the Stone family, resident on Luna, embarks on a tour of the solar system in a private spacecraft. What actually happens is the conveyance of important life lessons; how to ethically raise children, by example, and to be decent people. The technology invented for this story is believable, because of a solid basis in real science, and some of the purely fictional devices are classic. The "Martian Flat Cats" saw reincarnation as Tribbles, for example!
There is an introduction by William H. Patterson Jr. that gives a glimpse into Heinlein's relationship with the Mrs. Grundy of editing, who so severely curtailed any sexuality creeping into his "juveniles". And there is an afterword, by Steven A. Hughes, who apparently feels that it is now necessary (this book came out when the reviewer was eight-years old) to explain to new readers the quaint frontier mindset of Heinlein's day. He does so well enough, but is it actually all that necessary? Robert Heinlein's juveniles are the high adventure way to introduce children to ethics, promise keeping, gallantry, and a love of learning. This is a book every parent needs as a classic for their children's library.
Reviewed by David Lloyd Sutton
Fun Family Adventure March 7, 2009
William Reich (Branford, Ct USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book differs from most juvenile novels, including most Heinlein juvenile novels, in that the whole _family_ comes of age in this one, rather than one central character.
The story follows a family group moving from their settled life in the Lunar colony to a tour of the solar system. They find themselves in several fascinating settings and have some fun adventures. The relationships within the family, and their snarky dialogue among themselves, make for a lot of fun.
I don't think that most readers are annoyed that the members of the family are talented and competent in many fields but some people don't like that. Some readers seem to miss the times when Heinlein attacks sexism and they will miss those in this book also. But there are three generations of strong, capable, un-dominated and indominatable women in this book.
Most of Heinlein's juveniles don't particularly call for a sequel but I would love to read one.
exciting middle school science fiction February 25, 2009
Harriet Klausner
The Stone family of seven consists of a grandma, two parents, three sons and one daughter living on the moon. The middle kids, teen twins Castor and Pollux, are tired of their bossy older sister and their nosy younger brother. They decide to make money as independent space traders by buying a vessel and flying to the Asteroids. Dad says no insisting they go to an earth bound school and get an education; but Grandma Hazel supports their daring scheme with one annoying (at least to the twins) modification; the magnificent seven band together on this solar system venture.
The entire family leaves their moon based home for Mars and beyond. The septet continually argues and has spats, but come together when emergencies arise. For instance the twins almost fail to leave Mars as they break the law angering the Martians when they tried to skip out on the import tax after selling bikes; Grandma Hazel saves their respective butts. When they reach the Asteroid Belt, Grandmother Hazel and the youngest Lowell vanish. The remaining Stones in a frenzy search for the missing pair.
This exciting middle school science fiction focuses on the family who fly the solar system together stay together. The seven Stones are each fully developed with unique characteristics. Their escapades at their lunar home, on Mars, and the Asteroid Belt make for a fun trip through space. Young adult fans will get plenty of satisfaction from the reprint of Robert A. Heinlein's ROLLING STONES.
Harriet Klausner
 A Real Family Vacation August 19, 2008
Patrick Shepherd (San Jose, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was the sixth of the `juvenile' novels Heinlein wrote under contract for Scribners. Unlike most of the others in this group, there doesn't seem to be any overriding plot, rather it is more a set of incidents that happen to (or are caused by) the family Stone.
The Stone family would certainly qualify as `different' by most standards: grandmother Hazel Meade Stone, veteran of the lunar colony revolution (see The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) who still packs a gun (even if it only dispenses gum); Roger, engineer father who has turned his talents to writing some rather lurid space operas; Edith the doctor, quiet and reserved, but the backbone of the whole family; Meade the 18 year old daughter who seems to mainly fill the function of mother's helper and object of derision by Castor and Pollux, the 17 year old twin mechanical geniuses who have dreams of becoming the shipping magnates of the solar system; and six year old Lowell, who when not beating Hazel at chess or reading minds is very much a pest.
The story is all about their adventures when they decide to pack up from their Lunar home and jaunt around the solar system in an older, carefully fixed up space ship that they buy from a used-rocket-ship dealer. Parts of their adventures are hilarious: the disaster of the Martian flat cats (the model for the Tribbles of Star Trek fame), the events surrounding the twins being arrested on Mars for tax evasion, the brief looks we are given at the `scripts' that Roger and later Hazel write to help fund their travels. And other parts are quite serious: Edith tackling a virulent disease on a nearby tourist ship and Hazel's problems with a jury-rigged rocket-scooter being used to navigate around the asteroid belt. The various family interactions are nicely shown, and the characterizations of Hazel, Castor and Pollux are full-bodied, making the reader really believe in this odd family.
The science presented here is real. Heinlein was always careful with details in this area, and in this one he presents the facts of orbital mechanics, delta-v requirements, and calculations of best possible orbital transfer trajectories. Each of these items has a direct effect on the story line, and Heinlein makes all this real-world stuff go down easily, an aspect of his works that has inspired countless youngsters to pursue careers in science and engineering. His speculations about various planetary conditions, however, while plausible at the time this was written (1952), have since been shown to not be true, so a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required of today's reader and allowance made for its age. Also causing some believability problems are the very limited `computers' shown, and the possible necessity of doing orbital calculations by hand. This is one area where Heinlein (along with almost everyone else) consistently underestimated not just what was possible with computers, but just how fast progress would proceed, making this book (and several others) seem positively ancient.
The lack of an overriding goal or direction for this book does relegate it to more of a pleasant diversion than a significant book, and there is less personal growth for its main protagonists Castor and Pollux than most of the other juveniles have. While humorous and entertaining, it's not the best of his juveniles.
---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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