Hi readers. Thanks for coming by for a read.
Most of you probably know that going into a new year with unfinished business is a risky proposition. There’s no telling what sort of karmic baggage it will carry into your next year to harry you. But sometimes it just can’t be avoided.
In my case it’s a couple of obvious items. One being Orphans in the Sky, copyright 1941, Robert Heinlein. I found it listed in the Johnson County, Kansas, Library and only managed to get it yesterday. I put in into the que for reading, but unless I get cracking I won’t finish it before midnight. I’ve only got a chapter to go. But Heinlein isn’t the only iron in the fire.
A reader here recommended A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, by Diana and Michael Preston. I only got it from the library the same day as the Heinlein tome, so I’ve been alternating between the two. The Preston book is biography of William Dampier, who discovered earlier than anyone else that being a scientist and a pirate weren’t mutually exclusive.
I’ll be a while polishing off the Dampier tome, even if I manage to croak the Heinlein before the world slouches into next year.
And as for the Orphans in the Sky, I’ll confess it rattles me somewhat. One of my favorite all time science fiction books was Starship, by Brian Aldiss. I’ve read it at least half-dozen times over the years. The Heinlein book reminded me of it so when I discovered the library doesn’t have it and it’s not available InterLibrary loan I checked Amazon. And surprised myself by finding a review I wrote about it in 2004:
See this image
So Far From Heaven 
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Jack Purcell on May 8, 2004
Format: Paperback
The basic story involves a starship the size of a small city on a voyage lasting hundreds of years. Many generations prior to the time of this plot a cataclysmic event and internal disruptions caused the crew to break into factions and isolate themselves. Thereafter the population forgot itself, what it was, and struggled to survive and understand, by the time of this plot, in a strange world.
If you’d like to discover a ‘new’ old one you’ll treasure and read many times through your life this is a good shot at finding one, while it can still be obtained. Take good care of it.