Part of Series
An umbrella title for the novelette Universe and its sequel novella Common Sense, published originally in 1941 in two different issues of Astounding Science Fiction. First published under this title in 1963. Heinlein gives us one of the earliest uses in science fiction of the "generation ship" idea, a huge spaceship transporting an entire community of humans to a destination so distant that generations will pass during its journey. And as Heinlein demonstrates, the origins of the community can become forgotten, misinterpreted, and otherwise distorted with the long passage.
Author
Works of American science-fiction writer Robert Anson Heinlein include Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966). People often call this novelist "the dean of science fiction writers", one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction." He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the standards of literary quality of the genre. He was the first science-fiction writer to break into mainstream, general magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, in the late 1940s. He was also among the first authors of bestselling, novel-length science fiction in the modern, mass-market era. Also wrote under Pen names: Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.
