Higher Education
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
When Rick Luban's high school prank to impress his buddies gets him thrown out of school, a long-suffering teacher recommends he apply for a job with a mining company in space. So begins an exciting adventure, the kind that one day will be open to many young men and women.
"HIGHER EDUCATION starts out as a deliciously wicked satire on today's 'education' system. But it quickly grows up into something far more lasting: a gripping, genuine story of young people fighting their way to excellence in a dangerous environment. As always with the best of science fiction, you come away from the book knowing stuff that is not only cool, but true. Sheffield's and Pournelle's future, in which rival companies fight over rights to metal-rich asteroids, is far and away the most believable and interesting near-space milieu I've seen in years." - Orson Scott Card, author of the bestselling ENDER'S GAME
"Charles Sheffield is one of the very best hard science fiction writers in the world."
- Kim Stanley Robinson
"Charles Sheffield is one of those SF writers who make the rest of us think seriously about a career in retail sales. In fact, the only reason we allow him to live is that we are SF readers, too. He has the scientific grounding of Clarke, the storytelling kills of a Heinlein, the dry wit of a Pohl or Kornbluth, and the universe-building prowess of a Niven -- and he may have a better take on psychology of spaceborn humans than anyone in the field."
- Spider Robinson
"Sheffield's uncommon visions and storytelling skill will keep you on the edge of your seat."
- David Brin
"Jerry Pournelle is one of science fiction's greatest storytellers."
- Poul Anderson
"Jerry Pournelle's trademark is first-rate action against well-realized backgrounds of hard science and hardball politics."
- David Drake, author of HAMMER'S SLAMMERS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two SF powerhouses collaborate on an exuberant kickoff to the publisher's Jupiter series, which is dedicated to novels patterned after Robert A. Heinlein's classic inspirational tales for young adults and adults. In the 21st century, American public education is foundering under the weight of bureaucracy. But when Rick Luban, 16, is expelled for a school prank that gets out of hand, he's recruited by the asteroid-mining corporation Vantage Mining and Refining, which has its own system of "higher education." Through the company's screenings and schools on Earth and in space, Rick acquires not only formal learning but a mature sense of responsibility. Ultimately, he plays a vital role in uncovering a lethal sabotage attempt by one of Vantage's corporate rivals. As might be expected from Sheffield (whose novelette "Georgia on My Mind" won both a 1994 Hugo and a 1993 Nebula) and Pournelle (Footfall, etc.), the scientific and technological background is outstanding. The portrait of society tends toward the didactic, and credibility is stretched when Vantage bets its future on new talent like Rick and his cohorts. But in response to that bet, Rick matures, and in a believable way--an essential element in any SF coming-of-age novel, including this high-spirited exemplar.
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