The Space Pioneers

I own the full set and am making my way through it slowly. Each seems to take a step down from promise. There’s science-y words to titillate the target audience (adolescent boys, more on that in a bit) but really? This planet/satellite being colonized is 55 billion miles away? Alpha Centauri is 25 t......more

The fourth Tom Corbett book, 1954's Space Pioneers, has a fun coincidental connection to Star Trek. It involves Earth's first attempt to colonize a planet outside the Solar System. That planet revolves around the star Wolf 359, a real star which is a tad less than 8 light years away from Sol. In the......more

I think when reading this book (and the whole Tom Corbett series) that you have to keep in mind that it was written in the early 1950s as space adventures for boys. I would not have been caught dead reading it as a kid but as a grandma, I found it amusing and full of adventure. Yes, it's very dated......more

This Tom Corbett novel is suitable for young adult readers. An adventure story about setting up a distant colony, the science is dated probably according to the publication date. It is, however, a fast paced and enjoyable read.......more

If I was a boy growing up in the 1950s, I would have loved this book. It's still an exciting, if dated, adventure. The biggest problem for modern readers is the lack of female characters and sexist attitude, exemplified by this passage: "I want you to make new study spools on every subject you can re......more