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Probably was one of my least favorite in Heinlein's "Scribner's Juniors" "series". Like the others it's really a stand-alone story amongst a series of similar tales. (Young adults leading scientific adventures).

This one is about two teenage twin boys finishing school and invited to a symposium by the "long range foundation" a private non-profit company that can focus on funding endeavors that don't have to make investors happy with quick returns, nor be at the will of fickel politicians, they can work on projects that will be years, decades or centuries before a return, if any occurs.

The project the LRF is now working on is to deal with the overpopulation of the planet. The 1954 written book is very concerned that in the future (maybe 200 years from now?) the world population is unsustainable with over 4.5 billion people (never mind that 75 years from when ti was written we are doing just find with 8 billion).

In order to explore what planets beyond or solar system may be suitable for habitation they need to find a way to communicate back to earth that is faster than the near light speeds of the ships. Ta-da the proof of telepathy that distance cannot substitute, primarily available between identical twins.

A little far-fetched but certainly interesting. I appreciate how Heinlein brings about theoretical ideas including those like over taxing large families etc.

Some of the story is pretty unbelievable though, like giant sea monster attacks in space, that could have been prevented with encoded messages from light years away being approved to be sent 2 days earlier.

The ending was anticlimactic to say the least, but all and all I still liked it.

I'm a Libertarian and a wrestling fan, so this should have been just up my alley. The wrestling stories where good, even if I had heard some of them before. I appreciated Kane's story about meeting Ron Paul with regards to him having been around famous people most of his life, but that was the only time he was ever actually nervous about meeting someone.

I was disappointed in the life in politics side of it. Kane talks about being influenced by von Misses and Harry Browne, not to mention Murray Rothbard, but then spends nearly a quarter of the book talking about how great Trump is. A politician that is the antithesis of libertarianism.

This audiobook was read by the author, but it may be the one time I would have rather someone else did it. Glenn stumbles over his own words and his reading voice is so different from his wrestling voice I actually had to double check it was him. As an author he also repeats himself. For example, two different locations in the book he talks about when he was courting his wife much of it was done while sitting at her daughter's hospital bedside.

I got this collection because it contained "With the Night mail" that I had been wanting to read for quite some time. To say I was unfulfilled would be an understatement. Allegedly one of the first science fiction stories, it's so filled with made up techno babble it was practically unreadable. Basically treating a blimp as it it where a ship and needing all the same parts, bilge pumps etc., described in detail, with a story that had no plot to speak of. The addition of letters to the editor and advertisements was interesting but detracted from the story.

The other stories I read from the collection weren't any better, making no sense and barley readable. It was only after reading a bit that I realized Kipling was the same guy who wrote the Jungle Book, which if it wasn't for LibraryThing I wouldn't have even remembered I'd read before, as it was equally poor. Unlike Jungle Book though, this one ended in my 1 star so bad I didn't finish it pile.