The Big Boppa says: I came across this book going through a box of old stuff while getting my parent’s house ready to sell and thought it was just the sort of thing that it would be of interest to my fellow bOINGERs. According to the copy on the spine it’s #6 in the Dig… READ THE REST
I know this was written before the Voyager missions revealed Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to be gas giants without any sort of solid surface, but I’d like to know whether the author was aware of Uranus’s size. Did its explorers have to compensate in some way for much greater gravity?
I can’t for the life of me remember the title or author, but I know I read a science fiction short story that was published at roughly the same time about an accomplished astronaut’s attempt to land on Jupiter. It was difficult because, even compared to the other giants, which he’d landed on, Jupiter was so big.
Best book title EVER!
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Hmmm…$67.99 for my initial investment of $1 ain’t bad. Now if I could just lay my hands on my old baseball card collection.
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I read the first two Dig Allen adventures (the “pilot” about a fallen civilization in an asteroid, the other about tiny people living in Mercury’s twilight zone) in grade school. I totally dug these; they are dated space opera by today’s standards, but really blew my 3rd grade mind back in the day. Several scenes are coming to mind as I write this. Like, the folks in the asteroid subsist on a grey oatmeal like substance produced by machines. Or the tiny Mercurians diving behind a sabotaged control panel to rewire it before the heroes’ ship falls into the sun.
I didn’t even know that there were four other books until college, when a friend told me about them. Our campus SF library had a copy of an adventure set on a moon of Jupiter which was in the process of being terraformed.
I wonder what it would cost to get the rights for ebook publication?
The ink drawings are in the Joe Mugnaini style of Ray Bradury’s books.
Love books like this. I’ve been a Tom Swift and Tom Corbett junkie from way back.
Don’t they know that they should at least wear gloves when touching Uranus?
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Also, the book cover – a young girl screaming (inside a helmet no less), “Daddy, DO NOT put your finger near Uranus!”
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I recall reading several short stories and novels that took place in the swamps of Venus - still waiting for a decent resort to open. Of course there was an equal amount about those civilized Martians.with all the cool canals.
I’ve been reading SF for 60+ years and when history and science catches up SF writers miss the mark far more than they hit.
I liked Danny Dunn. Similar to Tom Swift, but I think intended for younger readers.
Uranus, T-minus… God sustain us!
A dollar? In 1962? I was buying Ballantine and Fawcett Crest books for 50 cents a decade later. A dollar in 1962 is highway robbery.
Danny Dunn books were a lot of fun. One of my favorites was “Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint.”
I think that’s one of the ones I still have. Danny’s mother was the housekeeper for the stereotypical absent-minded professor. He creates a substance by accident that can be painted on objects and when charged with electricity, makes gravity repel instead of attract. It’s been a while since I read it, but considering it was written before Sputnik was launched, I recall it being reasonably realistic (assuming the existence of anti-gravity paint).
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