THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH

Tom Weiner’s sonorous voice does little to breathe life into the 10 stories of this 1951 anthology of stories by the science-fiction master. These stories were entertaining and innovative in their day, but to today’s listener, the themes and style will seem worn out. In “Delilah and the Space Rigger,” the presence of a female communications engineer aboard an all-male space rigger challenges the dynamics of the crew. “The Long Watch” is a tense and dramatic Atomic Age tale that shows Heinlein’s skill at its top form. The collection has its high points, and on one level it is a classic, but on the whole it comes across as bland and dated, and Weiner’s tired reading does little to improve it. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2010]