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Title: Important book, great read
Review: This book was published in 1996, but the ideas are amazingly timely. The hero, 16-year-old Rick Luban, is going to waste in a dumbed-down educational system and on a fast track to the vast pool of unemployed graduates. By luck, he is kicked out of school and receives a tip from the school's science teacher about a possible job. The rest of the book is a fascinating combination of adventure and apprenticeship -- two essential components of successful adolescent development.While presented as science fiction, the ideas are based on real, cutting-edge space technology and real, tragic failures in American schools. Pournelle wields a sharp knife. The characterizations of the teens are brilliant.
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