The Door into Summer

by Robert A. Heinlein

Paperback, 304 pages

English language

Published June 17, 1997 by Del Rey.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-41399-4
OCLC Number:: 37184165

(36 reviews)

Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday routine. Then, with wild success just within reach, Dan's greedy partner and greedier fiancée trick him into taking the long sleep--suspended animation for thirty years. They never imagine that the future time in which Dan will awaken has mastered time travel, giving him a way to get back to them--and at them .

20 editions

Aidan Reads reviewed The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'The Door into Summer' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A solid enjoyable read. A little slow in a couple spots. I wish Heinlein would have spent more time on the character's relationships and motives. Even now I'm not sure exactly why the protagonist, Davis, did everything he did, but I sure enjoyed the ride.

It also had a really fun happy postmillenial, and almost ethical-judicial end to it. It's good to have some hope for the future. Never stop looking for that door to summer.

Kevin B. O'Brien reviewed The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'The Door into Summer' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is middle-period Heinlein, which means it is very readable in contrast to some of his later stuff that is for hard-core fans only. The viewpoint character is an engineer, Daniel Boone Davis, who is developing robotics. He has some good inventions, but some very bad business partners who cheat him. Cryogenics and "cold sleep" allow people to travel into the future, so he does that, only to find that there is some kind of odd doppleganger named D.B. Davis who is making further developments in his robotics. Finally a time travel device lets him go back in time to where his partners cheated him and lets him sort everything out satisfactorily.

moopet reviewed The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'The Door into Summer' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

More interesting than captivating. Mostly interesting for the protagonist's expectations of the future (the year 2000) and how they clash with the "reality" he finds there. That sort of retro-futurism is always fun, especially when it's told slowly and methodically. It ends with a brief scene tying up a few loose ends but feels like more should have been explored.

Yes, on the face of it this is one of Heinlein's novels with multiple worlds, but in this case they're the same world, our world, re-experienced through a time loop. It's the grandfather to both Primer and Back to the Future.

The title is interesting. The "door into summer" metaphor is tacked onto the novel at the beginning and end. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely image, but here Heinlein's writing is distinctly different. It's nicer. He stops looking at the world through a magnifying glass for a …