The Door into Summer
All-time reader favorite in SF polls
Narrative Synopsis
Dan Davis, a brilliant automation engineer and inventor of the first domestic household robot, is swindled out of his patents and company by his treacherous fiancée and business partner, and forced into a thirty-year cryogenic sleep. Waking up in 2000 penniless, Dan searches for a way backward through time with his feline companion Petronius the Arbiter (Pete).
Pete would look at each door in turn, searching for the one that opened onto summer.
Notable Passage
Historical & Editorial Context
Consistently voted one of the top three Heinlein novels by science fiction readers; inspired real-world advances in household robotics and Roomba pioneers.