A young academy student's class is dropped off to survive on a planet as a graduation exercise. He is allowed to take anything he wants but doesn't know what the planet will be. His older sister was a graduate and advised him to take nothing but a knife. He is skeptical but survives the experience because he was cautious where other students took heavy weapons and didn't survive because they were too bold.
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2Consider registering your account.Organic Marble– Organic Marble2025-07-12 13:51:16 +00:00Commented Jul 12 at 13:51
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1Welcome to StackExchange! While you've already gotten what seems to be the right answer (and if so you should accept it), in general story ID questions are more likely to get good answers if you mention what year you read them, in what country, whether it was a paperback or hardcover, anything you remember about the cover, characters's names, specific detailed incidents, etc.arp– arp2025-07-13 19:40:05 +00:00Commented Jul 13 at 19:40
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1 Answer
This is Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein.
- Sister gives knife advice
Okay, besides your parka I would make it four kilos of rations, five of water, two kilos of sundries like pills and matches, all in a vest pack...and a knife.
- Heavy Weapons Dude with dog gets killed off right away (Johann Braun in the quote linked to has a large power gun that requires a backpack)
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5This was the novel that got me into reading SF.Sam Azon– Sam Azon2025-07-12 16:06:01 +00:00Commented Jul 12 at 16:06
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10@SamAzon A different Heinlein juvenile set me on the path to be an engineer: Have Spacesuit Will TravelOrganic Marble– Organic Marble2025-07-12 18:51:50 +00:00Commented Jul 12 at 18:51
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2In the pre-internet age, I often wondered if that title was a riff on the TV western Have Gun Will Travel; or if they shared a common ancestor. I believe now that it is the former.Sam Azon– Sam Azon2025-07-12 19:47:15 +00:00Commented Jul 12 at 19:47
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2SPOILER (just to be polite): What soured the book a bit for me was the advice given to the students: "Watch out for the stobor". For some reason my young eyes immediately recognized that as "robots" backward. I spent the whole novel waiting for some dangerous robots to make an appearance. And they did not. I have to admit that I also found the general idea of a high school class being sent on a 'survive or die' field trip to stretch my suspension of disbelief mighty hard.Blaze– Blaze2025-07-12 23:39:08 +00:00Commented Jul 12 at 23:39
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3@JohnC A week or so, yes. But the chance of death was very possible. The one kid packed some sort of backpack energy 'bazooka' with an attack dog companion. And the hero found both dog and kid dead, with the bazooka missing, proving it was no wild animal attack. A real strong "Lord of the Flies" element in this field trip.Blaze– Blaze2025-07-14 03:03:19 +00:00Commented Jul 14 at 3:03