Starman Jones info
Heinlein borrows shamelessly from Horatio Alger in this tale of a young man's triumph. Max Jones is a backwoods kid from the Ozarks who had an uncle who was an interstellar astrogator, but who received a very mixed education. Despite being a grade-school dropout, he understood all the complex mathematics necessary to move a ship between stars!
When his life is disarranged, he cons his way onto a starship as an animal cage cleaner. From there his rise, to put it mildly, is rapid. Great Stuff!