I'm not a big sci-fi fan but it was very good

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	• Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein Ace Trade, 1991 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 533 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Loved Stranger in a Strange land

A freind of mine told me I had to read this book and it has turned out to be one of the best books I have read in a long time I liked Dan Browns books if you like his books you will like this one if not you still will like this one. It came in the mail very fast and in perfect condtion Amazon Rocks.

I'm not a big sci-fi fan but it was very good

I read this book because it was "historic" among all the sci-fi works. The original draw of this 1961 best-seller (it won a Hugo Award) was likely due to its timing more than anything else -- its coincidence with the 60s "free-love society" of that memorable era (I'm a baby-boomer). However, I seriously doubt that author Robert A. Heinlein had any of this in mind when he submitted his shrewd manuscript to the publisher.

To encapsulate the story, it's essentially a tale about the development of a (futuristic) free-love society on Earth, almost religious in its magnitude and presentation. Sex is clearly a central theme of the work but its nothing that you'll feel the need for a hot (or cold) shower after having read it.

The story is brilliantly developed and the characters are very easy to become sympathetic with, to hang a preposition. It's easy to see why this book zoomed to the top in popularity among the youths of that culturally ground-breaking period.

As I mentioned, while I have read a great deal of science fiction over the years, it's really not my cup of tea -- so if you're a big fan, you can probably take my assessment as five stars instead of four. But I did want to make other non-sci-fi folks aware that this is a book that's worth reading by anyone who enjoys fiction in general.

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A Landmark Work, But Not a Great Novel

To read this book again after a lapse of many years is to acquire a fresh perspective on what is an important work that shaped an era, but which, in and of itself, is not really a good novel.

"Stranger" was published in 1961. America was just emerging from the uptight 1950's; Woodstock and the Summer of Love were yet to come. As in so many things, Heinlein was ahead of his time. His "Nests" presaged and set out the ideals of the hippie communes to come and "Stranger in a Strange Land" became one of the bibles of the counterculture.

To read it again is to recognize it as an extremely interesting failure. It does not work as a novel and it fails as social commentary, but it is interesting in what it tries to achieve. It contains two compelling characters: Michael Valentine Smith, the man raised by Martians and Jubal Harshaw, the cynical hack writer. Especially in the beginning of the book, Mike's innocence and naivete are a foil against which the powers of the world are shown to be ridiculous, but the plot fails to progress because the whole course of the New Religion that Mike founds seems predictable and hackneyed. And all the female characters in the story, even those who at first show some promise, have become identical sexual vending machines by the end.

In short, Heinlein did not "grok in fullness" either women or religion, but he gave us a lot to think about and a new word to think with. For a writer, this is a failure to envy.

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The Gospel according to Heinlein

Any person that can't see the Biblical nature to this work should look to the description of Moses after he had slain the overseer. It's written that he "became a stranger in a strange land". Compare the theme of the book with the life of the Messiah. He was born on Mars of the first colonists who died and he was raised by Martians - "he was in this world, but he was not of this world". He spread a unique message of the nature of mankind, was killed by an angry mob, was resurrected and made himself known to his followers after his ressurection. Study the concepts presented in this fictional vehicle and how profound the complete message presented by the author becomes.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Stranger in a Strange Land, winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs.

The impact of Stranger in a Strange Land was considerable, leading many children of the 60's to set up households based on Michael's water-brother nests. Heinlein loved to pontificate through the mouths of his characters, so modern readers must be willing to overlook the occasional sour note ("Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault."). That aside, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the master's best entertainments, provocative as he always loved to be. Can you grok it? --Brooks Peck

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