- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: New English Library (1 Sep 1969)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0450002314
- ISBN-13: 978-0450002311
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 325,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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"We proceed down a path marked by his ideas." --Tom Clancy
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
'The best book Robert A. Heinlein ever wrote' F&FS
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First Sentence
I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect-and tax-public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect-and tax-public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is my favorite Heinlein novel, and I've read all of Heinlein's works. It is a great mixture of adventure, humor, politics, technology, some thought provoking looks at alternate types of marriages, and the most lovable sentient computer ever to grace the pages of a novel. Mike (the computer) is really the star of this book, from loving to tell jokes, to deciding to help a group of revolutionary-minded Luna 'citizens' actually accomplish their dreams of freedom because the human interaction would keep him from being lonely.
Along the path to revolution, Heinlein, (as usual), inserts thoughts and ideas that challenge your basic assumptions about what is right, normal, necessary, or appropriate. Is a representative democracy the only 'good' form of government? What's so sacred about a 'majority'? How should a government finance itself? (Maybe make the representatives pay for their pet projects out of their own pocket - taxes not allowed!). Are polygamy, polyandry, or other forms of multiple marriage wrong or can they be used to help preserve the stability of a child-rearing environment? How do you most efficiently organize a revolutionary group that must be kept secret from the authorities (given the assumption that there will always be 'stool pigeons')?
Heinlein creates some great characters to go along with his re-worked story of the American Revolutionary war. Mannie Garcia, a computer maintenance man - the only 'real' one on Luna, is the focal character, an average, everyday person (for a Loonie) who gets caught up in the events almost in spite of himself. Professor Bernardo de la Paz is an intelligent, dry man, quiet but stubborn and with some radical ideas about government and individual responsibility, who becomes the intellectual heart of the revolution. But Mike steals the show, running all the myriad details of coordination, propaganda, logistics, and banking for the revolution, but painfully wanting contact with 'not-stupid' humans, trying desperately to understand just what it is to be human. It's these characters that make you want to root for the revolution to succeed, as they embody something deep within everyone, the feeling of hope in the face of impossible odds, the will to fight for what is perceived as right and correct.
Some have quite correctly noted that this book should not be read by ultra-grammarians, as it is told in first person Luna-speak, an odd pidgin mixture of English and Russian, with occasional items thrown in from Chinese, Finnish, and several other languages. Far from being a detriment, I consider this to be a great accomplishment. Most writers have trouble accurately portraying the dialect, say, of the Deep South in a convincing manner. Here, Heinlein has created his own dialect of the future - and makes you believe it.
This book is not quite as deep as Stranger in a Strange Land, one of Heinlein's other great books, but it has a faster, more action oriented pace, and characters that you will get emotionally involved with. I cried at the end of this book the first time I read it (and the second, and the third...) and I think you will too. TANSTAAFL indeed - but in this case, you will get more than you paid for, one of Heinlein's great gifts to the world.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is perhaps my favourite SF book, even though I'm more a PKD fan. I agree that it is not his most sophisticated work - see Time Enough for Love or Stranger In a Strange Land - but it is in my opinion his most atmospheric and evocative - and gripping. It is a self-conscious parody of the American Revolution with a good deal of anti-UN propaganda thrown in - and why not!? True fire-and-thunder Heinlein militaristic, anarcho-libertarianism.
Be patient with the odd prose style - it'll grow on you.
And the character of the computer, Mike, is very touching.
Be patient with the odd prose style - it'll grow on you.
And the character of the computer, Mike, is very touching.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is simply a wonderful book, reminiscent of Asimov or Clarke at their best, but with actual characters! Heinlein's use of language is amazing, forming a whole new slang language which despite being very original is still easily understood throughout, and gives an extra credability to his dialogues, and whilke the plot is about a revolution on the moon, it is told through the eyes of one character and as such manages something that very few sci-fi writers ever manage- he makes the people real as well as the technology. It seems a little dated in teh technology at times, but otherwise is remarkable. Just buy it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Political Science Fiction that makes you think!
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is only the second ever Heinlein book I have read, with "Starship Troopers" being the other. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Killie
A must read!
I first read this book when I was in my mid-teens. It had been sitting on my parents's shelves for most of my life and I was always a little daunted by the fact that I knew it was... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rach
Revolution of the Moon
Luna is the Australia of the future. Populated largely by criminal transportees and their families, it supplies critically-needed food to a near-starving Earth. Read more
Published 4 months ago by John M. Ford
The American Revolution, updated for the Moon
Robert A. Heinlein's book is a rarity amongst science-fiction of its era in portraying political decisions and political decision making with a depth and subtlety quite unlike the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mark Pack
A parody on libertarianism?
Robert Heinlein's novel "The Moon is a harsh mistress" is said to be a positive novel about a libertarian revolution on the Moon. But is it really? Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ashtar Command
Classic SF
Heilein's libertarian views come to the fore in this novel, but not as in yer face as Starship Troopers. Read more
Published 17 months ago by eric the red
Ignore what you've heard about his books being mere vehicles for...
You may be surprised that I'd not read this before, but I have been put off reading Heinlein by reports that his books were really just extended childish political rants. Read more
Published 20 months ago by D. R. Cantrell
DIY manual about revolution
This book is great except for a couple of things...
The Loonies speak lunar speak which omits words sometimes, the protagonist speaks this but this quickly ebbs away... Read more
The Loonies speak lunar speak which omits words sometimes, the protagonist speaks this but this quickly ebbs away... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Nigel
Shades of time enough for love?
This is a great mixture of humor, politics, Sci fi and also many thought provoking looks at alternate types of marriages. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Paul M
Libertarian science fiction; Captivating story telling
Excellent science fiction novel about a group of loonies (no not crazy, people who live on the moon, on Luna, hence loonies, see) trying to liberate the Luna from the authoritarian... Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by Arctic Nomad
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