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Stranger in a Strange Land (Remembering Tomorrow)
 
 

Stranger in a Strange Land (Remembering Tomorrow) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Robert A. Heinlein (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Ace Books; Reissue edition (31 Jul 1987)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0441790348
  • ISBN-13: 978-0441790340
  • Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 117,039 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #15 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > H > Heinlein, Robert A.

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 sixties 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, and provocative, as he always loved to be. Can you grok it? --Brooks Peck --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Epic, entertaining, Stranger in a Strange Land caused controversy and uproar when it was first published. Still topical and challenging today, the story of Valentine Michael Smith, the first man from Mars to visit Earth, is in the great tradition of stories that endure through the power of the author's imagination that stretches from Gulliver's Travels to 1984 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Upsetting the Apple-carts, 28 Dec 2003
By Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This book is Heinlein's most famous effort, still selling very well today in both its original (1961) 'cut' version, and in the 'uncut' version (about 60,000 words longer), released after his death by his wife, Virginia Heinlein. It is an extremely complex satirical book, with multiple literary and philosophical allusions and referents, and with attacks and comments on many of the basic tenants of American life and social structure, including sex, love, marriage, politics, government, religion(s), economics, tattoos, art, writing, astrology, journalism, TV, military, inheritance laws, cannibalism, prejudice, prisons, and carnival life. Heinlein's aim was for this book to create questions about all of a reader's basic assumptions, to gore every sacred cow, to upset all the apple-carts. In some ways, he succeeded beyond his dreams, as the book was 'adopted' as their bible by many of the '60s counter-culture movement, even to the point that several churches were established with this book as their basis (most notably the Church of All Worlds). Heinlein himself was rather terrified by this use, as he never intended the book to provide answers, only to force questions.

The plot line is fairly simple: A child born to the first Martian expedition, Valentine Michael Smith ("Mike"), is raised by the Martians and brought back to Earth as a young man, where he receives a rather eccentric education into the ways of man by those who befriend him. Once he feels that he understands humanity, Mike undertakes to educate humans in the philosophy of "Thou art God" in such a way that the truth of that statement is a provable tautology. As such, he becomes a self-proclaimed messiah, with the usual fate of messiahs that upset everyone's idea of what is 'right'. But those who have accepted his 'education' will continue on...

The book makes heavy use of irony and contrasting poles of thought, such as Mike (the innocent) vs Jubal Harshaw (the voice of experience), the Church of All Worlds (Appolonian) vs the Fosterites (Dionysian), the Carnival (heaven ) vs the Zoo (earth). Most of the character's names are important in terms of their 'meaning', elucidating and enhancing many of Heinlein's points. Due to its structure and theme, this is one of the few SF books that has been subjected to a fair amount of academic analysis, a process that continues to this day. Some critics have gone so far as to say that the book is not science fiction, but rather a modern example of a satire, belonging in the same realm as something like Jonathon Swift's "A Modest Proposal".

This book has contributed some new words to the English language, most notably "grok" and "water-brother", and may have the best simple definition of love found anywhere: "Love is that condition in which the happiness of another is conditional to your own". (Note: this definition appears only in the 'cut' version, apparently thought up while he was editing the original version of the book down to what was at the time 'publishable' length).

Although this book reads very easily, with Heinlein's typical unforced, everyday American prose style, the concepts and questions he presents are neither simple nor trivial. Not all of his points are directly explicated - it is worthwhile for the reader to carefully look for some of the hidden, non-obvious parallels and historical referents that are scattered throughout this book. This is not a book that should be skimmed or read casually, and even a second reading may not uncover all of its buried allusions and ideas. In a few places the age of this book and the cultural conditions of its time need to be kept in mind, else you may receive the incorrect impression of just what Heinlein was driving at. You don't need to agree with all his points, but reading this will make you examine of your own assumptions and beliefs, take a look with new eyes at the world around you, and find your own answers.

This book was very much a ground-breaker when first published, so much so that Heinlein had great worries that it would not be saleable at all. With its publication it drove the field of science fiction back towards the world of major literature, and has greatly influenced much of what has been published since its debut.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Count your pages, 23 Jul 2004
By bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
If you read this book when you were a kid. And if you are not a kid now. Then you have missed a little something. A lot of the words were cut out of the book before it was published. And due to contractual agreements the missing part of the book could not be printed while Robert A. Heinlein was alive.
Now all bets are off. So count the words in the copy you are about to buy and be sure you have the whole thing. And for those people who read the original release I suggest you re-read to see what you missed.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Science fiction's greatest achievement, 4 Dec 2002
By Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Reviewing Stranger in a Strange Land is quite a challenge. Is it the best science fiction novel ever published? I would say yes. Is it my favorite? No; it's not even my favorite Heinlein novel. To add a little more irony to the pot, Heinlein himself insisted that the book is not really science fiction to begin with. Stranger really marks a huge turning point in Heinlein's career. Unhappy with the brand of "juvenile" writer and the editing that position constantly entailed, Heinlein was determined to write a truly adult novel, one with no taboos, no limits, and no restrictions of any kind. With Stranger in a Strange Land he accomplished that in spades, basically taking on the heretofore sacrosanct subjects of sexuality and religion. Heinlein was not sure that anyone would even publish this story that took him 12 years to write; what was published was a mere figment of the original manuscript, 60,000 words having been cut out. Even though Heinlein did the editing himself, it had to have felt like jabbing an ice pick into his own heart to do it. Thankfully, we can now read the complete, original manuscript the way Heinlein intended the story to be told.

The plot is deceptively simple. The first manned mission to Mars never made it home to Earth. The second mission, twenty years later, found Valentine Michael Smith, an infant born on Mars and the only surviving member of the ill-fated first mission. Having been raised by Martians, Smith is literally a stranger in a strange land when he is brought back to earth with "miraculous" abilities and a Martian philosophy of life. The Federation government basically hides him away from prying eyes, partly in fear of the legal and political dangers posed by his unique status. Having been raised by Martians, the human experience is completely new and rather frightening to him. He has never even met a woman until nurse Jill Boardman sneaks into his room to get a glimpse of him. Fearful that the government is going to keep Michael basically imprisoned (or worse), Jill helps sneak him out of the hospital, and the two of them end up at the home of Jubal Harshaw. Jubal is an outspoken, older man who lives a thoroughly individual lifestyle, but he commits himself to helping Michael escape his perilous situation. Michael quickly begins to absorb human knowledge and, less quickly, begins to understand the confusing mentality of human beings.

Halfway through the novel, you may be asking yourself why the book was so controversial; the answer becomes clear as Michael now steps out into the wider world. He and Jill move around incognito, and Michael learns more about people. After a stint as an unsuccessful magician, he eventually decides to become a preacher. He's not preaching a religion, though; he offers humans a new way of living and thinking, one based on the Martian system he grew up in. This new lifestyle involves a lot of nudity, a lot of open fornication, and the constant repetition of a mantra of sorts naming yourself and those around you God. The "I am God, you are God" theme is essentially Heinlein's means of emphasizing the personal responsibility of each individual for his own life. It is not strictly antireligious, but certainly it is not an idea that would go over well among most fundamentalists. I say most because I am a fundamentalist myself, but I understand what Heinlein was saying and recognize the fact that, after all, this is fiction. Frankly, though, the free love theme bothers my sensibilities and causes my viewpoint of the novel to change somewhat. Even though disapproval began to temper my enthusiasm toward the end, I certainly cannot give this book less than five stars.

Science fiction readers had never read anything quite like Stranger back in 1961; its originality, bold themes, and fearless writing hit with the force of a hurricane, and science fiction has never been quite the same. The Hugo Award this novel rightfully won barely begins to give it the honor and acclaim it deserves. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough, albeit I must enclose a caveat with my endorsement. This book has the power to shock readers even today; do not let your own beliefs take away from the wonder to be found in the pages of this novel. Stranger requires and deserves a completely open mind from anyone who would approach it; it also requires multiple readings to even begin to plumb the depths of its riches.

Anyone wanting to understand and get a true appreciation of the genius of Robert Heinlein really must read Stranger, but I would not recommend picking this book up before you have sampled some of Heinlein's other wares. It would be a real shame to let any adverse emotional reaction to the themes of this novel deprive you of the joy and wonder to be found in countless other Heinlein stories and novels.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A piece of visonary exellence
Very odd how mixed the reviews
seem to be for this novel, but it
does seem to me that those that
have chosen to rate it drasticly
low have done so for... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Streakz

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the effort
Having abandoned sci-fi many years ago, on the basis that a large proportion of it does its best to meet the 'poor mans literature' stereotype, I decided to give 'Stranger In A... Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2006 by Tom Whalley

1.0 out of 5 stars Drivel
I read the original, uncut version - I think I would have been better with the bowdlerised edition. This novel is far too long - there are too many lectures on what is wrong with... Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2006 by Mercury

1.0 out of 5 stars Strange book.....
Perhaps it's me, but I just could not get in to this revered "classic" by the master. I kept picking it up, putting it down, but eventually finished it: phew! Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2006 by Richard L Vernon

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great book
The basic story is about a human, born and bred on Mars, brought for the first time to the planet Earth as a young man. Read more
Published on 28 May 2004 by Mr. D. A. Homfray

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated a Little
A human born on Mars is brought back to Earth and serves as a mirror to all our foibles, political shenanigans and religious cults. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2002 by Steven Moses

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
I was recomended this book by a friend, and to be honest it is one of the best books I have ever read. It captured me from begining to end. Read more
Published on 10 Jul 2002 by Mr Jack Farman

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Heinlein novel ever
If you haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land, you haven't read Heinlein. That is, at least half of Heinlein. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2002 by duarh

4.0 out of 5 stars If you only ever read ONE Heinlen book....
...Make sure it's this one. I 1st read this when I was 18 & it had a profound effect on me then as it still does now. Read more
Published on 29 April 2001 by ladycelticwarrior@yahoo.co.uk

1.0 out of 5 stars A would be interesting novel
This book provided me with one of the most oppressive experiences that I have ever had in reading fiction. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2000 by mindspace

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