Robert Heinlein’s Hugo Award-winning all-time masterpiece, the brilliant novel that grew from a cult favorite to a bestseller to a science fiction classic.Raised by Martians on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith is a human who has never seen another member of his species. Sent to Earth, he is a stranger who must learn what it is to be a man. But his own beliefs and his powers far exceed the limits of … exceed the limits of humankind, and as he teaches them about grokking and water-sharing, he also inspires a transformation that will alter Earth’s inhabitants forever…
more
This is still a great book even though it’s a little like looking at the future from the past.
This was the first sci fi book I ever read and I’ve read this three times and loved it each time.
It really made me think twice about things I take for granted. I re-read it periodically when I need a reality check.
This is the classic. If you are a sci-fi fan and you have not read this book, I can’t think of you as a sci-fi fan. Sorry, but you’re a poseur. If you don’t grok, you don’t grok science fiction. Look it up.
Still great after 50 years.
I enjoy strange stories that make you think. This was very unusual.
This has to be one of my all time favorite books of all time.
Classic speculative fiction presenting challenges to 20th-century thought on religion, relationships, politics, and what it means to be human.
One of my all time favorites
A good read. I have had the pleasure of reading this book multiple times over the years
One of the ten best ever science fiction books!
One of the master’s best, quite controversial in its day.
This book, like almost all of Robert Heinlen’s
Is a classic. It requires multiple readings in order to “grok” to the fullest.
Probably the single most socially influential science ci tion ever published. An absolute must read.
Classic. Dated. Entertains while attempting to widen perspectives and encouraging thought. Even when you disagree with Heinlein, you needs must think to understand why.
LOVE Heinlen! He is the master. I recommend all of his books and this was the one that got me hooked!
Classic of Heinlein, probably his best work. Representing amazing cross-cultural and language barrier challenges, and therefore comments on our modern society. Fascinating to see what was beyond the imagination of sci-fi back in 1961 when the book was written. For example: no hand-held calculators!, and yet, flying, autonomous cars.
A classic, you really can’t go wrong with any Heinlein book. this will make you look at things from a different perspective.
L.p.
Valentine Michael Smith was the only human born on Mars. He was the illegitimate child of the various crew members of the government’s first mission to mars. The child was raised by the Martian aliens whom we had not known existed until they stepped forward to take care of the child. The second expedition returns with Mike, now a young adult. This story is about Mike and those who cared about him, how he and society reintegrated; the ideas and personalities will stick with you like conversations with an old friend.
Stranger in a Strange Land was Heinlein’s exploration of Communism; what it would take to make it work and why that is not compatible with the human condition. Like all his novels this exploration occurs through the eyes of three dimensional, enjoyable personalities, and the experiences stick with the reader for decades.
It’s a book by Robert A. Heinlein (RAH), so no subject is too taboo for discussion. Politics, religion, gender issues, and economics are all discussed in this novel. The word “Grok”, which you may have heard in the 1960’s or 1970’s was invented in this novel. And it is interesting that with this book RAH, who in his day was called a right-wing conservative but today would be called libertarian, is credited as one of the sparks that ignited the Free Love Movement.
If you enjoy a well told tale, political discussion, religions discussion, philosophy, or American histories late 20th century then this book is a Must Read.