Stranger in a Strange Land

by Robert A. Heinlein

528 pages

Published Sept. 30, 1991 by Ace.

ISBN:: 978-0-441-78838-5

(237 reviews)

Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.

1 edition

scifijack reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Canonical Heinlein, and canonical sci-fi. Was at one time given a great deal of attention for the purported consonance between Martian main character Valentine Michael Smith's worldview and that of the hippies of the 60s, and continues I think to be unfairly regarded as a social commentary, or social satire, or especially a suggestion about how we ought to conduct our affairs here on the real Earth. The extent of its impact though is unquestionable: It made that one Billy Joel song where he was trying to be all R.E.M., and added the word "grok" to the OED.

Yashima reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I don't grok in fullness, so waiting is.
I really enjoyed the read though as noted I haven't quite thought through all the interesting religious, philosophical etc. ideas.

rufzerg666 reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

did not like it. at some parts i thought it was sexist. also did not identify with the main character.

Terrance reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on Goodreads

4 stars

A must read for any fan of sci fi and a book that may very well change and fine some areas of your life with its views on humanity and our behaviour towards others and ourselves. Still as important a book as it was when it was originally released.

Bean reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I really liked the first half of this book. Good sci-fi about the special "abilities" of the Man from Mars, interesting diplomacy and suspense with the government workings, and I liked the idea of Fair Witnesses. This kind of unique "universe building" is what I love in books.

The 2nd half of the book devolved into Heinlein pontificating about how the world would be such a better place if we all lived in religious-ish communes with lots of partner swapping. The characters simply become finger puppets for Heinlein, spouting his thoughts on various issues. While it was very liberal for the time, some is still quite sexist ("when a woman is raped, 9 times out of 10 it's her fault", women existing naked for the enjoyment of men is fine, but no mention of vice-versa).

If the book would've simply ended after the large meeting between Smith and Douglas, I …

Mark Anderson reviewed Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I found Heinlein's presentation of his personal philosophy, generally told through the character of Harshaw, to be alternatively refreshing and tedious. I apologize to the people out there who have found their fundamental outlook on existence transformed by this book, but Heinlein is just not a very inspiring author. He doesn't write well, and his characters are shallow cut-outs to demonstrate his ideas. His ideas are certainly engaging and worth grappling with, but I am not sure if fiction is the best forum for Heinlein to present them in. It reminded me somewhat of [book:Ishmael], where the whole "story" is simply a vehicle for the author to preach his perspective and "enlighten" the reader (people seem to love this book as well for some reason; I don't begrudge anyone preaching--I just wish they wouldn't pretend that it is fiction).
This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy most of the book. But sometimes I just got a little bored with reading about buxom girls walking around naked and some old guy lecturing everyone about how to live their lives. As enlightened as some of Heinlein's outlook may be and certainly is, ultimately it kind of came off to me as simply a shrouded and circumspect method of justifying sexism. This is a severe reduction of some of its best aspects, but it needs to be said.