Stranger in a Strange Land - Book Review

My thoughts and opinions on Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein.

Twitter: @DanielBGreene
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[drawnfromstone]

You may want to re-tape this Book Review with the character's name as Michael. (not Matthew).

[TheStewieOne]

You want something Ironic about this book is that Heinlein was are hardcore military and loved his country. But this book is one of the many books or the book that help started the hippie movement in the 60's and hated when hippies came to see him. He eventually built an electric fence around his land where he lived.

[klausfink]

A friend gave me this book to read in 1966 when I was 16 years old. That same year I read Dune, and Lord of light, from then on I was hooked.After reading countless number of books since, these are still three of my favorites.

[TheSchoolRumbler]

Reading old books is definitely a trip sometimes

[jeffeffinalastname]

The overall arc really has stuck with me over the years. Groking - seeking to understand others over oneself... that our minds are more powerful than we realize and perhaps if we learned to use them differently we could actually affect change... that the person who figures out how to change people from the path we are currently on will likely get assassinated - and will realize it - and will let it happen anyway... it always fascinated me

[riakm]

I can usually look past "problematic" aspects when they are a product of the time period, you can find many such things in older literature like Sherlock Holmes, Allan Quatermain. While not exactly the same, the feeling such things invoke in me is analogous to how I feel when a novel like Jules Vern asserts some "scientific fact" that is now known to be way off base. That is too say, I see it as an odd quirk and little else.

[chucrikahwaji]

I just finished this book today, great book! :) and It's Valentine Michael Smith... not Matthew.

[SH-qsee]

I haven't read the book myself, so can't really give my opinion on the amount of sexism in there, and whether it was the writers desire to bring the audience out of its comfort zone with the overt sexism, or a product of the times. I will add, however, that as a writer Robert Heinlein should not have been simply parroting the views of the day. Where would we be if authors like Jane Austin, Jules Verne and Mark Twain were simply content to write within the context of their world and times.

As a side note, have you thought about turning this segment into a kind of book club? Nothing major, like just at the end  you tell us what book you are going to talk about next week, or even a fortnight away. Then those who want to can get the book, read it, and add their comments to yours.

[turmaeac]

Interesting to see this review when compared to overly sarcastic productions

[lillithsummers]

I think it is always important to read and understand where we came from. Refusing to look at things that make us uncomfortable or understand the context of the times leads to an echo chamber and stagnation of thought /growth. Thanks for the review going to check it out.

[nexusreplicant]

I love Heinlein because of his thought provocking writting. Although some stuff in this book might seem outdated, still the inquisitive spirit is there and can perfectly be transposed to current times and current subjects. He tries to make we think and question some values we take for granted without even question why. I'll do it, just because my dad and my grandpa did it that way or just because everyone says it must be that way. Think for yourself I believe is the key point in every Heinlein book. Still love it.

[rayedjualidan]

Potential spoiler...




In addition to the extreme sexism I really though he will tackle homosexuality based on the anyone should share and do whatever he feel to reach happiness. Either he did not approve same sex relations at all or no one had the balls at that time to even mention these topics.

[HTNPSullivan]

I first read this book as a freshman in college for a Science Fiction/English class. The problem with that class is we had to read a couple of books a week, and I had other English literature classes with more books (including Moby Dick!), so I had to fly through these books. It's interesting to be reading it again more than 40 years later. There's so much I don't remember from the first reading. I picked up this book again after recently responding to someone by saying "At least, that is how I 'grok' the experience." I hadn't used that word in decades. So it made me want to go back and re-read the book.


I have to say that this time, I found all the sexual stuff tedious and self-indulgent on Heinlein's part. I also was shocked by the comment about rape being the woman's fault. I'm not going to let him off the hook and say that statement is a product of his era. That was a shitty attitude on the author's part, then or now - no excuse.


I was also shocked by the homo phobia, particularly because given Valentine Michael Smith's initial lack of understanding of gender, and referring to women as his water "brothers, " it seemed inconsistent with the character that he would feel anything negative about sharing himself, body and spirit, with either gender. So, I do think this is a reflection of the author's prejudices. Valentine Michael Smith was all about love, and it's not consistent for the author to emphasize that his character was "very masculine" and therefore probably not susceptible to advances by men. (And that he changed his appearance to appear less beautiful! That's really weird.)


I also found it inconsistent when Jill asks Michael how he'd feel about one of the "marks" at the carnival making a pass at her and he says he'd have to make the guy disappear. Jealousy hasn't been part of his character, previously. The author has no problem with Jill sharing Michael with other women -- out of love and being inspired by Michael to shed her artificial inhibitions -- so the homo phobia is really the author's.


I also want to say that I found Valentine Michael Smith's transition in his manner of speaking as he participates in worldly experiences -- i.e. working at a carnival side show -- weird and clunky and out of character. I understand he is evolving, but the language sounds more like Jubal than Valentine Michael Smith. Jill's way of speaking also is more like the male characters than a woman might express herself... a problem I've encountered in many of the earlier works of male sci-fi/speculative fiction authors. I guess it's always challenging to get the language and behavior of the other gender realistic.


Overall, however, I have to say that my first reading of this book was at the tail end of the 60s/early 70s, so it was quite relevant to me at the time, particularly the notion of "Thou art God" and finding oneself having to make decisions "at cusp, " and the Zen notion of "waiting is." And questioning religion. And a more liberal view of sex and sexuality. So, again, it's interesting to revisit this book as a former hippie now in her 60s. Many of these ideas still resonate with me.


Thanks for inviting a discussion about this very interesting book. By the way, it might also be interesting to to talk about its influence on the film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. Or to compare Heinlein's vision of Martian spirituality to other visions of Martian "essence", such as The Martian Chronicles.

[Siansonea]

I read Stranger In A Strange Land a billion years ago, but I remember it fondly. I don't remember a lot of the details of most of the Heinlein books I read, I basically devoured every Asimov book I could find when I was younger, and when I ran out of those, I branched out into Heinlein and a few others. Stranger In A Strange land was among the first, if not the first, Heinlein novel that I read. I remember thinking it was unique and trippy, and a lot different from Asimov's work, which isn't terribly character-oriented.

[zanebruce]

Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the most influential things I've ever read, put a lot of things in perspective for me.

I personally have never really encountered ideas in books that turn me off of them simply because I don't like it or am really against it. The quote "I never learned from a man who agreed with me" sums it up pretty well (quote has been attributed to multiple people so who knows who it is actually from). I feel like you are a bit thin skinned when it comes to some rhetoric, not trying to critique really, just saying. Good video

[chefnicknero]

This book was recommended to me years ago when I was a waiter. Have three copies of it but never found the time to read it. Reading a book takes a lot and we’ll I kinda want it to be good. So I’m taking your work on this one.

[kharilane]

S.I.S.L. is one of my favorite books of all time. I read lots of historical fiction as well as science fiction/fantasy and many times the attitudes of many if not all the characters are outdated or plain wrong. Those attitudes and the actions that are born from them should be highlighted. If they are just swept under a rug there is no discussion of them, and no one learns. Also, while some of the ideas in the book are old-fashioned, others are ahead of their time. You can't throw out one without wasting another.

[ClintLoweTube]

About to start reading. When I read sections that are sexist (or any other former way of thought that is not honorable) I understand the way it was at the time. It doesn't mean I approave. Only that I understand.

[Margaret]

- That's right in the song - We Didn’t Start the Fire - by Billy Joel - in the context of the lyrics of the song Billy Joel mentions - Stranger in a Strange Land - the book written by - Robert A. Heinlein - in 1961 - The book tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and eventual transformation of—Terran culture. - The title - Stranger in a Strange Land - comes from a Bible quote - Exodus 2:22, KJV: "And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." - - - - - - Lyrics - We Didn’t Start the Fire - by Billy Joel - Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray - South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio - Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television - North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe - Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom - Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye" - Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen - Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev - Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc - Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron - Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock" - Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team - Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland - Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev - Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac - Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai" - Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball - Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide - Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia - Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go - U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy - Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - Hemingway, Eichmann, ✌☺☞ "Stranger in a Strange Land" ☜☺✌ - Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion - "Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania - Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson - Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex - JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again - Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock - Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline - Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan - "Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide - Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz - Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law - Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - But when we are gone - Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - We didn't start the fire - It was always burning - Since the world's been turning - We didn't start the fire - No we didn't light it - But we tried to fight it - - - - - - - Source: LyricFind - Songwriters: Billy Joel - We Didn’t Start the Fire lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

[zachgranat]

I don't know if this is a possibility or not, but have you ever thought about doing an episode with your Dad?

I remember from your Book Haul episode that he was the one who gave you all of those books. Do you think he would be interested in talking about books?