Stranger in a Strange Land

"what an odd book"

"My favorite science fiction book of all time. A must read!"

"This book changed my life. It is my favorite book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone."

"Painful to read. The misogyny was bad, not just because it was written in the 60s. It was infuriatingly bad. Even if the point was to space a mirror to society and show how terrible we treat women, it was far too much and completely ruined the experience. Do not recommend."

"Liked the outsiders view of human civilization, and the humor too."

"A monumental achievement of (science) fiction - a satirical yet compassionate meditation on human relationships - love, religion, sex, jealousy, intimacy, language, self-interest, innocence, and duplicity. I love reading great post-WWII / pre-Internet sci-fi - the Buckminster-Fuller-esque spirit of techno-utopianism and the radical visions of a better society always inspires. <br/><br/>Heinlein's masterpiece was full of surprises for me. I had barely heard of the guy before. He must have been big before though because I kept finding his name on lists with Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov. This book certainly corrected my ignorance - Heinlein is legit. "Stranger in a Strange Land" is a refreshing bit of sci-fi because there's hardly any discussion of technology, Heinlein instead opts to use sci-fi as a lens through which to tackle big ideas about human relationships and society. The story and characters are compelling on their own merits without the aid of fancy techno-props.<br/><br/>Heinlein's dry humor is fantastic too. He incisively observes and comments on the base and self-interested nature of both high and low individuals in our society. His bit on the Fosterites in particular is great - and apparently influential. I couldn't help but notice echoes of Archangels Foster and Digby in Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens".<br/><br/>I had heard of the word "grok" before, but hadn't realized that Heinlein coined the term and that this book introduced the concept into our language. The idea of "grokking" plays a central role in the narrative and some reviewers have gone so far as to call the entire book a prolonged definition of the concept.<br/><br/>Share water and grok closer my brothers!<br/><br/>Review cross-posted from <a href="http://books.max-nova.com/stranger-in-a-strange-land/">http://books.max-nova.com/stranger-in-a-strange-land/</a>"

"My first DNF of the year. I really tried with this one as it's one of the original Sci-fi stories, but all the characters seemed very 1 dimensional and the dialogue style really grated on me. Any of the dialogue acted as if it was a Dick Tracy novel and I just couldn't get into it. Maybe one day I'll try again."

"weird!"

"I read this in high school, & even though I didn't fully "grok" what was going on, the drama still managed to make it all the way through!"

"Actual rating is 3.5. I cannot believe that I, of all people, am about to say this, but there was way too much dialogue in this book that was too expositional. It made me feel like the author thought I needed my hand held through the journey."