Book Review: Stranger in a Strange Land
by David Blake, Fiction Department, Central Library
Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land has been much re-read by its many fans. Until recently, this fan had not picked up the book in decades, and about a quarter of the way in, it was better than memory recalled. The scenes were the same, but they seemed to have more depth. As it happens, in 1961 Heinlein was asked by his publisher to reduce its length by 25 percent. Since 1991 the book’s publisher has included all of Heinlein’s original writing. Stranger in a Strange Land has always been one of the science fiction books that one might recommend to serious readers. Its fans can do so with even more assurance now.
Valentine Michael Smith is the stranger. Having been raised by Martians, Michael comes to earth and encounters a civilization so completely different from that of Mars, that all our earthly differences are tiny in comparison. Through adventures he comes under the protection and guidance of Heinlein’s great character, Jubal Hershaw, a cranky, old American original. One feels that Mark Twain must have been a model for Hershaw, a doctor, lawyer, and successful writer who welcomes Smith into his rural enclave. Hershaw is a font of Heinlein’s famous epigrams.
Although Stranger, as it is known to millions, is set somewhat in the future—it has world government and flying cars, and the science part of the fiction is anthropological and social, rather than physics and astronomy. Smith sees the human species through eyes that have been trained by an advanced species other than our own. Heinlein questions what we believe, our philosophy, religion, and science. Heinlein mentions the two plus two equals four is not a truism for the Martians. Religion and sex come under special scrutiny by Michael.
Heinlein’s Jubal Hershaw is a cynical old man, but as a writer he believes in giving readers value for money: insight, laughter, drama, pathos, grief, and passion. This reader has always been convinced that Hershaw was a thinly veiled self-portrait of Heinlein. Like his creation, Heinlein always delivers honest value. Stranger in a Strange Land was named one of 88 books that have shaped America by the Library of Congress in 2012.
Check it out (or be left behind)!
Robert Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land has been much re-read by its many fans. Until recently, this fan had not picked up the book in decades, and about a quarter of the way in, it was better than memory recalled. The scenes were the same, but they seemed to have more depth. As it happens, in 1961 Heinlein was asked by his publisher to reduce its length by 25 percent. Since 1991 the book’s publisher has included all of Heinlein’s original writing. Stranger in a Strange Land has always been one of the science fiction books that one might recommend to serious readers. Its fans can do so with even more assurance now.
Valentine Michael Smith is the stranger. Having been raised by Martians, Michael comes to earth and encounters a civilization so completely different from that of Mars, that all our earthly differences are tiny in comparison. Through adventures he comes under the protection and guidance of Heinlein’s great character, Jubal Hershaw, a cranky, old American original. One feels that Mark Twain must have been a model for Hershaw, a doctor, lawyer, and successful writer who welcomes Smith into his rural enclave. Hershaw is a font of Heinlein’s famous epigrams.
Although Stranger, as it is known to millions, is set somewhat in the future—it has world government and flying cars, and the science part of the fiction is anthropological and social, rather than physics and astronomy. Smith sees the human species through eyes that have been trained by an advanced species other than our own. Heinlein questions what we believe, our philosophy, religion, and science. Heinlein mentions the two plus two equals four is not a truism for the Martians. Religion and sex come under special scrutiny by Michael.
Heinlein’s Jubal Hershaw is a cynical old man, but as a writer he believes in giving readers value for money: insight, laughter, drama, pathos, grief, and passion. This reader has always been convinced that Hershaw was a thinly veiled self-portrait of Heinlein. Like his creation, Heinlein always delivers honest value. Stranger in a Strange Land was named one of 88 books that have shaped America by the Library of Congress in 2012.
Check it out (or be left behind)!
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