Stranger in a Strange Land

I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. It was good, very interesting.

Any of you read it?

I've read it.

I haven´t

I have.... it was very interesting, and one of Heinlein's best works. I still prefer Isaac Asimov, though, but that's just my own opinion.

haven't read this one.

Have you read the original one, or the one posthumous with a bit more material?

Nice novel. Heinlein made me look at Rodin's sculptures differently.

And made me appreciate what "victory in defeat" may be like.
I loved those books that were more than mere entertainment.

Read it as a teen. I could tell at the time why it was cult-celebrated, but I'd get a lot more out of it now that I'm older. I'd recommend Orson Scott Card's "Speaker For the Dead" to anyone who liked SIASL. (You'd have to read "Ender's Game" first.)

As would I.... also good, though less well-known, is Card's Alvin Maker saga. Interestingly enough, I didn't realize until I read an interview with Card that it was designed as a parallel to the life of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. Of course, I know next to nothing about Mormonism anyway, so I couldn't be expected to realize it.... still, it's pretty neat. An excellent example of a parallel-world series.

I hadn't heard that until now. Maybe I should read that series. The LDS people (that's what we call ourselves) I've talked to who have read Card's books have liked most of them.

I've read the older version many times (my mother's hardback copy) and the newer one a few times.

It is one of the best pieces of speculative fiction ever written, in my oh so humble opinion!

I read Stranger in a Strange Land over the summer. One of the best sf novels I've ever read, IMHO. I really loved it.

I'll second that opinion, Grand Admiral. I read it last semester and I was so engrossed in it that I just kinda let everything else slide right over me. I absolutely love it!! I remember my roomie wanted to kill me at the time because I would want to discuss points and questions raised in the book with her as I came across them. She wasnt much for deep thinking. Oh well, to each their own.

I read the book (the new one) and loved it! It's one of my favorite books. You can tell that I liked it, because I was even more oblivious than usual, and I spent a good 15 minutes at a stretch just thinking. It raised many interesting ideas and concepts.

Hello! I am breaking all the rules by posting here before reading every single backpost, but c'mon, that would be slightly ridiculous. And besides, I already broke that rule yesterday in the Silmarillion forum, so what's the point in pretending?

I read Stranger in a Strange Land (the shorter version, I'm sure, under the circumstances) in 11th grade AP English. I may have been ready for it, but most of my classmates were not. Most of them were at the "Oooh! I'm a rebellious teenager! I agree with this completely!" stage, which rather ruined the novel for me. I seem to recall that I actually sort of liked it before we started discussing it.

I generally don't like science fiction that so clearly has an ulterior motive. If an author wants to philosophize, that's fine, but I'd rather not have it crammed down my throat.

Please pardon me if I seem antagonistic. I don't try to be, and I'm not trying to insult anyone. (Although I wouldn't mind starting a debate. I like debates. )

Your critiscm of Sci Fi is valid in SOME cases. The average sci fi writer just writes a story to entertain. Heinlien is clearly one who writes to philosiphize... and in Stranger in a Strange Land he really lets go. That's why I don't really like it. To cluttered with Heinlien's rediculous ideology. Heinlein is a great writer... a truly great writer, but only when he gets down to the business of telling a story and keeps away from philosophy. You've got to look hard to find which of his books were written to tell a story, and which were written to give forum to his own weird ideology. Stranger in a Strange land was written to give voice to his ideology.

Others, like The Door into Summer, were written to tell a story. And though Heinlien's ideology is still present, it adds spice to the story instead of overpowering it.

I like Heinlein's ideology. I don't always agree with it, but you have to read Stranger in a Strange Land intending to learn about philosophy, not intending to read a story.

Exactly! Well put. Stranger is a Strange Land is a book of philosiphy, not a Sci-Fi story.

Good Heinlein SciFi Stories are: The Star Beast, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Starship Troopers, and The Door Into Summer.

Actually, this was the Heinlein novel I liked least. Never could nail down exactly why.Perhaps it's just my personal disagreements with his philosophy. Liked Starship troopers and the Moon is a Harsh Mistress tho.

Stranger is a Strange Land is a book of philosiphy, not a Sci-Fi story

Precisely. I have no problems with books of philosophy, but I rather resent it when they masquerade themselves as science fiction. If it's philosophy, call it philosophy. Don't call it science fiction.

I have not read a great deal of Heinlein's works, but I have generally liked what I have read; not perhaps in the same way, but I have liked it. I rather like the philosophy he presents, in many ways, and I think it is unfair to the novel to dismiss it as just ridiculous, although I do understand that he might have laid it on a little heavily. But I do like the underlying message very much, plus the book was, to me, a lot of fun.

Another one in the more philosophical vein in Job. In this one, Heinlein presents the reader with a very interesting poser, though I will not spoil the plot, since many folks here may not have read it, since it was not mentioned. I also liked Starship Troopers very much and, although I thought that the movie was great fun to watch, it was a shame IMHO that it was not truer to the book, especially concerning the Troopers' gear(although I won't blab anymore about that at this time, either ).
I think it is sort of eerie at how well Heinlein pegged our personal future from his writing perspective in the past on Starship Troopers too, by the way