558. Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert Heinlein
1961
Around 400 pages

There are two versions of this novel floating around out there. There's the original published version, and then there is the unedited manuscript that Heinlein's widow published posthumously. I read the longer novel, because I don't believe in shortcuts. Also, I couldn't find the other version anywhere.

Valentine Michael Smith was born on the doomed Envoy space shuttle, and raised by Martians. He is ordered by the Martians to go to Earth after the spacecraft The Champion makes contact with the Martians. Smith is unaccustomed to the strange aspects of Earth, like women and gravity, so he is confined to a hospital. Nurse Jill Boardman becomes fascinated with the newest patient, and details her meeting with Smith to her boyfriend Ben, a reporter who warns Jill that Smith is a huge threat to the government. Jill conspires to protect him, although he can make people disappear just by looking at them, so he might not need too much protection.

I was aware of the term "grok" from doing crossword puzzles, but that was the extent of my prior knowledge of this story. This novel turned out to be a pleasant surprise, sci fi being rather rare on the List. I always have fun reading the past predictions of the future, which are often startlingly accurate in this genre. I enjoyed Heinlein's take on where religion is going, even if it freaked me out.

After reading this novel, I realize what a cultural impact the story had on pop culture. So an important and fun novel. The sixties are already more fun than the last two decades combined.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

"Stranger in a Strange Land" is a direct quotation from the King James Bible (Exodus 2:22).

Contains an early description of the waterbed, an invention that made its real-world debut in 1968. Charles Hall, who brought a waterbed design to the United States patent office, was refused a patent on the grounds that Heinlein's descriptions in Stranger in a Strange Land, constituted prior art.

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