4 ms·

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

jacalata 12y ago
Same thing as Ayn Rand - gibberish philosophy that appeals very strongly to the teenager who thinks that they are the special one.
- baddox 12y ago
  A funny comparison, since I could see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress getting compared to Ayn Rand due to the depictions of (and brief philosophical expositions on) stateless society.
  - jacalata 12y ago
    Yea, definitely: I haven't read either of them in a while, but my memory is that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress felt like it had a plot with some philosophizing added on, but Stranger In A Strange Land was political exposition/description of wish-fulfillment orgies with an attempt at forming a plot around it, and that's why it is more like Ayn Rand novels.
peteretep 12y ago
Stop struggling to wade through it and find a better book to read :-)
grey-area 12y ago
His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revolution comes when there is too big a gap between perception and reality, the tension between soldiers and citizens etc.
- tjl 12y ago
  For me, I really like the first half of the book where he's viewing society from outside. It kind of falls apart for me when that is kind of set aside. Heinlein almost always has problems with the endings of his books. There's some that stay consistent throughout, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Podkayne of Mars, but most kind of land with a thud. I love his books quite often for the ideas and settings, but yes, the writing isn't the best.
- lmm 12y ago
  Are you sure you're not thinking of Starship Troopers?
  - grey-area 12y ago
    I was thinking about all his books.

jacalata 12y ago

Same thing as Ayn Rand - gibberish philosophy that appeals very strongly to the teenager who thinks that they are the special one.

baddox 12y ago
A funny comparison, since I could see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress getting compared to Ayn Rand due to the depictions of (and brief philosophical expositions on) stateless society.
- jacalata 12y ago
  Yea, definitely: I haven't read either of them in a while, but my memory is that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress felt like it had a plot with some philosophizing added on, but Stranger In A Strange Land was political exposition/description of wish-fulfillment orgies with an attempt at forming a plot around it, and that's why it is more like Ayn Rand novels.

peteretep 12y ago

Stop struggling to wade through it and find a better book to read :-)

grey-area 12y ago

His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revolution comes when there is too big a gap between perception and reality, the tension between soldiers and citizens etc.

tjl 12y ago
For me, I really like the first half of the book where he's viewing society from outside. It kind of falls apart for me when that is kind of set aside. Heinlein almost always has problems with the endings of his books. There's some that stay consistent throughout, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Podkayne of Mars, but most kind of land with a thud. I love his books quite often for the ideas and settings, but yes, the writing isn't the best.
lmm 12y ago
Are you sure you're not thinking of Starship Troopers?
- grey-area 12y ago
  I was thinking about all his books.