Home :: Books :: Audiocassettes  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes

Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land

List Price: $44.95
Your Price: $38.21
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 43 44 45 46 47 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Anyone with a functional brain should read his work.
Review: Heinlein is the quintessential intellectual of the 20th century. He writes the truth without sugar coating. You can't help but like it because the simple truth really is enjoyable. Though some of his novels are weak, _Stranger_ is anything but. With powerful emotion and excellent story telling Heinlein offers a perfect review of humanity.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Some people will do anything for money
Review: UGH!go ahead and write to complain. I like hearing from other Heinlein fans. (No I'm not being sarcastic)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A ground breaking work.
Review: The original "man who fell to earth." This is the tale of the son of some original space explorers, brought up by Martians from infancy, and suddenly returned to earth in the late 20th century. Robert Heinlein's witty and instructive observations litter the landscape of this exploration of humanity and its foibles. That this was published in 1960 and mentions the reliance of the wife of the President of the USA on a medium to make descisions speaks tellingly of his understanding of what makes people tick.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stranger in A Strange Land
Review: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein is the story of a human, Valentine Michale smith, who was born and on raised on mars, and now on earth must come to understand the human race.

This is a wonderful classic that I cannot say enough good things about. It is captivating and quite exceptional. Full of philosophical, spiritual, social and religious ideas that are not only mind boggling but eye opening in many ways. This wonderful piece of literature delves deep into why humans act the way they do, and how society as a whole sees the world it has created.

I have very little complaints about this novel. I found some exceptionally sexist views in this book which were unsettling to me but not surprising for a book written in 1962. That is actually my only major complaint, and the passages in which this viewpoint seeps through are so short and so sparse that it did not detour me from reading the book. Oddly enough Heinlein seems to contradict himself in these viewpoints, he writes female characters that are Strong and would make any feminist proud, and then turns around and has them say something that contradicts that very character.

So overall this book was truly wonderful. Something I would suggest anyone and everyone read, simply because of the ideas expressed within it alone, if not for the wonderful writing and compelling story. (By the end of this book you will find need to incorporate the word "grok" into your daily vocabulary.)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: out-dated attack on the silent majority
Review: Disclaimer: The first Heinlein books that I have read were "Time Enough for Love" and "The Number of the Beast". Both of which I consider trash.

Anyways, "Stranger" is somewhat better. The themes that are brought out might have been scandalous in the sixties, but now they are rather ho-hum:Free Love is good, physical possessions are bad, established religions are hokey, Jealousy is bad, you get the idea. These themes are tied together by a messiah/martyr story. This story might offend you if you believe in the literal meanings of your favorite holy book, but otherwise I think it's tame for many readers.

I guess I don't really like Heinlein's tone of writing. I always get the feeling that I'm reading from the mind of a 1960's Hippie demagogue. Someone like Timothy Leary. On the surface they might seem open-minded but underneath they are quite autocratic, self-righteous, inconsiderate and closed to other view-points. Also he's always displaying an adolescent fascination with sex and at the same time he is incredibly sexist with his portrayals of the female characters.

For a much better messiah/martyr story, check out Frank Herbert's "Dune".

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I finished it, but....
Review: I just finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (pretty good overall), and went to SIASL because it had been recommended it to me before.

Besides the good anti-gov't lines (mostly quips), there's not much to recommend the book. I'm glad I read it to say I read it, but I'm not ever going to read it again. Why?

1. Jubal. Supposed to come across as a wise, lovable old coot, but I found him annoying and I don't ever want to meet such a pompous person. He ruled every situation, and I don't think he deserved to. I can't stomach him again.
2. Free love. Against human nature. People will, in general, get jealous and get hurt.
3. Polylogism - the Martians have superior logic. Um, there can't be different logics. See Wittgenstein.
4. Anti-religion but all religions lead to the truth? I certainly don't buy that. The scenes in heaven...wow, I don't know what to say.
5. Characters overall. I didn't like any of them. I didn't care about any of them, and I hated how snappy the dialogue was. People don't talk like that ALL the time. I guess most of Heinlein's dialogue is like that, but it was a major flaw in this book.

I'm a woman but I didn't mind the sexist stuff. It wasn't all that bad. "Terrifyingly homophobic"? I thought it was rather pro-homosexual, as much as it could be, as Mike talked a bit about how wonderful the bipolarity of man and woman was. Homosexual sex doesn't really fit into that view.

My least favorite Heinlein book. Read Moon or Starship Troopers and skip this book if you can.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stranger in a Strange Land
Review: I just reread this -- 35 years after I first read it in high school! It still holds up. Even those too young to really understand the hippies culture will be able to 'grok' Heinlein's underlying message. The sweet Valentine Michael Smith becomes the worldy wise "Mike" in a strange coming of age story that will captivate you from page one. Highly recommended for everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My first Heinlein read.
Review: First, I'd like to say thank you to Robert A. Heinlein no matter where his soul rests. He gave us a beautiful story of love and the human spirit, and shows that we as people could be happy if we only chose to. Many reviewers have gone in-depth about the plot, so I will not repeat it for you here.

Secondly, in first impression his (R.A.H.) style reminds me most of Ray Bradbury; not in small part because of the fact that they both started in the "Golden Age" of Sci-Fi. Stranger in a Strange Land was written in the fifties and is infused with the colloquialisms of that particular era. If you have seen the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow then you'll know the type of language that I'm speaking of. Though, this novel is not as "Golly-Gee-Wiz"ish as that movie.

Finally, for Christians, Non-Christians and people of no faith at all, this is a beautiful story that somewhat follows that of the life of Christ. It will remind readers who know of Christ's' teachings what his most important message is: Above all else love each other; love each other no matter what.

I would recommend this to any Bradbury fan, or any one else who wants to see what one of the best Sci-Fi authors has to offer.


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: If you were realy into the sixties you will love it
Review: I am a huge fan of Heinlein's early work, and this is an okay book, with things to ponder and things to offend. However, it seemed to me that this was the beginning of a drift away from hard sci-fic and into the acid culture stories. Far from my favorite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Wonderful
Review: Annotation: ONCE UPON a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith. He was a human living on Mars since a baby. Then one day he was discovered by astronauts and brought back to earth where he discovers friends, life, and love.

Author Bio: Robert A. Heinlein is one of the great sci-fi writers of the 20th century. He won four Hugos for best novel of the year which included "stranger in a strange land. He was born on July 7th, 1907 and died on May 8th, 1988.
His first story, "Life-Line", was published in the August, 1939 and from then on he started to write masses of stories. Because of this he needed to write under different aliases. Such names as Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.

Evaluation: I was told to read this book by one of my teachers. At first I was skeptical because I don't like Sci-fi to much but as I got into the book I was blown away by all of it. Its characters were spectacular and the plot was wonderful. The back around information was interesting too because it only made the world become closer to reality.
Not too many books cover the topic of love like this. So when they do come around it is such an eye opener to read and discover. Heinlein also makes the topic so beautiful with his main character Valentine Michael Smith. He will always be a character I will remember.


<< 1 .. 43 44 45 46 47 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates