Rating: 
Summary: Seems a little dated
Review: I agree with a previous reviewer that this book starts out great and seems to "bog down" about midway through. I think the reason is that at the time it was written, the ideas expressed in the book were much more controversial and, well, new. Today I think we reach a point in the book where it just feels the author is making a big deal about nothing. ooooh free love, clothes disappearing, refusal to play by the "rules of society", these ideas have been beaten to death by this point. I'm not sure if I'd call this sci-fi so much as social commentary.
Rating:
Summary: A two part book essentially!
Review: When I read the other online reviews here after just starting this novel I got kinda confused. I have heard from Sci Fi fans all over that this is one of the greatest novels ever and the first half of this book I could not put down. But unfortunately about that halfway mark the book bogs down and never fully recovers. The first few hundred pages are exciting, intriguing, and entertaining, while the second half meerely gets into a whole religious spin and the characters really become nothing more than annoying. I could barely finish this book and that upset me since it started so well. It is rare to see this in a single novel but very normal in say a trilogy. Alas though the book is worth it for the first few hundred pages alone and if you are looking to catch up on some Sci Fi classics you have to start here. It is an enjoyable read and relatively short.
Rating: 
Summary: Would a Martian see earth religion as insane?
Review: Michael Smith was born on Mars to human parents, and after all of the other humans died he was raised by Martians for twenty years before being returned to his home planet. And because Mike was able to recognize what he found here as less than ideal, the reader is enabled to see it as perhaps he has never seen it before.
There is no more effective way to view the insanity of this planet's anti-sexual culture than by looking at it through the eyes of a Martian. And when that perspective is spelled out by one of science fictions Big Three giants, it becomes so impossible to continue believing that victimless recreation can be immoral, that only the incurably brainwashed can retain such a mindset.
For sixty years science fiction was the only genre through which any rational moral philosophy could be sneaked past the theocratic censors. Clarke and Asimov did it effectively. But no one matched the unassailable logic of Robert Heinlein. Anyone who still believes that sexual recreation involves moral questions not applicable to tennis or golf either has not read this book or is incurable.
Rating:
Summary: It's an intelligence test
Review: Love, says Jubal Harshaw to an extremely confused Ben Caxton, is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own (363). I've looked at these words many times and can't find a way around the simplicity. It is so easy to forget when passions and longings get in the way, 'our' way. We want to posses. There are more than four hundred reviews of this book, and we say all kinds of things. Michael Valentine Smith isn't a character, he's a parable. He never has the grittiness of Duke or Jubal. There are caricatures and stereo-types, these is a whole lot of what we used to call 'male chauvinism'. It's fun to see where Heinlein got it wrong, too. He couldn't imagine the information networks we live with as we watched an age end on September 11 all over the world and as we view a new war in Iraq. Heinlein steps into his great strength when he gets onto human motivation and his unflinching and cynical view of the whole game of life. Navigating the hype takes one kind of clear sight. The uncompromising view of the meaning of love is another. We say God is Love and love thy neighbor as thyself, but what does it mean and where does it end? In fact, there is no end. What do I owe a person my brother has called brother? What is the limit of intimacy and truth sharing? I think Heinlein got it right in the essentials, and this book is well worth reading. If he gets you on his wavelength, you'll go the distance. But you have to have some kind of filter to get, or get past, the group sex, the 'women should be obscene and not heard' chauvinism and the sweet 60's naivite or face it, you'll dismiss the whole thing.
Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Read
Review: I stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish this book, and it was completely worth it. In Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein deals with intriguing questions such as: what if a human were raised on Mars, only to return to Earth as a grown man? How different would he be? How much would he have to learn? How much can humans learn? I heartily recommend this novel to anyone who loves science fiction, or who loves to daydream about things that could be.
Rating: 
Summary: An "A" for effort...
Review: Not intending to be harsh, I did really enjoy this book and am glad I finally read it, but I'm having a hard time determing why this book has changed so many lives. Why do so many people list this book as the single book they would take with them if they were stranded on an island? The adaptive transformation of martian Michael Valentine Smith to his surroundings as the story progresses is fascinating, but the overall philosophy promoted is dated and flawed; dated in its representation of racial stereotypes and gender roles; flawed in that it only works by a select pseudo-religious group capitalizing on an outside world they consider to be "marks." Stylistically speaking, I think the plot of this book moved much in the same way as any of the books by Ayn Rand. This is certainly not to say that the authors promote the same ideals, only to say that the highly nuanced mapping of their plot, and the use of characters to embody simplified ideals is similar. This is definitely a book to be read, especially as a guage for what good science fiction is capable of, and to understand it's cult status within the genre. I believe, however, that you can find better more subtle, thoughtful, and sensitive work out there by writers like Samuel Delany ("Trouble on Triton" springs to mind).
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not outstanding
Review: It's not a bad book, and almost required reading due to it's massive influence and wide audience. Still, there are certainly better Heinlein books out there. It does ooze Heinein's views on life, love, relationships, etc...hints of which can be found in many of his writing, but this one really focuses on it as the primary surface theme.
Rating:
Summary: A great mind looks at religion and [other issues]
Review: Growing up in the bible belt and shunning religion was hard but this book gave me a firm basis to stand on. Heinlein put everything I was thinking about religion as a 16 year old in Georgia in a story and made me realize that I was not alone. Needless to say my athiestic views are in part due to this book that I read at least once a year and it never gets old. I am happy to say I this book as one of my favorite reads. Clayton
Rating:
Summary: Predictable. Dated. Not nearly as good as expected.
Review: I've been reading hard SF since I was eight so it was with great expectation that I finally got around to reading Stranger in a Strange Land, a book said by many to be the flagship for the old school SF Genre in the same way that Lord of the Rings is the flagship for Fantasy. Well I was unpresently surprised to find out that this novel was anything but worthy of representing Science Fiction. 1. The writing is not even close to Heinlein's best. About 99% of the dialouge in the book is what can only be described as "Banter"(you'll know exactly what I mean if you read it), which isn't all that bad at first especially since it usually consists of the same 60 year-old guy telling his bikini-wearing secretaries to hurry up and cook for him or they'll get spanked, with their only response being something along the lines of "Oh Boss!" and then hurrying away in that jiggly fashion so common among young sparsely dressed girls. The only problem is that reading 400+ pages of this will make even the most stalwart and proud to be Male, Man puke all over himself.(Trust me, I know) Which brings me to my next point... 2. The debase subservant manner in which women are treated in this book is really digusting. Trust me when I say that I wouldn't be mentioning this if it wasn't taken to a ridiculous level because I proclaim to be one of those types of Males I mentioned above that agree's with a women's submission to a man. But to be honeset, as strong willed as I am about all women bowing down to me this book really made me question on weather or not I should rethink my opinions. If I sound like as much of an ... as Jubal Harshaw does then I've just done a 180 and joined the feminist movement. It's really really heavy-handed to the point of irritation. 3. The story itself is just one cliche' after another with a bunch of "beat you over the head" obvious metaphors and the ending of course anyone could see coming a mile away. The fact that this is a science fiction novel(it's widely known that of all genre's, science fiction literature becomes "dated" the quickest and easiest) and was written in 1961 is no excuse, there is plenty of SF out there that hasn't fallen prey to the trap of time. It was only a 3-day read but I if I had to do it over a again I would instead spend my time re-reading SF that actually is good. Such as Ender's Game by Card which if it's not certainly deserves to be the SF Flagship as it's one of the best books ever written. If you're looking for a good Heinlein try Door into Summer. If you're looking for a good novel of someone going from the dirt to deity in a spritual sense there are several other novels you would be much better off reading. ...
Rating: 
Summary: and I'm being nice
Review: This book [stinks]. Perhaps the edited version, the one that won the Hugo award is better. It's easiest to say the book consists of three sections with a sexist theme running through out the book. The sexism is irritating as it seems to have no real function other than to belittle women. For a more enlightened read, try The Left Hand of Darkness. In the first part Michael, our hero, is discovered and goes to earth. Raised by aliens his ideas of 60's america is interesting and well thought out. I found this part enjoyable, even if the whole premise was totally unrealistic, like 20,000 leagues under the sea. The second part has him interacting more with other people while exposing his ideals. Sex with everybody. This part becomes a little repetitive, and slows down. The last part is just talk. Not good interesting socratic discussions but boring, this is what i think of ...blah blah blah, by the author. I skipped the last few 100 pages and just read the ending, which wasn't worth my time. To put it bluntly, this is a self serving novel, that starts off well and dies halfway through. Heinlein has better novels like orphans of the sky. I have to recommend that you don't waste your time, this is the 3rd book I've ever stopped reading part way thru.
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