Rating: 
Summary: Grand Master
Review: Robert A. Heinlein was the first Grand Master of science fiction. He was first, because of all the groups in the Science Fictional community, all recogized RAH as a great writer. In SF... the fact that he was accepted by all is something of great importance, because it is only maybe five authors who are accepted by all groups inside the SF community. Strange in a Strange Land is Heinlein's best known work. It deserves to be as well. Sure, it seems a little older now, but that is not because it is not good, but because of how it affected the rest of the Science Fictional Community. Just about all novels written after it came out show signs of it's affect on other authors. Sex, drugs, religion, politics, etc. This is the work that brought them into the SF lexecon in full. Valintine Michael Smith is a Christ figure out to save the world from itself. In the end, they kill him... but not really. But in this most used of frame works, Heinlein hangs a lot of good stuff. Most especially, the St. Paul of the story, Jubel Harshaw. The guy who trys to tell us all what it means. It is a good book. If you read SF and have not read this book, then you are not reading the right SF. There are maybe ten works in SF that must be read by all... this is one of the must reads.
Rating:
Summary: Not the greatest book ever, but pretty close.
Review: Yes this book may have dragged on and on...but if a person can read then why stop. Few people have a long enough attention span to get through this book. I loved this book, it defied all American ideals and morals. Yes, I agree it was meant for the 60s but we can still enjoy it, right? Even on the break of a new millenium this book is still controversial and that is what makes it a masterpeice. I believe anyone with any brain cells should read this book. At some points I couldn't put this book down. The end for some was a little dissapointing but if you read this book page for page you should have know what was going to happen anyways. Well I give this two thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: Heinlein is, and always will be, a master
Review: I was not a born science fiction fan. Truth be told, I always thought it all a bit silly, but at the urging of a friend I sat down and read "Stranger In A Strange Land." Well, ten years later, I have read every book Robert Heinlein ever wrote. He is a science fiction writer, but his stories center around the human condition, using science only as a windowdressing to his fine dramas. All detractors aside, Heinlein is a grand master, his prose elequently (and timeslessly I might add) speaking about what it is to be human. And "Stranger In A Strange Land" is a great example of this. The protagonist, Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians, becomes through the course of the book the most human character of all, despite is otherworldly upraising. And eventhough the book was written in the late '50s, it reads as though it came off the presses not too long ago. As for those who would speak ill of Heinlein and his works, especially this book, you either did not fully understand what it was he was trying to say (unlike the millions of others who did), or you can't see past the science fiction trappings to the inner story. It sparked an entire generation of people to be free and to love, and it continues to do so to this day. In the end it is a book about true love, pure love, and every time I read it I am reminded of what it means to be human. If you want a reminder too, read this book. It isn't a dearly loved classic for nothing... PS: And just so you know, I am a member of Generation X, and it is just as relevant to me as it was to those who came before me.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable, though excellent classic
Review: What is there one can add to the other 200+ reviews of this novel? Well, being somewhat of a Heinlein fanatic, I feel that I should clear up many of the misconceptions that I see in these reviews. Most of the problems that many people seem to have with "Stranger" is that it is dated, chauvanistic, or overly wordy. Well, the first thing I should deal with is the last problem; if you don't like dealing with an author that has an extremely lucid perspective on human society and tries to use literature as a medium for bringing about social change, do not read this book, or anything by Heinlein. If, on the other hand, you accept this as one of the purposes of literature, READ EVERYTHING BY HEINLEIN THAT YOU CAN! The next conception I will deal with is the impression that it is dated. My only answer is that one who says this must be working off the prejudice that it was a book of the sixties. In fact, "Stranger" was written in 1957 and did become the basis for much of the sixties scene. However, the characters and the society are as up to date as "Dilbert." Also, for some reason people seem to see this work as being chauvanistic. On the contrary, this novel, like all of Heinlein's work, treats females with great respect and portrays them as strong characters. True, many of the females appear to take subordinate roles, but in fact they are all much stronger female characters than I often read in today's literature. So they don't go out and assert themselves as utterly masculine, feminazis...What Heinlein's female characters do is use their gifts to manipulate the men around them, as they were truly brilliant, yet still utterly feminine characters. No GI Jane here, only Cleopatra. Which do you prefer? One passed boot camp, the other manipulated the greatest leaders of Rome to protect her nation. All in all, this ranks as one of the best novels, science fiction or otherwise, of the twentieth century. I truly believe that Heinlein will (or at least should) go down as one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century.
Rating: 
Summary: It's starting to feel dated
Review: And the sociology is starting to grate. It may be that I've read too much Heinlein and the constant sexual exploration scenes start to feel gratuitous rather than earned. It may be that this was so much a book of the sixties that it now seems inappropriate. I don't know. Heinlein remains a talented writer, and the book is engaging and up until the cult business begins, the premise is well explored. For me, it's as though halfway through the book he realized that he had a point to make and started rushing you through to get to that point, the martyrdom, the church, etc. The ending of the relationship between Ben and Jill is glossed over, all the real emotions of the characters about each other are neatly glossed over by the idea of 'grokking' it, and I started to heartily wish for Mike to show some real flaws. When I was younger, I'd read this book and been much more impressed. It hasn't aged well.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I heard a lot about this book and had searched for it everywhere for a long time until i finally found it in a used book store, years after i first read about it. From what i had read, i expected something wonderful, but in my high expectations, my disappointment was all the more deeply felt. I have read Heinlein's other works and they were pretty okay ( but "I will fear no evil" was really a waste of paper but that's another story ), but since this was supposed to be his best work, i had to read it. What i found was another long winded yarn disguised this time as a sociology comment ( which I presume was shocking and sensational when it first came out but comes across now as pretty ordinary ). All through the book, i couldn't shake off the feeling of reading a book written in the 60's.... of watching a 60's B flick. The whole book feels so dated now that i was shaking my head in disbelief. Classics are supposed to be timeless, okay, granted that his commentaries on the nature of mankind is timeless, but the canvas that he paints it on certainly is not. In the end i had to soldier on to finish it as i had on a few occassions been close to quitting, failing to find any solid plot line to grope on. Frankly, I don't think Heinlein should be mentioned in the same breath as Asimov or Clarke as all his works seem unable to project themselves any further than the 1960s. Any commentary on the possible futures of humanity shouldn't be stuck with images of 60's sci-fi flicks that we see on tv.
Rating:
Summary: An overall great book
Review: The majority of this book's detractors hate it either because they thought it was boring or because they did not agree with views stated in the book. I did not nessisarily agree with everything he said, but I certaintly don't think it was boring. Truth be told, there was some geniuenly funny dialogue and some comical moments that no one is talking about. It wasn't a deep, moving experience for me, but I was almost never bored with it. Also, I kind of liked the escape from normality it gave me. I don't usually read books to see ordinary people doing ordinary things, do you?
Rating: 
Summary: I forgot I was reading science fiction, not sociology.
Review: The most enjoyable moments for me were ususally found in the character's dialouge. Jubal Harshaw, although being a doctor and a lawyer, was entertaining and to me relateable on his views of politics and religion, which were depicted more as villiany than anything else. While not quite as eventfull as I would have prefered, Stranger In A Strange Land is still a wonderfull piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: The dudiest book you will read, except for maybe 1984
Review: Don't read this just buy the book
Rating:
Summary: Heinlein's best novel
Review: When I first picked up _Stranger in a Strange Land_ I wasn't expecting much. I had read _Starship Troopers_ and _The Puppet Masters_ and thought they were O.K. But this book just blew me away. Not so much because of its science fiction extrapolations, but rather for how funny, intelligent and true the book rang. _Stranger..._ shows human beings through the eyes of one Valentine Michael Smith, a Martian with human origins. He is so child-like, so innocent, so funny and calm in every situation even though he has such awesome powers--it's amazing to read about him. Along with Gully Foyle, in _The Stars My Destination_ I think he is one of the best SF protagonists ever written. And the way he learns and evolves from the strange cast of human characters--I also really liked Patty and Jubal Harshaw--is wonderful to read. The ending is so unforgettable. And how Heinlein came up with such a cool word like grok I'll never know. Also, he brings the interesting concept of water brothers into the story, and shows how humanity should love each other without resorting to meaningless violence. Sometimes Heinlein gets a bit too wordy and some of his views about God and woman I find hard to swallow--I can see why this book is so controversial. But aside from those minor flaws, _Strange..._ is a great book to read not only because it is enjoyable by itself as literature, but also because it has the intelligence and audacity to pose such difficult questions and firm beliefs about humanity, God and our place in the universe when now such concerns are ignored by most current SF.
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