Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Very simply one of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading!
Rating:
Summary: God Consciousness-Follow Your Intuition
Review: Valentine Michael Smith correctly acts as a Martian anthropologist would on the planet Earth-observe and participate as an Earthling-classic ethnographic traditions. However, Valentine is as much homo sapiens as you and I. I read this novel in high school in the early 70's. The other novel I strongly identified with was "The Last Temptation of Christ." Little did I know then that it wouldn't be until my 40's that I would have a spiritual transformation and really develop my intuitive abilities. Fortunately, an intuitive had her friend encourage me to join her dowsing club(BTW a wonderful site is www.dowsers.org and check out master dowser Walt Woods' booklet, 'Letter to Robin' for the best intro to dowsing I've encountered) about 5 years ago. I developed some of the same intuitive abilities as Valentine. Curiously, I and my adept intuitive friends(some you've heard on Art Bell/Larry King/etc.) intuit(or dowse) that Heinlein was aware of the concept of kundalini rising(or Holy Spirit in our cases) and the amazing spiritual and intuitive understanding that it brings BEFORE he wrote "Stranger..." Yet, Heinlein didn't develop into an adept. I like the words Christ Consciousness to describe my journey and Valentines(I studied cultural anthropology in the 70's). I meet so-called everyday individuals who've developed their intuitive abilities, like myself, without years of formal religious discipline or training. Jesus said something to the effect of,"...this powers that I have, so shall yee, and more..." Other intuitives(Christian, Hindu, etc.) ALL dowse this statement as truthful. Lastly, I'm fascinated by the energetic body of Valentine Michael Smith and hope you will also open your hearts to God's Love and love yourself unconditionally. You might find the QXCI therapy useful in opening up your energetic body. I have. Yes, I did have a kundalini rising(Sept. 2002). "Kundalini For Beginners" and online Q&A interviews with Gopi Krishna may be helpful. I remain a Christian. Peace.
Rating: 
Summary: Grok till you drop
Review: Not your typical sci-fi take you to a new place and describe the wonders there. Much more dialogue oriented and culture oriented. Not everyone will grok it.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: I am personally not a science-fiction buff, but this book captivated me from the get-go. It was enthralling, a true page-turner, and kept my attention for several days. It may appear long at first glance, but you will be sorry when it ends. I highly recommend picking up a copy today.
Rating:
Summary: Stranger In A Strange Land
Review: I am reading this book again because when I read it 10 yers ago in the mid '90s, I thought it was spectacular. I still think so.Valentine Michael Smith, the lone survivor of an expedition to Mars, returns to Earth after spending the first 25 years of his life as a Martian. (Yes, Mars is inhabited.) He brings his unique Martian perspective to Earth where he tries his best to fit in and learn how to be human. In doing so, he learns first-hand about humans and how they interact. He learns about life in general, love, friendship, social customs and religion all with the help of his benefactor, Jubal Harshaw, and his "water brothers", amongst them a very helpful nurse and close companion in his adventures on Earth. Finally, "Mike" establishes the Church of All Worlds, his attempt to bring the Martian way of thinking to humans. Throughout his time on Earth he attempts to adapt to human thinking, but his Martian upbrining ensures that he is always an outsider, perpetually asking why humans do what they do and why they place so much importance on the superfluous. In a world of hustle and bustle, flashy signs, clothes and people and a world of haste and waste (not just in this book, but in real life today), Valentine Michael Smith reminds us of some important things and gives us some new prespectives to apply to our lives. He reminds us to slow down and "cherish" life. Enjoy life and don't get bogged down with the many things in life that are unimportant but on which we place a great deal of importance. In the end, the value of our lives is measured by the quality of our relationships and our ability to sift through life's chaff to find the wheat.
Rating: 
Summary: return of the martian
Review: this book has an interesting storyline to it but i felt myself drifting throughout it. the writing sense did not capture me as a book should.
Rating:
Summary: "The Rebellion Of Valentine Michael Smith"
Review: This book is the first book in what in retrospect stands as Robert Heinlein's "Robert Rimmer" period, thus the title I put on this review. The late Robert H. Rimmer was the best of the late 20th century utopian novelists. Most of Rimmer's work was unfortunately of the "fictional manifesto" type--more statement than story--except for the one whose title I paraphrase above: "The Rebellion Of Yale Marratt"--that one was a rather stirring romance despite its unconventionality. But until "Stranger In a Strange Land", Heinlein was the dean of the solid "space opera". From him you got sci-fi, not preaching. He was still readable at the Young Adult level when Asimov was beginning to become a bit too intellectual for the common man. Where Heinlein transcended pulp was the character-driven flavor of his books: "The Rolling Stones", "Starship Trooper" (nothing like that moronic X-Box game of a movie, thank God!), "The Red Planet", Podkayne Of Mars", you name it. This story starts out promising, to be sure. The first manned mission to Mars comes up missing, and when they send the next mission 25 years later (World War III held things up), they find no survivors of the first mission except a young man who is the son of two of the crew mambers, conceived on Mars. He's still alive because the Martians found him and cared for him after the deaths of his parents and their crewmates. But he doesn't know how to be human, and much of the first half of this story deals with this culture shock experience. He has a lot more than triple gravity to deal with here. He's befriended by his nurse at the hospital, who is the first to try to understand him as a person rather than a patient or case study. She sneaks him out of the hospital and stashes him at the country estate of an iconoclastic rich friend of the reporter she's dating. This guy is both a doctor and lawyer with an irreverent viewpoint of both professions. At this point, the book starts to become quasi-Rimmer. How to deal with culture shock? Most everybody adapts, but the Man From Mars does a one-eighty and sets out to bend "culture" to his way of thinking. He borrows a page from a rich-and-cheesy televangelist he was exposed to and sets up a new religion that's basically Martian philosophy for Earth human consumption, with fringe benefits like out-of-body travel, teleportation and psychokinesis. It's the best way to transcend the base instincts and mean-spiritedness of a society that gets off more on making war than making love, a society that cherishes worldly goods over human dignity, yadda-yadda-yadda. Our Hero is such a babe magnet that he can score with any woman he knows, including all three of his benefactor's beautiful secretaries, an ex-stripper he brings to the Faith, and even wins the nurse away from her reporter beau and makes him content with it! When I first read this story, I was in my twenties, my hair down to my shoulders, my all-purpose accolade to anything that impressed me was "far out", and my choice for a replacement National Anthem was "Easy To Be Hard" from the musical "Hair": "How can people be so heartless?
How can people be so cruel?
Easy to be hard, easy to say no." Today it makes me wince at the wishful-thinking trip I was into back then. The "Establishment" was my enemy back then, and I rejoiced whenever the Man From Mars, my fictional ally, fought back and outmaneuvered them. We all knew so much back then. We all knew what "true evil" was, and hey man, it sure wasn't the taboos the "pigs" imposed on us. I mean, like, what a bummer--everything that felt good was forbidden! But none of us wet-behind-the-ears know-it-alls could forsee religious fanatic bandits smacking two jumbo jets into two skyscrapers in the same town where "Hair" premiered. I strongly disagree with reviewers who say this book has "staying power". It's very dated and it's very ideology-specific. And I can attest to the fact a single reader can change his mind bigtime over the years on worldview, much less entertainment choices.
Rating:
Summary: science fiction with staying power
Review: This book has been hanging around now since the sixties because it is not just a good science fiction novel. There are several levels to think about what Heinlein is writing, as you will see if you read many reviews about it. As far as science fiction goes, it is as good as anything I've read for pure enjoyment. If you like science fiction that is very technical and detail-oriented, you might want to try something else. Jubal is a very enjoyable character, and then of course there's Michael and Jill; so there's probably at least one character in the book that you find yourself gravitating to. It's easy to see where the book sort of changes from section to section - this could be turned into a criticism that the writing is choppy and fragmented overall, but I didn't find myself being distracted or turned away. At the very least it's an interesting book, not your typical science fiction, worth reading.
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.
|
