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Summary: Powerful words to a growing soul
Review: This book was an incredible journey into the depths of mankinds collective soul. Their were many powerful messages and the confusion of the books stream of concious narrative only adds to the effect. This book is what got me started on heinlein.
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Summary: Extremely violent and bloody
Review: Page after page of bloodstained revolution built on falsehoods, murder, and propaganda. A few good SF ideas, but Libertarian? NO! Libertarianism not about force, fraud, or violence. Much overrated!
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Summary: Beautiful and moving...some of Heinlein's best characters
Review: I read this book when I was young and it has influenced my political philosophy greatly, just as The Number of the Beast influenced my ideas on space-time and Stranger in a Strange Land influenced my ideas on metaphysics. This book is highly entertaining and moving, perhaps the most moving book I have ever read. How many authors can make you weep for the death of a computer? I have heard many criticisms of R.A.H.'s attitude toward women, and I have one thing to say: No author had more respect for women than he. I was never offended and often flattered by his ideas about women. If anyone doubts my claims, read To Sail Beyond the Sunset or Time Enough for Love. Heinlein was very inflential in my young mind, but as I have grown older I no longer hold *all* his truths to be self-evident. I believe he would approve, individualist thinking was one of his passions. However, for intellectually stimulating fiction, Moon is a classic and will stay with you for a while.
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Summary: Where's Bill Gates?
Review: This is definitely a must-buy book, for many reasons. But face it, Heinlein totally failed to forsee the rise of the personal computer, the Net, and Bill Gates, and so his vision of 2076 is fatally flawed. His science is pretty poor too, such as the idea that the Earth needs the Moon at all. And the idea that the Moon can be self-sufficient is highly suspect. The effect the low gravity has on people being irreversible is also suspect. END
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Summary: I just can't take this anymore...
Review: A great plot, but too many personal messages and sexist views coming through that take away from the flow of the story. My biggest complaint (and surely many other readers') is the character of Wyoh. When first introduced in the book, I thought: aha - a strong female character! Several chapters later, and my hopes were dashed into the wall yet again. Avoid this book. No, really, I'm serious.
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Summary: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress-- First paperback edition read.
Review: This is a truely wonderful book. The ideas about the necessity of a co-operative society, and the Characters of Mike and Manuel are excellent counterpoints to the Professor. These three characters, in particular, create a complex network of interactions, Mike to the Prof, the Prof to Manuel, Manny to Mike. The idea of a self-intelligent computer, and the reasons|cause for such a state are truely intriguing. Also, This book sets up for many of the following ideas and places used, such as in _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_, and _Friday_.
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Summary: Surprisingly realistic about difficulties of libertarianism
Review: Remarkably, Heinlein's 3 famous/controversial cult novels appeal to 3 different audiences: "Starship Troopers: -- career military men; "Stranger in a Strange Land" -- hippies; "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" -- libertarians.Of these 3, "Moon" is the best plotted and best written (including Heinlein's most ambitious attempt at a new prose style, which was influenced by Burgess' "Clockwork Orange"). While, for some mysterious (probably hormonal) reason, I love "Starship Troopers" more, this book certainly is the ideal introduction to Heinlein's novels for adults. It's literary merits are all the more surprising considering both it's abundant slam-bang action and it's status as a treatise on libertarianism. Moreover, for a work of ideological propaganda, it is clear-eyed about what you'd have to put up with to live in a libertarian society. Without the government to look after you, Heinlein points out that you'd have to make sure you are on very friendly terms with all your neighbors. Extreme neighborliness is a requirement for a libertarian society (Charles Murray reiterated this point in his recent "What It Means to Be a Libertarian"). Personally, as a surly introvert, the lack of privacy and the social conformity required to function in a stateless society would get on my nerves so bad, that I'd probably make myself a nuisance to all my neigbors, and no doubt they'd be justfied in eventually tossing me out an airlock. So, maybe I don't really want to live in a truly libertarian society. But, it's well worth visiting one in the company of a great mind like Heinlein's.
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Summary: Excellent
Review: The first book that I read by Heinlein Starship Troopers left a dry taste in my mouth so I was loathe to read another. My wife bought this for me because she saw the other book on my shelf. When I finally got time to read this I became so engrossed that I did little else. I so enjoyed this book that I bought a copy for one of my friends. Again his ideas on what a future society will consist of astound me. That was the part of Starship Troopers that I actually enjoyed. This book was set at a well paced clip and the characters were great. This book has encouraged me to continue to read Heinlein. For a diehard Star Wars fan to read another author it takes alot.
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Summary: Really good, but not his best
Review: Thought of by many as his most important, if not best novel, "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistess" is thoroughly enjoyable and (I hate to use the cliche) one of those books you can't put down. But it lacked real insight into human relationships, something Heinlein displayed a great knack for in "Stranger In A Strange Land." If you're looking for your first Heinlein novel, read "Stranger," then read "Moon."
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Summary: Best thing I was ever forced to read!
Review: "Mistress" was required reading for one of my poli-sci classes in college. It is probably the only book I ever read for school in its entirety and by far, the only "text" book I so completely enjoyed. Heinlein's vision of the future is remarkable and was an exceptional tool, albeit an eccentric one, for the class. The teacher was a bore but I will always thank him for introducing me to "The Moon..."
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