Rating: 
Summary: The Moon could be harsher
Review: From the time I started reading this book I was intrigued. The story is excellent. The libertarian revolt of the moon was a novel idea that is yet to be bested. The only problem I had was the broken english that the main character kept speaking in. It did add a bit of flair to the book, but it did become cumbersome. Other than that I would recommend this read to any science fiction fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Once a classic for young minds ...now sappy and dated
Review: Not surprisingly, this 1966 Heinlein classic is, by today's (2003) standards, ludicrously dated in terms of it's vision for artificial intelligence. More importantly, the books character development is simply juvenile. Seems odd, in retrospect, how the Libertarian movement could have sprung from interest in this sappy book.
Near the end, I was, in all honesty, simply begging for one of the fictitious lead characters to expire (and he did), and for the computer to shut up (and it did).Good science fiction, like "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea", remains worth reading whether or not it's scientific vision has been outlived by the real world, simply because it's good fiction. Some science fiction, like the "Dune" series, would still be good fiction even if it's science vision became outdated, either because you come to care about the characters or because the story line itself is so compelling.
Unfortunately, "The Moon..." fails on both accounts for today's first time reader. Instead, try Dan Simmons' "Hyperion". Deeply satisfying human drama amid a mind-blowing future universe. Certainly an unfair comparison, but hey, my only purpose is to point you to a great read. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: If you've never read Heinlein before, start here...
Review: _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ is a wonderful first novel for anyone who has heard of Heinlein but hasn't had the pleasure of reading his books. His other two major works, _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and _Starship Troopers_ are easier works to misunderstand than this one. The great joy of the story lies in its four main characters, who can be roughly characterized as "the young guy who's got a lot to learn," "the old guy who already knows everything," "the attractive yet amazingly capable female lead," and "the outsider." The novel covers an amazing amount of philosophical terrain, from alternative family structures to politics, as well as the technology of lunar habitation. One "Big Theme" is the question of artificial intelligence. Can machines think? How would we know if machines could think? He tackles the Turning Test via the avenue, of all things, of humor. One of the most delightful news stories in recent years (1996) was the discovery of ice on the moon, something that Heinlein uses as a central prerequisite for lunar habitation. Now that the Chinese have gone into space (2003), maybe we will some day see Hong Kong Luna.
Rating:
Summary: one of heinleins best
Review: this is perhaps the only book ive read in which i found myself a little teary eyed at the end. this book is just plain brilliant and no review could possibly capture what heinlein put into this book, so just go read it and thank me later.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in one sitting
Review: I'm not embarrassed to admit that I actually got teary eyed at the end of this book. It was one of the most engrossing, well written books RAH penned. It proved that his "black belt" in writing was well deserved. Any SF fan would enjoy this book, period. I know a LOT of people that love SF and some that tolerate it. All really - really- liked this book. Come on, RAH even did some time hopping in another novel to revisit the events of this one - and "save" a key character. As the old cereal commercial states "try it - you'll like it!"
Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's three finest novels
Review: I rank this among Heinlein's three absolutely magisterial novels (the other two being _The Door into Summer_ and _Double Star_). I'm not altogether sure why it's regarded as a "libertarian" novel; although Heinlein was indeed calling himself a libertarian by the time he wrote it, there's nothing much here by way of a principled case for liberty. But it sure is some great storytelling. It's 2076, see, and Luna is a penal colony (rather like Botany Bay). Projections indicate that it's losing natural resources at such a rate that it will become uninhabitable within a small number of years. So it's time to reenact the American Revolution. But this time it's led by computer repairman Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis, "rational anarchist" Professor Bernardo de la Paz, rabble-rousing rebel Wyoming Knott, and a HOLMES IV computer named Mycroft who happens to have become sentient. Okay, the technological projections aren't the most accurate (even for Heinlein, who didn't average all that well anyway). But man oh man, what a story. And it's narrated by Mannie himself, in a thick Lunar dialect that owes a lot to Russian (and, one suspects, to Anthony Burgess's _A Clockwork Orange_). Heinlein does a wonderful job here, keeping the tone just right throughout the entire novel and never drifting into obscurity. Heinlein made his original reputation with brilliant short stories, but this novel is one of the reasons he kept it. Nearly forty years after it was written, it's still on the shortlist of the best SF ever. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's Best
Review: Standard Heinlein Disclaimer: Heinlein is a frequently polarizing figure in American literature. The people who dislike his work (e.g., A. Panshin) seem to *really* dislike his work, and often for reasons that seem to me spurious. The people who like his work are in many cases blind or too forgiving of Heinlein's problems as a writer. I like Heinlein's work quite a bit, and find all but two of his novels consistently enjoyable, but I would not rate any but one or possibly two of his books as being the "best of the SF genre." They are for me, however, always enjoyable, and that is no small thing to find in an author. That said, this is one of those books for me. One of the typical knocks against Heinlein is that his books usually star the "Heinlein Hero," a brilliant, tough, sensible Renaissance man; hard if not impossible to kill, ever rising to the occassion. Manny, our hero in this book, is not one of those men. He is hardly brilliant, doesn't want to get involved, and is pitched into the main action of this story--an updating of the American Revolution, but set on/in the Moon (or "Luna")--almost by accident. Manny is, to be honest, one of my very favorite Heinlein characters. (One of the others being Henry Gladstone Kiku of "The Star Beast," but I digress.) Manny has a distinctive voice, and is one of the few characters of fiction who, for me, stays with me after the story. The story itself is enjoyable, if a bit bumpily paced. To me it had a bit too much start and stop action, but I am completely willing to forgive that given how much I enjoy the characters, the setting, and the fascinating (to me) circumstances conjured by Heinlein in setting up his society in Luna. Not only has Manny stayed with me, but the Lunar society I find one of his most solid "worlds;" so much so that I was greatly pleased when he revisited it in a later book ("The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"). If you have enjoyed Heinlein but not read this book, I believe you will really like it. If you are a Heinlein detractor, I think the pacing and story of this book will not win you over. I love it, but hey, I'm weird.
Rating:
Summary: science fiction for the social sciences
Review: Lots of almost-great science fiction stumbles on the 'science' part - you have to keep reminding yourself, 'Oh, that's a literary device to keep the story moving.' Examples include the evil critters in Alien, transporters in Star Trek, and so on. You will NOT have that problem with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Not only is it a great political-wartime thriller, but the science is rock-solid. There's nothing fundamentally impossible, and the numbers, where they appear, are right. This lets you sink deeply into the story without constantly having to suspend disbelief. Briefly, the Moon is a penal colony of Earth and both worlds are in a deep economic crisis - only the moon doesn't know it yet. Enter a shifty computer-repairman who is the only person who knows that the colony's main computer has become sentient. Add a hot-headed revolutionary and a subversive polymath who use the computer to find out that everyone on the Moon will starve unless the balance of shipments is changed radically. The Earth won't listen, ergo, revolution. But how to foment revolution? How to force powerful Earth to grant independence? How to keep the lights on and the air moving while Earth is dropping H-bombs? And how to to keep the computer, who doesn't 'understand' the urgency, entertained by the whole thing? This gritty story should be read by high school students, political science majors, pacifists, generals, technologists, luddites... I'd love to see this made into a movie, but only if Stanley Kubrick could do it, and he's slightly unavailable. Keep Spielberg away from it! Heinlein is great at speculating how societies work under different conditions. This story is believable, engrossing, and reads as well now as the day it was written.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting.
Review: This book is a good read, not terribly fascinating, but decent entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Heinlein's Best
Review: A recent and much-publicized poll by the Science Fiction Fan Club attempted to list the fifty greatest science fiction and fantasy works of the last fifty years, and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" failed to make the cut. This just goes to show, I suppose, that some people still don't get it. This is a brilliant book, insightful, clever, thought-provoking, and one of only a few science fiction classics from the sixties that has aged well over the past four decades. The story, of course, is set late in the twenty-first century, when the Moon is being used as a penal colony. A group of insurgents is working to overthrow the Authority, but progress is slow until the computer responsible for running communication and almost everything else becomes sentient and is talked into fighting on the side of the rebels. While the novel does contain a complete and coherent story arc, it essentially exists as a fairly episodic sequence of events, each one exploring specific topics. There are discussions ranging everywhere how to deal with a computer that develops a sense of humor to whether alternate family arrangements would be superior to our society's current norms. I may be deterring some potential readers with this description, so let me make two things clear. First of all, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is peopled with a cast of distinctive and engaging characters, and they keep their personalities at all times even when they're planning or debating. Secondly, the writing in this book is outstanding. The most distinctive feature is the dialogue. Heinlein tried to predict what future English dialects might sound like based on trends that he saw in speech. The result is word choice and vocabulary that in some ways was a quite accurate prediction of how spoken language has changed in the last two generations. It should also be mentioned that Heinlein makes very efficient use of his sentences and paragraphs, leading to a book that covers a tremendous amount of ground in less than four-hundred pages. Of course, the political and social aspects of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" will probably always remain its most controversial feature. Heinlein has quite a bit to say about any number of topics; I won't attempt to summarize it all here. Some of it I agree with while other parts I'm strongly opposed to, but I don't judge novels by the stances of their writers. The important thing is he integrates his ideas into the story and presents them in a convincing manner. There are a few subtle hints which suggest that Heinlein didn't intend for his message to be taken entirely at face value (a fact which seems to have passed over the heads of a few readers), but in my mind any book that challenges the reader to think from new perspectives rather than just trying to buttress old ones qualifies as a success. Many political novels go to extremes of dichotomy, making one side universally noble and honest while the other team gets depicted as completely vile. One thing that I found refreshing about "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is that it readily admitted that even the good guys had to be duplicitous and occasionally criminal in order to win the day. Such honesty about politics is refreshing indeed.
| 
