Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (1995, Paperback, Reissue)

Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" won the 1962 Hugo Award and is an international best seller and landmark novel. It opened the trade best sellers lists to science fiction writers, breaking down longstanding barriers. At the same time the novel became a benchmark of the 1960s generation and its iconoclasm and free-love themes.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during the first manned mission to Mars. Because he is the only survivor, he is raised by Martians. When he arrives on Earth he is a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultural mores or religions. With the popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs.

The impact of Stranger in a Strange Land has been considerable, leading many people to set up households based on Michael's water-brother nests. Modern readers must be prepared to overlook his political incorrect passages like: "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault," however. That being said, "Stranger in a Strange Land" is one of the Heinlein's best novels pregnant with provocative prose and coined words. Can you "grok" it?

Heinlein has been highly criticized for his pontificating: organized religion is a sham, authority is generally stupid, young women are all the same, and the common person is alternately an independent entity or a dim-witted cog in the ignorant lemming machine. Yet the book is hard to put down. Its early pages conjure a truly masterful science fiction platform. Every serious reader with a science fiction collection should have it.