Originally published at Forest Azuaron.

Stranger in a Strange Land, in two parts. 1: The Obligatory What Does the Government Do. 2: The Philosophy of Sexual Politics according to Robert Heinlein.

Part 1 is quite good, and you can see how it will later become the foundation for many "lone special person baffles government officials" stories for decades to come--though I do wonder how much Stranger was influenced by The Day the Earth Stood Still, which came out a decade earlier.

Unfortunately, it feels a little rushed. Like, Heinlein really wanted to write Part 2, but knew he couldn't get away with it without addressing Part 1.

Part 2, well, let's just say you may not want to talk sexual philosophy with the same book that brings us such wonderful quotes as, "9 times out of 10, when a woman is raped, it's her fault," and, "This isn't one of those times when women have the vote!" Also, you'll never understand the philosophy, anyway, unless you learn to think in Martian. Thanks Heinlein for clearing up everything! Thou art God!

A single 3.

Edit: Ugh, I've just found out there's "cut" (the original publication) and "uncut" (published in the 90s) versions of Stranger, and I read the cut version. I am not interested enough to try it again, but it's likely that colored my perception of the book.