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 (on $ale here) Awards:Hugo Award: 1967 Best SF NovelNebula Award: 1966 nominee |
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistressby Robert A HeinleinVital Statistics: Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Orb Books; 1st edition (June 15, 1997) Language: English ISBN-10: 0312863551 ISBN-13: 978-0312863555 Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces Review:courtesy of She Who ReadsThe Moon is a Harsh Mistress is an excellent novel, action-packed, exciting, and deftly-plotted, with fascinating, complex characters and some interesting science-fictional ideas. I also enjoyed reading about Luna's culture; I thought the marriage customs were particularly interesting. One thing I noticed right off was the way the Loonies use language differently than people from earth do. In fact, it threw me at first -- I couldn't figure out what was going on or why the language was so rough and unpolished and choppy. Eventually, though, I found the rhythm of it and settled in just fine -- I didn't even notice it after a while. It makes sense; Luna started off as a penal colony and has since developed completely separate from Earth and relatively unmolested. Of course they would have their own dialect and speech patterns! To my mind, their language seems to be as efficent as possible. They trimmed away any unnecessary deadwood -- they don't use articles, for example, and very few personal pronouns, and they seem to prefer to use fragments to complete sentences. Only the essentials remain, much the same as the original colonists/prisoners had to start their lives over with only the bare essentials and sometimes not even that. This book was written about forty years ago, and it has stood the test of time quite well, but there are some aspects of it that do seem rather dated. For example, the idea behind the character of Mike -- the computer that is connected to everything and has "woken up" or become alive -- is one that is very familiar to modern readers, one that we accept easily. Apparently, we accept it much more easily than Heinlen expected his readers in 1965 to accept it, because he spends more time explaining it than he really needs to. When Mannie, the narrator, tells Wyoh about Mike and introduces them via a telephone conversation, she is shocked that Mike already knows what she looks like. He looked up her medical records and found a picture of her immediately after being introduced to her. To modern readers familiar with the internet, this is an obvious step and hardly shocking; we expect it, and Wyoh's shock and apparent need to have every detail and implication of Mike's "life" spelled out for her makes her seem a little bit stupid to us. If we don't remember that Heinlen is using Wyoh to explain things to his 1965 audience that his 2005 audience intuitively understands, then we'll get a little frustrated with Wyoh's denseness. All in all, though, this is a novel about politics -- a very complex, deep, intellectual and sophisticated look at politics, government, revolution and war. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has a very definite world-view and political philosophy, some of which I agreed with, and some of which I really, really didn't. My agreement (or lack thereof) with the politics espoused in this book didn't seem to have much bearing on my enjoyment of it. This is a book that requires the reader to think. And that, I think, is why I loved it so much. Used with the permission of the author. Review:courtesy of nycresistor.com by Matt The stories plot contains three elements that I think contribute to it’s status as a unique work of science fiction. First is revolution, certainly a wonderful backdrop for any work of art as it provides ample opportunity to play off many of the fundamental emotions of man. Second it approaches the concept of Artificial Intelligence in a disturbing and profound way. And lastly, it addresses a possible future, that without Heinlein’s personal technical background and expertise would be very difficult to communicate. Now alone any one of these three elements would be a rehash of ideas trodden upon time and again by our literati. But, the combination of the three and coupled with Heinlein’s attention to scientific and technical accuracy (to say nothing of his skill as an author) gives birth to an idea that is very much unique. And having been released three years prior to man having ever set foot on the moon, it must have been a truly jaw dropping view into a future that no doubt seemed imminent to the people of the time. So, let’s discuss life on the Moon. As any nerd will tell you, the biggest problem with colonizing the moon, or mars, or anywhere outside of earth is our gravity well. Defeating it is difficult. Defeating it and getting enough weight into an escape velocity, while preserving economic viability is where it gets utterly gruesome. Already, even in Heinlein’s day people were thinking about how to replace the very expensive, very dangerous, and very inefficient, Saturn V rocket program with something a little more cost effective. Today, we mostly look to the idea of a space elevator as a solution. But second to that theory is the one Heinlein settled on, linear acceleration. If you don’t know what linear acceleration is, just look up “rail gun” on google. Heinlein’s genius is in his ability to construct fantastic settings for very real human stories. And, in this book, he’s painted a very realistic view (especially for 1966) of what a future of human exploitation of the moon might be like. A moon full of earth’s worst prisoners and their descendants (loonies) are depleting the ice stores on it to meet the growing demand of underground farms snaking throughout the moon. These farms are being used to help ease the food shortages on a horribly overpopulated earth. It’s uncanny how Heinlein has predicted a future that we can very much see now. An India no longer able to contain it’s poverty, and a China whose sole concern is it’s economic future. It’s also with incredible insight he manages to construct an improbable and exotic lunar people built from descendants of the “scum” of humanity. I find myself very much into his excitement at explaining this brave new world. And it is charming, much the same way New New York was. With interesting characters and malcontents bread in this tumultuous and dangerous new world (is it a moon anymore?). A future without dirt, grime, and the seedy underbelly of humanity is a false future indeed. The best character in this story, in my mind, is Mike, short for Mycroft Holmes (1966, not a microsoft reference). Mike is a computer (Hey you kids! Stop all the downloading!) that’s befriended by the three main characters in the story. Mannie, the protagonist, is the systems administrator (of sorts) that discovers Mike. Wyoh is the revolutionary love interest of Mannie’s and a female counterpoint to Mannie. And lastly there’s prof, a grizzled old Anarchist who acts as a sort of voice of revolutionary history. Mike is really only seen through the eyes of Mannie who is telling the story, and much of the time we are left skeptical about what it is that Mike is thinking. I suppose after decades of AI phobic movies and books it’s easy to play to Mannie’s own fears regarding Mike’s development. But, more than anything you are drawn to Mike’s often times unexpected, and often curiously indirect commentary. For instance, when Mike refers to Mannie in the beginning of the story he calls him “Man, his first and only friend”. I found this phrase to really be incredibly thought provoking despite it’s simplicity. And I found that as Mike developed as a character I really did find his words to be very much endearing, and equally enjoyable thought candy. What would an AI think of mankind upon waking to his new life? Alone, Mike innately yearned to learn from the only other “not stupid” he knew of, Mannie, his first and only friend. Is Mannie, a representative of all men? Mike to me is like the world’s most intelligent dog. He can’t help but love the few friends he has, and every task he volunteers for he attacks with absolute glee. I really have to admit, Mike may be my favorite character ever. He’s certainly my favorite AI. And if for nothing else, I’d read this book just to see this character developed. But we can’t have a revolution without a conspiracy, and as we all know you need at least 3 for a conspiracy. So Mannie is you, and I. He’s skeptical, he’s got his life figured out. He’s of moderate success, has a family, and for the most part is pretty happy with his life. But, Mike is a central part of his life, and ends up putting him on a path to meet Wyoh. With the help of Mannie’s old mentor, prof, Wyoh is able to quickly (and largely before Mannie even realizes it) place Mannie at the heart of the Lunar revolutionary party. And from there we get to see first hand, how the very fragile balance in society that allows the people on the moon to flourish, will also make them a force to be reckoned with. The themes in economics, science, and culture that this story brings up oddly enough parallel the US revolution of 1776. Prof, a self proclaimed rational anarchist, acts as the voice for many of America’s founding father’s. Something of a welcomed change from the socialist reform that dominates literary ideas of revolution in modern texts. It’s also a very interesting and modern edge that prof puts on American colonial politics. Prof’s quotations have proven, for me, a source of renewed inspiration in reading the works of Whitman, and the founding fathers on what America is and is not. And it’s provided at least for me some insight into where cultural values have diverged for us. This was a pickup and hard to put down read. I could have finished it in a single sitting if I had the time. I highly recommend it to all. Used with out permission. No response was given to our request. |
