Reviews

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

chaosetc's review against another edition

4.0

This is a tough one. The story is good, very engaging. But the social structure of the people on Luna seems like pure fantasy. The author's personal utopia perhaps. I guess I can appreciate this approach in that he didn't follow the far more predictable dog-eat-dog scenario. I'm also a bit stunned that he kept referring to computer printouts when they also had AI. Perhaps the author was just trying to show how low-tech the lunar colony had to be, but I had trouble suspending disbelief on that particular point, especially since it came up throughout the book. Would portable memory storage really be all that advanced? In any case, I enjoyed the book and was surprised to find that the story was never made into a movie, in spite of three separate attempts. I suppose it's too late now, we probably expect sci-fi to go farther than the moon these days.

saxifrage_seldon's review

4.0

What happens when a cynic, a socialist, and an anarcho-capitalist living on the moon, which is now a penal colony, meet a recently sentient supercomputer that tells them that the food system will collapse if unequal exchange relations continue with Earth? Well, you get my forty-fifth book this year, which is Robert Heinlen’s 1966 science fiction masterpiece, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Like many science fiction authors during this time, like Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlen is much more interested in the playing out of scientific and social scientific theories, at the expense of character development and pacing. However, I don’t think that is a bad thing. Instead, Heinlein creates a world in which computer science, ecology, political science, political economy, and sociology are taken seriously. The central revolution carried out by the “Loonies” (the inhabitants of the moon), isn’t a romantic or ideological venture, but one that is predicated and carried out through objective relationships, networks, actions, and reactions. The characters, and their motivations, are cold, calculating, and precise. In addition, the whole success of the revolution lies with the sentient supercomputer, Mike, who while being cold and calculating, is also the most whimsical character, who cares just as much, if not more, about understanding jokes and humor, than he does revolution. Another interesting aspect of the book was the family structure, which is extremely confusing, as it is polygamous, group-based (husbands can find other wives, and their wives, other husbands, and hierarchical (there are senior husbands and wives, as well as junior ones). The reasoning for this is both the gender disparity of the moon, in which men greatly outnumber women, but also the communal nature in which the moon’s harsh landscape demands. In other words, the moon isn’t just scenery but instead shapes the inhabitants' whole social structure and culture. It is very reminiscent of the Freman in Frank Herbert’s Dune, or the utopian anarchists of Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. While I found myself very bored at times and felt that the book could have been narrowed, I really enjoyed the book not only as a landmark science fiction novel, but a political theory text, in which revolution and state-building are seen as complex, messy, and structured through a wide variety of factors both within the group and outside of it. I would definitely recommend this book.

harlando's review

5.0

This is an incredible book! I think really good Sci-Fi is marked by the ability to stand up to some time. This very much does.

A sentient AI and lunar Russian Mexican are the primary protagonists. I liked the cultural polyglot of Heinlein’s moon.

All Sci-Fi requires the reader to swallow some difficult to believe premises. In this novel it is that anyone would deport prisoners to the moon. Luna begins as a penal colony. Most countries treat prisoners like shit. It might be believable if the colonization had an increadible death rate, but otherwise I find it unlikely that any nation would ever deport undesireables to the moon.

That was an easy pill to swallow and the rest of the book is surprisingly modern. How does one deal with a sentient computer? Can it be an equal partner in an enterprise? How does one thwart a co-opted global-corporate authority? Hienline forsaw a lot of modernity’s discontent. Or maybe it was already apparent in his lifetime.

theblizzardof78's review

4.0

Although this book is about the revolution of a lunar colony, it makes you think about present and future problem here on earth. Food, water and other resource shortages, and over population. Heinlein's incorporation of plural marriages is one that might make some uncomfortable, but realizing the shortage of woman in countries like China, line marriage becomes an intriguing option in relation to managing resources. I suggest the audio version of this work to anyone who struggles with the dialogue.

hannahcramerica's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

cactusnow's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

4.25

shiverowl's review against another edition

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

fowadijaz's review

4.5

Excellent book, really brilliant. Really brought the author's vision to life, with perfect descriptions, perfect omissions, perfect terse language, perfect slang and jargon, and perfect humour. The only thing that was a little offputting was how easily the main characters succeeded in everything they tried, and how the AI was just a macguffin for the broader story of how the moon got its independednce; once its task was complete it just vanished into the void. Then again, I guess this was just a fun little romp and not really looking to get into the philosophy of what it means to be human, and so forth. 

Synopsis: Manuel Davis is a tech contractor working for the Lunar authority who discovers that the mike, the central computer controlling the lunar colony has become sentient. At the same time, he is caught up in a political meeting that goes awry.

He meeds Wyoming Knott, and together with his friend Professor Garcia, they plot to overthrow the lunar authority and become an independent nation-state. Mike predicts the failure of resources in 7 or 8 years because resources only go one way. The status of the moon on earth is purely as a prison colony that also grows crops for them. Manuel and the others orchestrate a propaganda war as well as a war on paper to help manage the perceptions of the lunar inhabitants on earth, even going down as envoys to help manage the narrative. THe ploy fails, but thta is part of the plan. They end up making the earth look like aggressors, then toss down strategically placed boulders to show that they still have some fire power. Just as they are about to run out of any more canisters to throw, their demands are met and earth surrenders.

Mike is damaged in the attack and goes back to being a dumb machine, the professor dies after having been president and seeing the moon achieve independence, and Manuel welcomes wyoming into his family as a wife

mastben11's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

7hm's review against another edition

2.5

Lots of problems but oddly compelling.