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Stranger in a Strange Land

By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
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Publisher's summary

Stranger in a Strange Land is the epic saga of an earthling, Valentine Michael Smith, born and educated on Mars, who arrives on our planet with “psi” powers—telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, teleportation, pyrolysis, and the ability to take control of the minds of others—and complete innocence regarding the mores of man.

After his tutelage under a surrogate father figure, Valentine begins his transformation into a kind of messiah. His exceptional abilities lead him to become many things to many people: freak, scam artist, media commodity, searcher, free love pioneer, neon evangelist, and martyr.

Heinlein won his second Hugo Award for this novel, sometimes called his “divine comedy” and often called his masterpiece. This Blackstone audiobook is the “as published” version, read from an Ace paperback published in 1987. The full, uncut text was not made available until 1991.

©1961 by Robert A. Heinlein (P)1996 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

  • Hugo Award, 1962

Featured Article: The Most Stellar Sci-Fi Authors of All Time


Science fiction is a genre as diverse as you can imagine. There are stories that take place in deep space, often depicting teams exploring or running away from something; stories that focus on life at the most cellular level, such as a pandemic tale; and stories that take place in times that feel similar to our own. Depicting themes of existentialism, philosophy, hubris, and personal and historical trauma, sci-fi has a cadre of topics and moods.

What listeners say about Stranger in a Strange Land

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

time enough for love

Time enough for love is one of the greatest books ever written. I suppose that in order for a person to enjoy, and accept a book that was written with such notions as abandonment of modern religious precepts; is not easy for people in a culture who are indoctinated and brainwashed to the extent that Americans are. It was not easy in the 1950's and I guess that little has changed. But Heinlein understood that this was the first step in obtaining spirituality. i.e. abandon all your religious or cultural notions in order to find the truth. That is what I surmise as the reason why many of the other reviewers didn't like this book. The book is a classic, but if you are a really religious person you wouldn't like Heinlein period, so don't bother with this one.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

The best book to start off loving all of Heinlein'ws works
This book has so many lessons on life and trust and what you see when you look at the world. A must for sci fi readers

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Every thing I had hoped for.

At last another way to enjoy my favourite book and number 1 author it was every thing I had hoped for.Once again I can emurse myself in his amazing words and Grok it fully. This story changed me from the moment I read it and I have evolved eversince, A philosophy that blends itself to all who Grok and can see the changes to be made . Thank you Robert for your words and well done Christopher Hurt for you vocal prowes in delivering them as they were written clean clear and intuitively. I have enjoyed this Audio Book and will enjoy evry other one from the same Author . Thank you

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator A+/Story B-

The main character is an orphan brought up Tarzan-style by ancient Martians, who teach him to flex innate supernatural powers muscles that the rest of us don't know we have. The story starts out fascinating and ends up weird. Ever wonder what you'd get if you combined Jesus with Ron Jeremy? Probably not, but this author pegged it for sure.

The narrator does excellent work. The other reviewer's comments about modulating sound quality and background noise is accurate, but in my opinion it is tolerable.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Worth Rereading

I read it 40+ years ago. Now I grok it. Smith, raised on Mars in a selfless culture, is an individual who didn't have to shed the baggage of our ego burdened society. He is used by Heinlein, in Socratic- style dialog with Jubal, a wise earthling, to illustrate the insanity of our current society. When this Buddha/Christ figure engages our world, the result is both humorous and hopeful.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Should have been sooner

I put off listening to this for to long. The narrator used his Lazarus Long voice for one of the characters which was nostalgic and fitting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

outstanding

do yourself a favor and read this book. maybe more interesting reading it long after it's time to compare attitudes in the author's time to today.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing

I loved it. i would suggest it to anyone who loves to read a good story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Always my favorite book

I re-read this book about once every decade. each reading reveals yet another level of complexity to the story. everyone needs to read this book, as everyone can relate yo one or more of the characters. It was a joy to hear it performed!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

So good, yet disappointing.

A revolutionary book with amazing concepts, but so hindered by sexual and gender biases of the time and possibly the Author, as brilliant and celebrated as he was.

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