Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Stranger in a Strange Land  By  cover art

Stranger in a Strange Land

By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $23.98

Buy for $23.98

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,438
  • 4 Stars
    2,511
  • 3 Stars
    1,175
  • 2 Stars
    381
  • 1 Stars
    202
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,954
  • 4 Stars
    1,789
  • 3 Stars
    537
  • 2 Stars
    87
  • 1 Stars
    56
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,244
  • 4 Stars
    1,739
  • 3 Stars
    931
  • 2 Stars
    352
  • 1 Stars
    186

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

What a performance!!

If you could sum up Stranger in a Strange Land in three words, what would they be?

Thoughtful, intellectual, engaging

What did you like best about this story?

Great exploration of ideas and philosophy.. what it means to be human

Which character – as performed by Christopher Hurt – was your favorite?

Jubal Harshaw

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

Hands down the best performance of any audiobook ive listened to on audible. It made the book very enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

May You Never Thirst

This is the most famous Science Fiction novel ever written for a reason. It is superb! Eminently satisfying it left me hungry for a sequel. At least we will see Jubal appear again in later stories featuring Lazarus Long. Mr Hurt delivered a talented performance with rich characterization of the players. I look foreard to hearing his next story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Clearly a classic

I've only read this book a dozen times, but it was even more fun to listen to it. The narrator did a marvelous job matching the voices with the person.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Historic sci-fi novel

It is a bit dated when it comes to its ideas, but it’s still a joy to read/listen to. The narrator does a fantastic job here. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Second half reads like a fan fiction of the first

It starts out as an interesting discussion on nature vs nurture but it loses focus in the second half. Not to mention a lot of casual sexism throughout.
Also Heinlein's self insert character wore on me pretty quickly which is a shame because he has a ton of lines.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A dated but powerful story

A great novel that follows Valentine Smith, a man born on mars. The book preaches free love, but states hard exceptions. And provides great critical insights on American culture.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Read

I really liked the story but it did go off the rails at the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite SF aurhors & titles

Great story, good narration (although voice was a bit robotic).

here are five more words

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Classic!

I read this book 40 years ago and loved it. I decided to listen to it to see what I had forgotten. This was a great decision! The performance was excellent and the dialog even better than I remembered. Most certainly worth a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great narration

The narrator did a great job. The content was really interesting in the beginning but Got rather weird towards the end of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!