Stranger in a Strange Land

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins

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

The reader groks Jubal

Very well done. The voice of the reader in conveying Jubal Harshaw was great and added a lot to the story for me. I have read the book many times over the years and it simply doesn't age. This reading of the book was very well done and I enjoyed it very much!

The MUST READ Sci-Fi book of the 21st Century...

This classic story begins as a galloping adventure yarn, and spirals into a mystical philosophy of life and belief that is not to be missed. I re-read it every 10 years. Valentine Michael Smith is an amazingly well realized character, and his coming of age in a strange world is joyous, full of wonder, incredibly moving, and beautifully realized. Sexy and funny and sad and joyful and wise...do yourself a favor and read this glorious book (unabridged!)

Wonderfully read.

A great book read wonderfully. Well recommended.

Wonderful

When I first read Stranger in a Strange Land, I needed a few days to absorb it and figure out where it stood in my "favorites" list. It's one of the few books that has actually influenced my life on a noticeable scale, and as such, I wasn't sure I would allow myself to enjoy the audiobook. If I have previously read a book and loved it, I'm a lot more critical of the choice of the narrator when it's read or dramatized.
I have also listened to a number of audiobooks and have developed an attachment to certain narrators (Stephen Briggs' Discworld narrations over other Discworld narrators, for example) and am a bit of a "quality" snob.
In my opinion, this is a very well done audiobook. The quality is somewhat gruff, but I insist this fits the book. The narrator's performance of beloved characters is stellar and I would definitely recommend it, with the caveat that you should give it a few minutes to adjust, if you're used to crisp and clean audio quality.

Stranger still

This is a strange book, but a compelling one. Robert Heinlein’s seminal works (with those of John Wyndham, Philip K Dick and Ray Bradbury, amongst others) come from the “golden age” of Science Fiction (1950-75), when the theme of the story was the important thing. Before and since techno-gimmickry seems to have overwhelmed the theme approach. In any event, “Stranger” makes for a good listen, and, like all good SF, is intensely thought-provoking, while remaining eminently readable. It has lapses into some long-winded “preachy” phases that a good editor would have trimmed, but nothing too serious. The narrator, Christopher Hurt, does a great job.

Enjoyable despite occasionally poor sound quality

The other reviews cover all of what I could say about the book itself, I'll simply note I enjoyed it (though I believe the storyline is showing its age).

My enjoyment was rather distracted by the highly-variable recording quality, it is quite clear where each recording session begins as the sound levels vary all over the shop. The audio even becomes muffled on occasion, and then there's the odd rustle of turning pages...

A Little Slow...

Any additional comments?

I got this book because it is a classic. I did enjoy it, but it was a very slow book to get through. You really can't approach this as an 'entertaining read'. Although entertaining, it is more philosophical then anything else. Heinlein does a great job of pointing out some of the ridiculousness of our society and our fears.

Change of perspective...

Funny how 30 years changes one's viewpoint.

I read this as a teen, and recall only how magical the whole book's concept seemed. How wonderful it would be to do the things that Valentine does. Fast forward to today, and the book is no less engaging, if a bit dated.

What I found fascinating at my re-read, is that I recognized all the places in the book. I grew up outside Washington, DC, but didn't make any geographical connection back then.

Regarding the audio: Obviously the narrator did much of his recording at home. I thought I was halucinating at first, until I was able to tease out the sound of bird song and a lawnmower, among other things not related to the story, as part of the recording.

superb performance

"Stranger" is a favorite on every top sci-fi list, but the performance on this audio edition sets it apart.

Great!

Fantastic book with a rich story. I couldn’t put it down once I started listening.