It tried too hard. Basically a giant propaganda story for libertarianism. Would have liked a deeper, richer story. ( )

4.5*
I don't know what I had expected from this Hugo award-winning science fiction novel but it was so much better than I had anticipated! The main reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that Heinlein's personal views on politics (as voiced by Prof) were a little too pushy & some of the Earth politics was dated. However, it remains an insightful look at colonialism & revolution despite those flaws. And I loved the look at how the Luna colonists handled marriage as well as other aspects of life there. To top it all off, there is Mike -- the computer who has become sentient though nobody except Manny knows it at the start of the book!

Lloyd James does an excellent narration & I particularly liked his Russian accent for Manny (though I don't know if a character who is 3rd generation Luna with a name like Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis is supposed to be Russian!). ( )

A very good read. Quote dated but holds up pretty well to the hype. ( )

Having worked for and with libertarians for the past nearly 4 years, I have been told time and again how essential Heinlein's seminal work was to my political and philosophical development. Having finally read it, I can attest they were right. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress may be a book from decades ago, but its teachings remain as salient as ever.

Dealing with a penal colony on the moon with minimal oversight, Heinlein provides us with a unique blank slate to explore concepts of society and spontaneous order. The colonists of the moon have developed their own culture, with rules and mores not seen in any culture on Earth. A society in which women hold the ultimate authority in choosing a mate and running a household, where husbands can be divorced and dismissed at will with no formal processes. There is very minimal crime, and what crime there is tends to not be of the violent variety, for violence is punished with community sanctioned death, and everyone knows it. While some aspects of this society may seem archaic and others too bizarre and foreign for our sensibilities, Heinlein weaves a story of a society that on a whole functions quite peacefully.

On the flip side, what little authority does exist on Luna, exists only to rob the people and the land of its resources for the benefit of those on Earth who have been unable to manage their own. The people farm or mine resources and sell them at government determined rates for currency that the government determines the value of, while forcing the people to purchase vital resources back from the government at also rates they have determined. A free market exists where the people can circumvent authority rules. And in that, they thrive and do a much better job at managing their resources than the authority can.

The book also offers wonderful insights into the psychology of fermenting a revolt, organizing insurgent/revolutionary groups, and war/diplomacy. By giving us the barren playground of the moon to experiment with, Heinlein succeeds in exploring many aspects of what we currently assume to just be absolutes and monoliths in our life. And as always, the lesson to be learned is "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" (TANSTAAFL). ( )

This book surprised me. I hadn't read any Heinlein works before, and I had him pegged as a "minor" sci-fi author. Obviously I was wrong, at least regarding this book.

As a writer, I appreciate how he uses chopped-up english and russian terms to create a very specific language that acts as a way of immersing the reader in his world. Also, the technicalities of the moon are pretty well thought-out (for the time it was written) and it makes for an extremely interesting rumination on revolution, social control and propaganda (or realpolitiks, to sum it up).

The only weak spot I found is that the ending is not as powerful as it could have been, though it does portray the motto of the whole book: TANSTAAFL. ( )