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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Paperback – June 15, 1997
Robert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, an influence so large that, as Samuel R. Delany notes, "modern critics attempting to wrestle with that influence find themselves dealing with an object rather like the sky or an ocean." He won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, a record that still stands. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was the last of these Hugo-winning novels, and it is widely considered his finest work.
It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. It is the tale of the disparate people--a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic--who become the rebel movement's leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience is known only to this inner circle, and who for reasons of his own is committed to the revolution's ultimate success.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of the high points of modern science fiction, a novel bursting with politics, humanity, passion, innovative technical speculation, and a firm belief in the pursuit of human freedom.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is the winner of the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherOrb Books
- Publication dateJune 15, 1997
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.96 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100312863551
- ISBN-13978-0312863555
- Lexile measure900
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Get to know this book
What's it about?
A revolution on a lunar penal colony, aided by a self-aware supercomputer, provides the framework for a story of a diverse group of men and women grappling with the ever-changing definitions of humanity, technology, and free will.Popular highlight
Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws—always for other fellow.925 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
I wasn’t impressed. As it says in Bible, God fights on side of heaviest artillery.377 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
“My point is that one person is responsible. Always. If H-bombs exist—and they do—some man controls them. In terms of morals there is no such thing as ‘state.’ Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts.”330 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
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About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
ONE
That Dinkum Thinkum
I see in Lunaya Pravdathat Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect--and tax--public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. I see also is to be mass meeting tonight to organize “Sons of Revolution” talk-talk.
My old man taught me two things: “Mind own business” and “Always cut cards.” Politics never tempted me. But on Monday 13 May 2075 I was in computer room of Lunar Authority Complex, visiting with computer boss Mike while other machines whispered among themselves. Mike was not official name; I had nicknamed him for Mycroft Holmes, in a story written by Dr. Watson before he founded IBM. This story character would just sit and think--and that’s what Mike did. Mike was a fair dinkum thinkum, sharpest computer you’ll ever meet.
Not fastest. At Bell Labs, Bueno Aires, down Earthside, they’ve got a thinkum a tenth his size which can answer almost before you ask. But matters whether you get answer in microsecond rather than millisecond as long as correct?
Not that Mike would necessarily give right answer; he wasn’t completely honest.
When Mike was installed in Luna, he was pure thinkum, a flexible logic--”High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L”--a HOLMES FOUR. He computed ballistics for pilotless freighters and controlled their catapult. This kept him busy less than one percent of time and Luna Authority never believed in idle hands. They kept hooking hardware into him--decision-action boxes to let him boss other computers, bank on bank of additional memories, more banks of associational neural nets, another tubful of twelve-digit random numbers, a greatly augmented temporary memory. Human brain has around ten-to-the-tenth neurons. By third year Mike had better than one and a half times that number of neuristors.
And woke up.
Am not going to argue whether a machine can “really” be alive, “really” be self-aware. Is a virus self-aware? Nyet. How about oyster? I doubt it. A cat? Almost certainly. A human? Don’t know about you, tovarishch, but Iam. Somewhere along evolutionary chain from macromolecule to human brain self-awareness crept in. Psychologists assert it happens automatically whenever a brain acquires certain very high number of associational paths. Can’t see it matters whether paths are protein or platinum.
(“Soul?” Does a dog have a soul? How about cockroach?)
Remember Mike was designed, even before augmented, to answer questions tentatively on insufficient data like you do; that’s “high-optional” and “multi-evaluating” part of name. So Mike started with “free will” and acquired more as he was added to and as he learned--and don’t ask me to define “free will.” If comforts you to think of Mike as simply tossing random numbers in air and switching circuits to match, please do.
By then Mike had voder-vocoder circuits supplementing his read-outs, print-outs, and decision-action boxes, and could understand not only classic programming but also Loglan and English, and could accept other languages and was doing technical translating--and reading endlessly. But in giving him instructions was safer to use Loglan. If you spoke English, results might be whimsical; multi-valued nature of English gave option circuits too much leeway.
And Mike took on endless new jobs. In May 2075, besides controlling robot traffic and catapult and giving ballistic advice and/or control for manned ships, Mike controlled phone system for all Luna, same for Luna-Terra voice & video, handled air, water, temperature, humidity, and sewage for Luna City, Novy Leningrad, and several smaller warrens (not Hong Kong in Luna), did accounting and payrolls for Luna Authority, and, by lease, same for many firms and banks.
Some logics get nervous breakdowns. Overloaded phone system behaves like frightened child. Mike did not have upsets, acquired sense of humor instead. Low one. If he were a man, you wouldn’t dare stoop over. His idea of thigh-slapper would be to dump you out of bed--or put itch powder in pressure suit.
Not being equipped for that, Mike indulged in phony answers with skewed logic, or pranks like issuing pay cheque to a janitor in Authority’s Luna City office for AS-$10,000,000,000,000,185.15--last five digits being correct amount. Just a great big overgrown lovable kid who ought to be kicked.
He did that first week in May and I had to troubleshoot. I was a private contractor, not on Authority’s payroll. You see--or perhaps not; times have changed. Back in bad old days many a con served his time, then went on working for Authority in same job, happy to draw wages. But I was born free.
Makes difference. My one grandfather was shipped up from Joburg for armed violence and no work permit, other got transported for subversive activity after Wet Firecracker War. Maternal grandmother claimed she came up in bride ship--but I’ve seen records; she was Peace Corps enrollee (involuntary), which means what you think: juvenile delinquency female type. As she was in early clan marriage (Stone Gang) and shared six husbands with another woman, identity of maternal grandfather open to question. But was often so and I’m content with grandpappy she picked. Other grandmother was Tatar, born near Samarkand, sentenced to “re-education” on Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya, then “volunteered” to colonize in Luna.
My old man claimed we had even longer distinguished line--ancestress hanged in Salem for witchcraft, a g’g’g’great-grandfather broken on wheel for piracy, another ancestress in first shipload to Botany Bay.
Proud of my ancestry and while I did business with Warden, would never go on his payroll. Perhaps distinction seems trivial since I was Mike’s valet from day he was unpacked. But mattered to me. I could down tools and tell them go to hell.
Besides, private contractor paid more than civil service rating with Authority. Computermen scarce. How many Loonies could go Earthside and stay out of hospital long enough for computer school?--even if didn’t die.
I’ll name one. Me. Had been down twice, once three months, once four, and got schooling. But meant harsh training, exercising in centrifuge, wearing weights even in bed--then I took no chances on Terra, never hurried, never climbed stairs, nothing that could strain heart. Women--didn’t even thinkabout women; in that gravitational field it was no effort not to.
But most Loonies never tried to leave The Rock--too risky for any bloke who’d been in Luna more than weeks. Computermen sent up to install Mike were on short-term bonus contracts--get job done fast before irreversible physiological change marooned them four hundred thousand kilometers from home.
But despite two training tours I was not gung-ho computermen; higher maths are beyond me. Not really electronics engineer, nor physicist. May not have been best micromachinist in Luna and certainly wasn’t cybernetics psychologist.
But I knew more about all these than a specialist knows--I’m general specialist. Could relieve a cook and keep orders coming or field-repair your suit and get you back to airlock still breathing. Machines like me and I have something specialists don’t have: my left arm.
You see, from elbow down I don’t have one. So I have a dozen left arms, each specialized, plus one that feels and looks like flesh. With proper left arm (number-three) and stereo loupe spectacles I could make untramicrominiature repairs that would save unhooking something and sending it Earthside to factory--for number-three has micromanipulators as fine as those used by neurosurgeons.
So they sent for me to find out why Mike wanted to give away ten million billion Authority Scrip dollars, and fix it before Mike overpaid somebody a mere ten thousand.
I took it, time plus bonus, but did not go to circuitry where fault logically should be. Once inside and door locked I put down tools and sat down. “Hi, Mike.”
He winked lights at me. “Hello, Man.”
“What do you know?”
He hesitated. I know--machines don’t hesitate. But remember, Mike was designed to operate on incomplete data. Lately he had reprogrammed himself to put emphasis on words; his hesitations were dramatic. Maybe he spent pauses stirring random numbers to see how they matched his memories.
“’In the beginning,‘” Mike intoned, “’God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness wasupon the face of the deep. And--’”
“Hold it!” I said. “Cancel. Run everything back to zero.” Should have known better than to ask wide-open question. He might read out entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. Backwards. Then go on with every book in Luna. Used to be he could read only microfilm, but late ‘74 he got a new scanning camera with suction-cup waldoes to handle paper and then he read everything.
“You asked what I knew.” His binary read-out lights rippled back and forth--a chuckle. Mike could laugh with voder, a horrible sound, but reserved that for something really funny, say a cosmic calamity.
“Should have said,“ I went on, “’What do you know that’s new?’ But don’t read out today’s papers; that was a friendly greeting, plus invitation to tell me anything you think would interest me. Otherwise null program.”
Mike mulled this. He was weirdest mixture of unsophisticated baby and wise old man. No instincts (well, don’t thinkhe could have had), no inborn traits, no human rearing, no experience in human sense--and more stored data than a platoon of geniuses.
“Jokes?” he asked.
...
Product details
- Publisher : Orb Books; First Edition (June 15, 1997)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0312863551
- ISBN-13 : 978-0312863555
- Lexile measure : 900
- Item Weight : 11.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.96 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #141,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,862 in Epic Fantasy (Books)
- #13,822 in Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Robert Heinlein](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/fikrpquqhtcp6hkdjvu8oj37cp._SY600_.jpg)
Robert Heinlein was an American novelist and the grand master of science fiction in the twentieth century. Often called 'the dean of science fiction writers', he is one of the most popular, influential and controversial authors of 'hard science fiction'.
Over the course of his long career he won numerous awards and wrote 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections, many of which have cemented their place in history as science fiction classics, including STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and the beloved STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.
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Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the themes interesting, modern, and explore themes of freedom, self-reliance, and social change. They also describe the plot as funny, engrossing, and heartbreaking. Customers describe the characters as rich and the worldbuilding as vivid, honest, and realistic. However, some find the pace slow and disappointing. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, with some finding it well-written and others saying it's unreadable. Customers also disagree on the relevance, with others saying the book is timeless while others say it seems dated.
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Customers find the themes in the book interesting, relevant to current times, and powerful. They say it provides an eerie counterpoint to today's world. Readers also mention that the book explores themes of freedom, self-reliance, anti-colonialism, and social change. They describe it as a modern book that explores the themes of history, politics, and thought-provoking.
"...Yup, very relevant to our current times. And it was published in 1966!" Read more
"...Incredible! The book was definitely difficult to read but definitely entertaining...." Read more
"Still a great book, much to ponder and consider. Also a great story relevant to today’s infatuation with AI...." Read more
"Wonderful introduction to the problems of democracy." Read more
Customers find the characters rich, with real humanity and a convincing voice. They also say the author is a great thinker and writer who fully understands his fellow man.
"...The [acing and character development were very good I thought, and it's just an enjoyable read if you like sci-fi and contemplating what could be..." Read more
"...He starts with a kaleidoscope of colorful characters, posits a world no one living has ever experienced, then uses science to bring them together..." Read more
"...The voice is convincing as a reluctant revolutionary who hails from a multicultural background...." Read more
"The book had some interesting stories and characters, but I found it hard to stay with. A lot of the dialogue was written with a heavy accent...." Read more
Customers find the worldbuilding in the book great, revolutionary, and realistic. They also appreciate the anti-authority theme, gritty details, and vivid sense of place. Readers also mention that the launch system is completely realistic.
"...But I'm glad I read it and enjoyed it for what it was: a great Sci Fi classic." Read more
"...about politics -- a very complex, deep, intellectual and sophisticated look at politics, government, revolution and war...." Read more
"...best science fiction book that I have read and it contributed a realistic outlook of our present and future economic system's strangle hold on poor..." Read more
"...a reputation that proceeds it: libertarian masterpiece, great work of revolutionary fiction, and a great example of normalized polyamory...." Read more
Customers find the plot funny, engrossing, inspiring, and heartbreaking.
"...On the strength of Wyoming's kiss, ready sense of humor, and ability to win the trust of Mike, the next twenty-four hours finds Manuel drafted into..." Read more
"...But well worth the time . Still prescient, funny, and very enjoyable. Allegedly influenced Elon Musk" Read more
"...Even on the umpteenth reading, it grips my attention and brings a tear to my eye." Read more
"...on an entire planet to achieve their goals is filled with excitement, emotion and real humanity...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style. Some find the passages well-written, excellent, and memorable. They also say the book requires the reader to think and has lasting quotes and ideas. However, others find the book unreadable, with abrasive grammatical flow, and broken English. They mention there is no glossary and the book is not deep or novel.
"...however, other is an additional artistic touch: the partial lack of articles and pronouns...." Read more
"Well written classic." Read more
"...of sentences were simply left out..everywhere ..and made it hard to read at times. It was like reading broken english...." Read more
"...I was overall disappointed with it. The writing was just ok...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the relevance of the book. Some mention it's timeless, fresh, and honest, while others say some aspects of it seem rather dated.
"...The technology is dated but expected" Read more
"...It has aged better than many of its contemporaries, but falls just below what I would consider to be a current, five star experience." Read more
"...of time quite well, but there are some aspects of it that do seem rather dated...." Read more
"This book is still a classic even decades after RAH wrote it because its timeless...." Read more
Customers find the pace of the book slow and disappointing. They also say it takes some pages to get used to and starts to drag on for them. However, some find the book hard to put down and mention that reading the novel feels like work.
"...I was overall disappointed with it. The writing was just ok. The action felt slow until the last 1/3, and just the overall sequence of events felt..." Read more
"...much time spent on Mannie’s family instead of the Revolution, too slow in parts and way too fast in others...." Read more
"Still relevant; enjoyable, fast paced and fun. Moving, too, with great characters and fascinating twists...." Read more
"...It takes a while to get into it, partly because the author also created his own version of future English to write it in..." Read more
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Politics and values are of course from another time. To me it's just extra spice in what is still a Sci Fi classic. Colonisation is no longer a hot topic in today's world the way it was when this was written, (but AI certainly is) but you get a lot of timeless ideas around liberalism and anarchism here. And a recipe for revolution on top.
I was surprised I soon forgot this book is almost 60 years old. And the parts including AI felt as they could be written today, in a cyberpunk setting.
I was "warned" about this book and Heinlein because of controversy around him and his conflicting world views. This made me want to read it even more, and I was almost disappointed by how uncontroversial most of this book was. But I'm glad I read it and enjoyed it for what it was: a great Sci Fi classic.
Consider Mike, the supercomputer who becomes sentient and helps free the former prison colony of Luna from the tyrannical and oppressive "Authority" based on Earth. The name and character allude to "Michael", an archangel, the only archangel in the Bible clearly identified as a warrior angel. Thus it is not the least bit surprising that Mike the supercomputer comes up with and executes the strategy that helps Luna's revolution succeed. Nevertheless, the two personality traits that give his character such charm are a childlike naivete and a love of practical jokes. His naivete is so overwhelming that when he realizes the destruction brought by his strategy it renders him catatonic.
Consider also Hazel Stone. She first appears in a book published almost ten years before this book ( The Rolling Stones ) as the grandmother of that book's two charming halfwit brothers. Ten years after the publication of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress she reappears as a tertiary, yet critical character in The Number of the Beast , then a few years later as the central character in The Cat Who Walks through Walls , and finally in 1988 as a pivotal character in To Sail Beyond the Sunset . Hazel Stone starts out as a minor character in a book published in 1955, and becomes one of the most important members of the Long family in the four "Boondock" books where Heinlein finally brings together and reveals how his works are all bound together in a literary examination of the philosophical concept of the world as myth. Most importantly, despite evolving over four books and three decades Hazel Stone never once violates the key elements of her wildly independent, doggedly determined personality. That kind of career-long internal consistency is extremely challenging for a writer to pull off successfully.
Some critics disparage Heinlein's female characters because they do not think and act like men. Somehow they never notice that when push comes to shove, it is always the women in a Heinlein book that have the most initiative, the most common sense, and the greatest ability to change the course of human history. No matter how the male characters stumble through the plot, the women always provide the missing piece of the puzzle or the critical decision that eventually wins the day. Heinlein's female characters, like Hazel Stone and Wyoming Knott, are always the focal point of the events that move a Heinlein novel forward and bring it to its conclusion.
The main character of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress , Manuel Garcia "Mannie" O'Kelly-Davis, meets Wyoming Knott at a subversive meeting he has no interest in attending. The only reason he goes is because his "thinkum dinkum" friend Mike the Supercomputer cannot observe the meeting directly and asks Manuel to attend for him and tell him about it. The meeting is interrupted by a police raid and in the course of the raid Manuel is charged with protecting Wyoming Knott, a keynote speaker invited from the Hong Kong colony. On the strength of Wyoming's kiss, ready sense of humor, and ability to win the trust of Mike, the next twenty-four hours finds Manuel drafted into leading a revolution against the Warden and the Authority that oppress Luna.
One of the most brilliant strokes of genius is how through this providential meeting the reader learns that Luna is a libertarian society with no written laws while the Authority is a Soviet-style collectivist big government attempting to dictate every aspect of life in Luna. The subversives use Soviet style revolutionary titles and hierarchy, but are fighting for an American style free market economy. This reversal of roles is a literary device that keeps the reader questioning their assumptions about labels versus the genuine truths those labels are applied to. What becomes apparent only after reading the Boondock books is how The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a key lesson in understanding the difference between a label and the thing itself. The continuity of Hazel Stone's character is one of the powerful literary tools Heinlein uses to teach this lesson not once, but repeatedly over a period of three decades!
As I said at the beginning, I am not a genius and I do not claim to be. Nonetheless, when I read some of the negative and disparaging reviews of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress here at Amazon, it strikes me that none of the people who rated this book with one or two stars actually understood the book and several of them probably did not even bother reading it beyond the first chapter or two. Just as in every book Heinlein wrote, there is far more going on here than meets the eye. On the surface, it is a rollicking space opera of revolution and freedom. Peel back the layers and you find a critical assessment of everything that is wrong with American culture in the post war years as well as a dire warning about the civil unrest that tore through our society in the decade after this book was published.
Some science fiction writers claim to be prophetic. Robert A. Heinlein actually was.
The reason I left out a star? Proofreading and editing of this was very poor. Many pronouns and portions of sentences were simply left out..everywhere ..and made it hard to read at times. It was like reading broken english.
The book itself is a primer for Sci-Fi/ Get it.
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