Reading Group July Title: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

[vortexreader]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein was a fairly popular suggestion so hopefully we'll have a few more contributors for this discussion.

The discussion will begin July 15....which should give everyone time to locat the book and read it.

[Hobbit]

I'm moving boxes of books around and guess what I've just found - my copy of Canticle and Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[Jon Shannow]

Are we going to do this or what I dug it out and read it and everthing

[LordBalthazar]

Interestingly enough, I'm the first person to wade in with an opinion on this book. I say "interestingly enough" because this book was a July BOTM selection. July 2002 that is. What gives? I assume someone had to have nominated The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. At least one other person must have voted. No?

After a couple of baffling and somewhat painful reads, finally an intelligent AND entertaining book. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress details the events leading up to and immediately following an uprising of a former penal colony on the moon. Split into three parts - the first concentrating with the planning stages and eventual coup, the second focusing on a diplomatic mission to Earth, and the third dealing with Earth's military response and the Loonies last ditch fight for freedom. Lots of interesting ideas here and, at times, the book is so dense, aspects of the hard scifi so overwhelming, that it's easy to get lost in the details. After a stellar first part, things slow down significantly in the middle of the book (part two), but quickly pick up enrote to a gang-busters ending.

Some great characters here including Manny, our narrator, and revolutionary philosopher Professor Paz, but the stand-out player in all this is the sentient computer Mike. I know, I know. Sentient computers have been done before but, I'd wager to say, never quite as good as this. As the story progresses, Mike becomes realer than many of his fellow revolutionaries, certainly more fleshed-out than the only female character in the book, the surprisingly depthless Wyoming Knott. I'm not that familiar with Heinlein so I have to wonder if the female characters in his other works fared any better.

The narrator's Lunar slang can take a little getting used to and at times - particular in the second part of the book - it feels a little like a dressed-up political treatise but, ultimately, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a thought-provoking and rewarding read.

[psikeyhackr]

Well, less than a year since the last comment on this under-commented book.

but the stand-out player in all this is the sentient computer Mike. I know, I know. Sentient computers have been done before but, I'd wager to say, never quite as good as this. As the story progresses,

Yeah, we've encountered lots of sentient computers in fiction by now but you must remember that this book is from 1966. That is before 2001. I mean the movie with HAL 9000.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that Dave."

I suppose Robby the robot from Forbidden Planet might qualify.

But Harsh Mistress also talks about resources and economics in a more serious way than most sci-fi books. They were saying the colonists would run out of ice for water for their farms so the colony was facing extinction anyway. Those are the kind of details tat make this far better than Star Trek with its magical economics.

Previously I’ve talked about strategy in 9-11 conspiracy theories, human behavior in the information war and strategy of cooperation versus competition. For this Sunday’s strategic discussion, I wanted to present a scenario from one of my favorite science fiction books: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. The book is a great study of a small colony in a unique situation working to establish independence from their rulers. They have no military weapons and little in the way of resources, but they have an artificial intelligence that is sympathetic to their cause.

http://blog.potterzot.com/2007/09/16...arsh-mistress/

psik