Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. 0425038505 A Good copy. Softcover. No marks or highlighting in text. An excellent Ex-Library Copy with normal library markings and stamps. Page edges have started to amber from age. Creasing on cover. Moderate amount of wear to surface and edges of cover, pages and binding intact. Cover lays flat. This book has NOT been marked as a remainder by the publisher. Accurate Descriptions with Fast Shipping and Robust Packaging. WHT117M. read more
Description: Good. 0312863551 This book is in Good Used Condition. The Book shows some signs of wear. The pages? edges are dusty/dirty/stained. There is a Split in the Spine. There may be some markings inside the book. 100% Money Back Guarantee! ! ! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Orb Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780312863555ISBN:0312863551
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Inner wrap is inscribed, bit of spine lean. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: G. P. Putnam's Twentieth
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Berkley Medallion Books
Date Published: 12/15/1977
ISBN-13:9780425038505ISBN:0425038505
Edition: G. P. Putnam's Twentieth
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Berkley Medallion Books
Date Published: 12/15/1977
ISBN-13:9780425038505ISBN:0425038505
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Orb Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780312863555ISBN:0312863551
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. 2204-Very good used sturdy copy. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Reprinted 1968
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Berkley Books, New York
Date Published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780425038505ISBN:0425038505
Description: No Illustrations. Very Good. No Jacket. ILLUSTRATED PAPERBACK COVER IS LIGHTLY FADED WITH LIGHT STAINING AND LIGHT SOILING, CORNERS LIGHTLY BUMPED, LIGHT SHELFWEAR TO EDGES. INTERIOR PAGES HAVE LIGHT SOILING. read more
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is my favorite Heinlein that I've read so far. I wasn't enchanted with the "libertarian revolution" aspect of the plot, but the other main element, Heinlein's invention of a self-aware supercomputer, is surprisingly believable if a bit dated. For example, at one point "Mike" (the supercomputer's name) needs to use all of his massive processing power for several minutes to generate a photo-realistic video feed of an imaginary human figure in his office. Of course, this was the 50's -- Heinlein couldn't even imagine that dedicated graphics hardware, whose sole purpose is to perform massive matrix operations, shade polygons, and anti-alias, would be utterly commonplace by the turn of the century. (The fact that computer-generated humans still looks a little creepy is more of a software problem than a hardware one.)
This is the cheery, underdog-sports version of planetary revolution. It may not be terribly well informed politically, but it's fantastically entertaining."
"I have mixed feelings about The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, largely because Heinlein sure can write but I really disagree with his politics. This novel has a lot of cool things to offer: a sentient computer, revolutionaries on a penal colony, interesting polyamorous family structures. But the message the novel drives home, that the freedom to do trade is essentially the greatest freedom of all, doesn't sit with me. Ah well, a libertarian probably would react similarly to my favorite leftist SF.
I'd love to talk more about gender in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, as well. I've heard Heinlein tended to ignore women all together in his earlier fiction, but at least in this book he's trying to explicitly explore gender roles on the moon. The narrative still comes off as pretty male-centric with women on a pedestal constantly being whistled at for being hotties, but it's interesting how Heinlein imagines a penal colony with more men than women as a pseudo-matriarchal society."
"I know this book is supposed to be a metaphor for libertarianism (not sure if that is a word) and was hugely popular in the 60's or something. I know. But here's the thing--it's not a metaphor, it tells an actual story, step by step, of how the moon people seceded from the Earth people.
And that's fine, I just felt like it was depressing, it showed how when you get to a certain point in population, it's almost impossible to be self-sufficient, as a society. Maybe that was the point of the book, maybe not. To me, the entire thing seemed pointless. You saw them doing things and fighting and in the end you knew it wouldn't make that much of a difference. The writing is slightly odd too, but not hard to follow.
My biggest complaint is that it started with an incredibly interesting theme--articficial intelligence developing a personality--and then just used that to make the revolution happen. Really? I want to know more about the computer. Honestly, if the computer hadn't been talking, I would have just put down the book.
So why three stars? Because the plot shows how naive we were to think that libertariasm (that MUST be a word) is possible in our modern society, and because a talking computer is interesting. And because at the end, you see that the guy understands he was fighting for...not much. And the cool title. Ok, I'm done."
"Moon is used as a penal colony. Generations of "Loonies" have grown up knowing nothing but minimal gravity, rigid social conventions, and the grasping Lunar Authority. The Loonies are tired of being Earth's grain producers without receiving appropriate recompence, but have no political power or weapons. Luckily for them, computerman Mannie teams up with the first AI, Mike, an old professor, and a professional revolutionary from the Hong Kong colony, the beautiful Wyoh. Together (although not really, because Mike and the professor plan everything and then explain it in tiny words to Wyoh, who stares at them with Bambi eyes and a heaving bosom) the group forments Loonie revolution. Everything goes pretty much exactly according to plan, because they have a supercomputer on their side. That, and, like all other Heinlein main characters, they are just so much more sensible and forward thinking than everyone else.
My main problem with this book was not the rampant sexism, racist tropes, unbelievable Loonie society, clunky dialog (as usual, most characters exist soley to have things explained to them) or laughable political ideals. There was no emotion to this book. No Loonie feels oppressed or downtrodden. Nobody lives in fear or repression. The rebellion occurs for completely commercial reasons. When the war is won, everyone cheers, but there's no feeling of relief or achievement.
Spoilers: as soon as the revolution is successful, both the professor and the AI die, leaving Mannie and the Loonies to rule themselves without a manipulative overlord. How coincidentally fortuitous!"
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