The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-Read 5/25/26:

Still a fantastic read. And what a FRESH and GOOD read after his immediately prior publication. :)

I DO want to take a moment to mention something, however: With all the AI talk we've had for years now and with the standard of Mike fully realized in actual reality, sans lobbing rocks, it's all pretty amazing.

And with the whole lobbing rocks thing in the novel, and with the current standard of the oligarchs and technofeudalists, technofascists, taking all the WORST ideas from the BEST SF books and building their own Torment Nexuses at their first opportunities, I'm kinda surprised they aren't just skipping the whole Mars thing to set up colonies on the Moon to create a wonderful catapult system to sit next to and laugh like the Bond villains they are as they threaten all of Earth.

I mean, seriously, I totally expect it of them now.

Beautiful book, other than the fact it would give all the wrong people even worse ideas.
Sigh.



Original Review:

What do you want us to do? Throw rocks at them?

Nah, but we could have a tea party.

Wow. I'm still amazed at how good this Revolution novel has held up over the years. I had read it twice before this latest re-read, but it hasn't lost any of its charm.

Of course, I love Heinlein's heavy reliance on self-reliance, libertarianism, and TANSTAAFL. I'm lucky to have read him early so as to be fully indoctrinated in this gung-ho politicism of Rational Anarchy and I can laugh and whoop and grin foolishly all the while.

But I'm weird.

Still. When it comes to the story, the most amazing thing about this novel is not that it's set on the moon or that it has been populated with all of Earth's undesirables, or that they're economic slaves to the Earth. Nope. It's amazing that this book is actually a How-To-Guide on how to stage a successful revolution against a technologically and militarily superior foe, from initial planning, leverage, sleeper cells, and of course, political preparation, communication, diplomacy, and economics. And, of course, the resulting MASS DEATH of so many innocents. Can't forget that.

But I suppose the one thing that sticks in my mind most strongly is the planetary computer, Mycroft. What a guy/gal. He/she always gets me in the feels. That's leverage.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I keep on seeing tons of good revolution books or modern SF still stealing from this classic, either knowingly or unknowingly. Perhaps all AIs that show up in SF are a reply to Mycroft in one way or another. Who knows? This is the one that stands out supreme in my mind and perhaps always shall.

Call me a Lunatic. I dare you. ;)

This one won the Hugo in '66, but I also place it firmly in one of my top 100 novels of all time. :) Great stuff. :)

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