Science Fiction · ThoughtfulA man raised by Martians is brought to Earth and meets human society for the first time
Stranger in a Strange Land
A human raised on Mars arrives on Earth, and the novel gave English the word grok
G. P. Putnam's Sons published the novel on June 1, 1961. A first expedition to Mars loses contact with its spacecraft. Twenty-five years later, a second expedition finds a single survivor, Valentine Michael Smith, who was raised by Martians, and brings him back to Earth, where he encounters human society. The title comes from Exodus 2:22 in the King James Version. Heinlein first called it The Heretic and then A Martian Named Smith, and an uncut edition based on the original manuscript came out in 1991.
More about this book
Who
Valentine Michael Smith, Gillian Boardman, Ben Caxton and Jubal Harshaw.
World
Earth, after a second expedition returns a human raised on Mars.
What makes it different
It introduced the word "grok", which entered the Oxford English Dictionary. It was the first science fiction novel on The New York Times fiction best-seller list.
Feel
Provocative and talky.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Stranger in a Strange LandWikipedia