When asked to name my all-time favorites books, I consistently name Robert Heinlein’s masterpiece, Stranger in a Strange Land, as the top of my personal list. I recently saw the book listed in a bargain book promo and picked up the Kindle edition to read during a recent vacation. This re-read confirmed everything I remembered loving about the story and the writing. I also found, surprisingly, that there were dozens of copy editing errors in the text. I’m puzzled by this, but I suppose the publisher chose not to change the original text sixty years after original publication, even to correct obvious typos.

It’s amazing, after so many years, that Heinlein got so much right about the future world of his story, although the setting is still far in the future, even for us. Colonization of the moon, faster-than-light propulsion systems, manned missions to Mars, flying cars, and additional “futuristic” gadgets are a staple of great science fiction. But where Stranger surpasses much of the genre is its prescient depictions of politics, the commerce-driven society, the rise of fanatical religious sects and circus-like Christian denominations, and the seemingly unlimited capacity for humans to generate hate, fear and violence toward people who question their beliefs or behave contrary to their established morals. As a lawyer, I also love Heinlein’s vision of the law of the future and the use of legal jargon and threats of litigation as weapons. The depiction of the television news media of the future is scary accurate. Of course, there are many predictions that didn’t pan out (like flying cars and the influence of astrology) and some ways in which actual technology has surpassed the sci-fi author’s vision (such as the internet and mobile phones.

The story of Valentine Michael (Mike) Smith, the man born on Mars of human parents who were on the maiden expedition, is brilliantly constructed. As the sole survivor of the mission, Mike was insanely rich, having inherited the wealth of his parents as well as all the other members of the mission. He was also, in theory, the “owner” of Mars, according to a legal precedent established after the first permanent human colony on the moon. He owned massive shares of Lunar Enterprises, Inc., the most valuable corporation on Earth. He also had no context. He was human, twenty-five years old, but had never met another human. Raised by Martians, his intellectual ability was unparalleled and, as it turned out, he knew a few tricks that were normal on Mars, but “magic” on Earth. As he acclimated to his new home planet, the human race – and its political leaders – faced a crisis. The leader of the World Federation (another miss, so far, by Heinlein) wanted to control Mike – or kill him and replace him with a puppet. A journalist, Ben, wanted to interview him, as did every other reporter and television outlet, and showed up at the hospital where the Man from Mars was being held prisoner under the pretext of his protection. A sassy nurse, Jill, an old friend of Ben, helps free Mike from his captivity. All of this tracks how corrupt, ambitious politicians would have acted in our modern world and exposes the dark side of human nature.

Eventually, with Mike’s superhuman help, Jill gets Mike to the sanctuary home of a famous lawyer, author, and gadfly, Jubal Harshaw. While Ben is being held by the authorities (freedom of the press exists, but government thugs can still kidnap reporters), Jubal shelters Mike, citing legal precedent and willing to face off with the Federation SS squad if necessary. Jubal is not in it for fame or money (he has those), but for the principle of freedom and autonomy. He views Mike as the underdog and the waif in need of shelter and help. It turns out that Mike can take care of himself, but Jubal’s kindness and willingness to fight the system bring Mike and Jill into a family situation. Jubal’s conclave feels a bit like a Hippy farm, long before anyone coined the term “Hippy.”

The characters in this book are so vibrant and interesting that the pages fly by – all 600 of them. As Mike learns (very quickly) and Jubal and his cohorts begin to understand Mike’s Martian abilities, they teach him about the human world and try to make him understand that he’s one of them. (He’s so much more.) He is exposed to politics, sex, and religion. As Mike struggles to understand human behavior, these are the key building blocks as Heinlein uses the sci-fi setting as a canvas on which to paint a picture of human nature and modern society, and it’s not flattering. Except for Mike. Mike is human, and he is pure and unsullied. This allows the author to extrapolate how this man would behave and learn and through his eyes we see the corruption and also the possibilities of our world.

The book was controversial at its publication in 1961 (delayed several years because the publisher was worried about how it would be received – it was banned) because of its cutting indictment of organized religion and its favorable depictions of unapologetic sex, group sex, and communal families. All of the depictions of Mike’s moral views are based on love, mutual support, respect, and happiness. The catch phrase of the “religious” group Mike forms is “Thou art God.” We are all God. God is everything. Sex is God. The purpose of life is happiness. Organized religion has it wrong, trying to tell followers that they are the one “truth.” For Mike, everyone has truth within them for truth is God. Organized religion is a carnival act and the congregation are the marks. Mike’s philosophy is love, brothership, honesty, and mutual respect for everyone. Heresy! For his efforts, Mike is vilified by the media, the church(es), and the political leaders. His ideas are dangerous – because they upset the status quo. (There is also a very respectful concept of ritual cannibalism, in which the loved ones of the deceased person eat the dead body as a sharing of the essence of their departed friend, who is not gone, but merely “discorporated” and now alive in spirit form.)

It’s a marvel. I loved it as much this time as I did when I first read it as a teenager. It is still “controversial” and thought-provoking – because our society has not really changed that much since the late 50s.

The one thing that startled me was the poor quality of the copy. I did not have an appreciation of this as a youth, but now, as an author, I’m hypersensitive to bad copy editing. You would think that the publisher of this famous book would clean up the text. But, instead, Penguin/Random House chose to re-publish the original text, warts and all. And the mistakes are not only grammar (there are plenty of those) which can be attributed to the author’s intentional use of language. There are dozens of true “errors” that could be easily corrected without doing any damage to the author’s text. A few examples include:

– missing open-quotation marks, such as the beginning of a paragraph with dialogue reading: I am glad.” (with a close quote mark, but no open quote)

– The name “Jill” shown as “Jil!” (with an exclamation mark where the second “l” should be)

– In a key moment, a Monkey in the zoo attacks a smaller monkey, giving it a “dubbing” (should be drubbing)

– When citing the Biblical quote, “Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s wife” (should be “thy”)

– When Jubal chides Mike to not call him “father” – the text is: “Yes, Father Jubal.” “Huh? Call me Jubai – and don’t . ..  (Here, there is a missing paragraph change when the speaker changes, and Jubal’s name is misspelled in an obvious typo where the final “l” is an “i”.

There is a sentence that finishes with a comma and a close quote (should be a period) and a sentence where there is a period in the middle of a phrase, followed by a capital letter of the next word as if it’s a new sentence when it’s clearly not. These are all so obvious and easily corrected. Yet, the publisher decided to keep them in the text. Would not have been my choice, but it’s like correcting the copy of the Bible. Just don’t touch it.

The copy editing issues notwithstanding, this is considered a “masterpiece” for a reason. It is. Heinlein is a science fiction writer (see Starship Troopers), but great sci-fi contains critical social commentary. I can only hope to emulate the master in my own writing. I grok you, Robert Heinlein. May we all come to a greater understanding of ourselves through your eyes.