Recommended by
- Bill Gates: "When my Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, and I were kids, we fell in love with computing. But software wasn’t the first thing we bonded over. It was Robert Heinlein." source ↗
Summary
A Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel about Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians who returns to Earth and challenges its social, religious, and sexual norms. First published in 1961, it became a counterculture touchstone for its exploration of free love, organized religion, and the concept of 'grokking' — complete, empathic understanding. The novel follows Smith's encounter with Earth's institutions and his founding of a new Martian-influenced church.