Stranger in a Strange Land

The brilliant novel that grew from a cult favorite to a bestseller to a science fiction classic.

NAME: Valentine Michael Smith

ANCESTRY: Human

ORIGIN: Mars

Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.

Raised by Martians on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith is a human who has never seen another member of his species. Sent to Earth, he is a stranger who must learn what it is to be a man. But his own beliefs and his powers far exceed the limits of humankind, and as he teaches them about grokking and water-sharing, he also inspires a transformation that will alter Earth’s inhabitants forever...

In the context of 1960, Stranger in a Strange Land was a book that his publishers feared-it was too far off the beaten path. So, in order to minimize possible losses, Robert was asked to cut the manuscript down to 150,000 words-a loss of about 70,000 words. Other changes were also requested, before the editor was willing to take a chance on publication. To take out about a quarter of a long, complicated book was close to an impossible task. But, over the course of some months, Robert accomplished it. The final word count came out at 160,087 words. Robert was convinced that it was impossible to cut out any more, and the book was accepted at that length. For 28 years it remained in print in that form. This is that originally published version.