On Saturday I helped a good friend grade math quizzes at my old high school, and afterwords he let me borrow Stranger in a Strange Land, as he had it on his desk and I've been interested in reading it for some time. For those who don't know, Stranger in a Strange Land is written by Robert Heinlein, one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, and Stranger in a Strange Land is one of his most popular works. The story is of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians who comes to Earth and spreads a lesson of deeper understanding and of love. It's not only a very well known book in the sci-fi community, but is one of the more important books in the polyamory community, a fact which I teased my professor about, I'll admit.
Now, this book was really good, and there were a lot of interesting concepts that the author put out, but I gotta be honest, I was more interested in his concept that some languages can convey the subtleties of human emotions and love better than others, which I don't really think is exactly what Heinlein was going for when it comes to the overall intent of his novel. I really did like the "water brothers" aspect, and wish that there truly was a way in which we could grow like that as a community. Not just in the free love aspect, but more importantly in the undying bonds of brotherhood aspect.
This link isn't exactly relevant to the book, but it ties in with the novel's poly theme, and the song ran through my head the entire time I read it, so I felt I could share.
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