I find that line where human intelligence and computer intelligence blur very interesting, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress spends a lot of time developing this part of the story. He is at the same time a supercomputer, capable of almost anything, and a child, who is only interested in telling jokes and pulling pranks. Mike, an augmented HOLMES IV (“High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV”) who achieved self-awareness when his complement of “neuristors” exceeded the number of neurons in the human brain, is an awesome character. As Mannie puts it, “Revolution is an amateur thing for almost everybody.” And the way the revolution unfolds in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is very fascinating.īut like most sci-fi novels, the coolest part of the story is the robot. And the way Heinlein goes about moving the plot along is very dramatic, all the way to the final page. It’s not a sub-plot, nor treated like one. The revolution is very detailed, down to precise times, dates and locations of strategic moves. The revolution is the main part of the story.

But by the of the story it was this unique way of writing that really made the story come to life.Īnother reason I liked the story was because of its plot. At first the reading of the The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was difficult because of the odd use of English. One was the way the speakers, Mannie in particular, spoke. But now, as its Wikipedia article points out, it has a “credible presentation of a comprehensively imagined future,” meaning it’s not all that “futuristic” at this point. Perhaps in 1966 this book was a bit more “out there”. I tend to like books that are more speculative fiction than The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The story is narrated by Manuel Garcia “Mannie” O’Kelly-Davis, and follows him through a journey of revolution-one lead by a self-aware computer named Mike whose only real interest is learning how to tell jokes. The year is 2075 and within a decade all resources of Luna will be exhausted. Men outnumber women, and what little work is available is hard. Luna (what the moon is referred to) is a very loosely governed society. In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress the moon is colonized by criminals, political exhiles or descendants thereof (called “Loonies”), and is run by Earth’s Protector of the Lunar Colonies (called the “Warden”).

Published in 1966, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress won the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and is considered one of the most important science fiction novels ever written. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the story of a lunar colony’s revolt against rule from Earth, is a classic sci-fi novel by Robert A.

The moon harsh mistress