#181 in Classics
Stranger in a Strange Land
- 438
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- Hugo Award for Best Novel
- Prometheus Award - Hall of Fame
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
“Stranger in a Strange Land” rests on a strong idea: a human raised by Martians arrives on Earth, looks at our customs as an outsider would, and in time changes them. That thought experiment is what keeps the 1961 novel in circulation. Some readers find the way it speaks of women and minorities dated enough to spoil the book for them.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by the American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians, and explores his interaction with and eventual transformation of Terran culture.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 1,014 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 87% of the weight and the score stays at 7.8 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Books | 9.0 | 70 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.5 | 944 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is Stranger in a Strange Land?
It has 438 pages — shorter than 52% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.7 and 7.8, closest to this book.
