The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
|---|---|
| Published | 1966 |
| Pages | 332 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | A lunar penal colony that ships grain to Earth at Earth’s prices, a technician who discovers the central computer has woken up with a sense of humour, and the most procedural revolution in science fiction — cell structure, propaganda, a provisional congress, and the simple fact that a colony at the top of a gravity well can drop rocks. Heinlein’s contribution of TANSTAAFL to the language, and the genre’s most quoted source of libertarian political argument. |
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Where I heard about it
- a16z’s infrastructure team — on the a16z Infra Reading List, in the Sci-fi — Classics section (A tier), under Heinlein’s selected works. The plot is logistics — mass drivers, ice budgets, an AI as the operations layer of an insurgency — and they single Heinlein out for the “degree of technical rigor” he brought from his engineering years in the US Navy.
Connections
- a16z Infra Reading List — where this is listed, in the classics tier.
- Robert A. Heinlein — the author.
- Starship Troopers — the Heinlein Kyle has read.
- Stranger in a Strange Land — the other Heinlein on the list.
- Artificial Intelligence — Mike, a self-aware computer treated as a colleague rather than a threat.
- Free Speech — the novel’s politics are an argument about what a government may compel.
- Science Fiction — the genre.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.