Stranger in a Strange Land

[Stevo]

I was wondering what other people here thought of Robert Heinlein's book Stranger in a Strange Land.

I knew that the book had been pretty influential on people in the late 60s. I think both David Crosby and Jerry Garcia held it as a fav book. Certainly Crosby references bits of it in his song Triad

I read the first load of Stranger in A Strange Land and semi enjoyed it if I ignore things like weak characterisation and datedness I started reading reviews of the book on amazon. There seem to be some very scathing put downs of it there.

The book elsewhere seems to get touted as the ultimate classic in Sci fi.
So just wondered what other people here thought of it.

[Alastair]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecer64rlLec

My favourite version

[Stevo]

Finished the book and found a lot of it pretty risible. Especially in the 2nd half.
I guess there are some ideas you can lift out of it possibly but Harshaw's philosophising sucks deeply.