Article from Forbes
Although Stranger in a Strange Land began as a cult favorite when it was published in 1961, its cult status didn't last long. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1962, one of four of Heinlein' s books to win the coveted prize. (The others were Double Star, Starship Troopers, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.) Stranger was the first science fiction novel to make the New York Times bestseller list and the US Library of Congress included it in an exhibition called The Books That Shaped America.
Writing in the New York Times, Michael Dirda characterized The Books That Shaped America as an exhibition that:
"puts on display what one might call the classics of upset and troublemaking. When first published, these books shocked people, made them angry, shook up their deepest beliefs. They shamed readers with accounts of racism, greed, corruption, Puritanism and provincial narrow-mindedness."
Stranger did all of that. It's about a human raised by Martians named Valentine Michael Smith who is discovered on Mars and returned to Earth. Smith is baffled by human culture and society and he proceeds to found the Church of All Worlds that promotes communal living and uninhibited sexuality. Some have seen Stranger as foreseeing aspects of the mid-to-late '60s counterculture that the media labeled as "free love" and "hippies" (we didn't called ourselves that).
One of the greatest science fiction novels ever written from one of the all time greats, Robert Heinlein of Startship Troopers fame is going to become a TV series on the SyFy channel. Its one of the all time classics and its going to be incredibly difficult to adapt to a TV series or really adapt at all considering the incredible about of taboo themes the book covers whether its cannibalism or true free love its an incredible work of fiction and quite possible one of Heinlein's greatest ever. I wish SciFi the best of luck because I can't imagine undertaking bringing this to TV will be easy or without controversy.
If you ever heard anyone say the word Grok, this is the book that it comes from btw.
For those who want to know more about the book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by 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. The novel explores his interaction withand eventual transformation ofterrestrial culture. In 2012, the US Library of Congress named it one of 88 "Books that Shaped America".[2]
Eat my body if old.