homework again Ian Suzuki Mrs Kovar Scholarship English 12 13 October 2008 Stranger in a Strange Land Book Summary Stranger in a Strange Land written by Robert Heinlein and published in 1961 is widely regarded today as one of the pinnacles of modern science fiction Many of the ideas and styles that the book introduced in the mid sixties still resonate with the public s imagination prompting some individuals to start actual religions based on the book itself Ultimately the book is centered around Michael Smith a human orphaned on the surface of Mars as an infant There he was immersed from birth into the Martian culture until the age of 20 when a second spaceship came to Mars and recovered Michael This much is explained in a flashback during the book the plot of the story begins when Mike is brought back from Mars and tossed into the strange culture of a strange land The man from Mars takes a while to learn the language and finds it lacking his native Martian contains the complexity to express his true feelings In particular the word grok is difficult for Mike to explain and as he struggles to define this word in English it becomes apparent that he has powers unexplainable by modern physics or medicine