STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

First 'original uncut' edition, first printing. Original blue paper-covered boards with a grey spine lettered in silver, in dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the spine tips very slightly bumped. There is some light spotting to the closed text-block edge, the contents are otherwise clean and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. Complete with the lightly rubbed and creased dustwrapper that is without fading, loss or tears. Not price-clipped ($24.95), with a UK price label over the original, still visible, price.

The first 'original uncut' issue of Heinlein's Hugo and Prometheus Award winning, watershed science fiction novel, restoring the author's unedited manuscript in celebration of the novel's 30th anniversary. The story follows a young human man who, after being raised on Mars by Martians, comes to Earth for the first time. His outer-space education leads him to challenge foundational earthling ideas on sex, death and religion, and after a madcap series of events he eventually becomes a messiah-like figure in a new, Mars-influenced church. After it was first published in 1961 'Stranger in a Strange Land' became a cult hit among college students and members of the burgeoning counterculture movement due to its emphasis on questioning cultural norms and the possibilities of building a new world order. Heinlein coined the verb 'grok' in the novel, originally intended as an untranslatable Martian word meaning to know an idea, person, or piece of information so profoundly that it becomes a part of you. The word was initially adopted in counterculture circles, but found lasting practical usage in the world of computer programming, where it is still used today. The controversial xAI chatbot 'Grok' takes its name from Heinlein's neologism.