The Politics of Robert Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land

Examining the libertarian and hippie themes of Stranger in a Strange Land. Does this novel represent a shift in philosophy from Starship Troopers or are there consistencies to be found?

Notes:

0:55 - Grok is a great term and is used a lot of different ways in the book and by nerds who have adopted the term since. It's generally used                to mean something is understood or liked but characters in the book make clear that its true definition can only be expressed in the                  Martian language.

1:19 - Discussing the background of Stranger in a Strange Land.

2:29 - I believe this is discussed in the Heinlein episode of the TV series Prophets of Science Fiction.

3:47 - Asimov's views of Heinlein's politics discussed here: https://mises.org/library/was-robert-heinlein-libertarian

7:02 - Plot overview.

10:48 - The hippie themes of Stranger in a Strange Land.

11:50 - Heinlein was, himself, a nudist.

11:55 - This is a big "if." I think it's more accurate to say there's no real villain in the story. I would say the antagonist, such as it is, is human nature itself.

15:32 - The libertarian themes of the novel.

16:08 - An author insert character, also known as an author avatar or author surrogate.

16:26 - Mary Sue has become a contested and somewhat controversial term. For more, TV Tropes is a good source of info: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

18:09 - Yes, there are two other people living with Jubal. Larry and Duke and also work for him.

22:21 - Comparing Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. 

27:12 - The last book will be For Us the Living: A Comedy of Customs.

27:20 - A few other thoughts.

28:29 - I believe this was the article that was making the rounds a social media: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/25/what-george-orwell-said-about-hitlers-mein-kampf/

32:17 - Side Rant!

32:53 - The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is a fascinating idea and still debated among linguists.

34:23 - There is at least one book that predates Stranger in a Strange Land that deals explicitly with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The                          Languages of Pao is now on my reading list.  

Intro and outro music: "Swim below as Leviathans" by Fireproof_Babies (featuring Ben Shewmaker) is licensed under CC BY.