Stranger In A Strange Land and Aspergers..weigh in

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Guess what my new obsession is?

I just finished the book and could not believe all the parallels to aspergers.I thought the author MUST have been an aspie but reading a short bio,it stated he was very gregarious and outgoing,liked to travel,things that are certainly alien to my own AS.


The first 3/4 of the book was very thought provoking for me but I didnt really like the last part...(have to Grok further.)

When I was around 5,I believed that I came from another planet.Not figurative,not just feeling alienated,but literally. Later,I learned about sociology,anthropology and considered that perhaps my "people" had put me here to study humans...I was interested in their literature,psychology,history.I did not feel I was one of "them" but I did feel anger at their insane cruilty to each other and other life forms.I also felt an over whelming pain when they were injured.I was not detached scientist,as such.
I could totally relate to the authors description of the "human/martian" shutting down when over stimulated or confused.I could relate to the desire to dis-corporate when my own grief became to great(was obsessed with suicide ideation from 16-30).Yet such pathological over sensitivity to others suffering does not appear to be a trait of AS.So perhaps this is some other "mis-wiring" in my own brain?

For those who havent read the book,I highly recommend it as a though provoking read.


Not meaning to give a full bio here(sorry)just wanted to hear how others who have read this book interpreted it in re-guards to their own AS.It really made me wonder what we would be like if we were raised on mars,surrounded by others who thought/felt/processed more similarly to us.Would I enjoy socializing if it was with creatures who appeared honest,compassionate,interested in me as a part of their nest?

Has no one read and been inpacted by this book.I goggled heinlein and aspergers and found a lot of links.I thought this was a common AS read?Not so?

No, but sounds like I need to. I always felt like I was either an alien or the human surrounded by aliens. I too was real into sociology and psychology. Which is strange because I really don't know myself that psychologically. I sometimes don't know how to act or feel in a situation. I also have a very hard time watching anyone including animals get hurt. Yet, I've hurt myself a lot. I used to have to be rushed to the hospital for suicidal attempts. Ok, that might be saying too much about myself but yeah, I've always felt like the analyzer of ppl VS. being a person. I am huge on books, don't know why I haven't read this one. Is it Stranger in a Strange Land? If so, by what author?

Author is Robert Heinlein.I havent read any of his other books but I plan to now.I dont usually like sci-fi books except a few anti-utopias like Solent Green,Brave New World,1984 but this book dealt more with the "nature of human interaction" then special effects and rocket ships.


I understand about the hurting self thing to.Might seem odd to some but I think cutting brings you back into your body when you get to detached from it and suicide just seems like a logical reation to the insanity of a world you can neither understand,change
or adapt to.I did learn to adapt to some degree but my desire to be in this corporal body is not as strong as I think it is in most humans.

I think one gender difference in aspies is that more females study humans(just as if you where thrown into the tropics you would study the local flora and fauna to know what to eat or what could eat you).It's a matter of survival.We are expected to deal with social interaction more then males.I study humans because I wanted to stop hurting and it seemed like the most effective way to achieve that.....10,000 books and one psych BA later,I am not much closer to understanding.To me they are insane and what I do that is insane to them is just my way of surviving an insane environment.

I highly recommend this book for anyone but especially someone who wants a better understanding of Aspergers.

Cool, thankyou Krex.

Your welcome happy reading.

This has been my favourite book for a while. It's completely brilliant. Considering the main character is a man from mars I think he would seem like an aspie. I always feel like an alien or like I'm from another planet, which I think was a big reason the book appealed to me so much. I felt I could relate to Michael so much. Ever since read it "grok" has become a permanent fixture in my vocabulary ^.^ I always recommend this book to everyone I know.

Maybe I should reread it. I was unimpressed when I read it a few years ago. I won't post my opinion because it has been so long since I read the book, I wouldn't be able to cite examples. I'll give it another try once I finish my other books.

I think you'll enjoy the other works as well, Krex (except possibly For Us, the Living - there's a reason it was never published during his lifetime...). It may encourage you to know that Heinlein is widely credited as being among the leaders in what was then a new movement in science fiction - one in which the science was as real as the author could manage (and in his case, that's quite real), but in which the characters were far more important than all the nifty gadgets they played with.

If you've seen the movie Starship Troopers, I would like to apologize on the Grand Master's behalf, and point out that the only similarities between the novel and the movie are character names, which is almost coincidental, and the title. EVERYTHING else is vastly different. I still haven't figured out why Verhoefen felt it necessary to destroy an iconic novel in the field, in order to create his own little satire on the military mind-set.

As for AS, my vote for the most likely Heinlein character to fit the category is Clarke, Poddy's younger brother in Podkayne of Mars. I especially commend the last chapter in the revised version, which is told from Clarke's point of view (as Poddy is unconscious at the time, and may not survive).

Thanks for the info deacon.I plan on checking out his other books and was visiting web sites today of some of his fans to get an idea of what was best to read...mixed votes but the folks were interesting.

i loved the book too... right up to the point of the religious (scientology-ish) pyramid scam he started..........

dunno whether i compare it to AS though.... where he's from it's normal and he pretty much understands people... or quickly becomes able to do so...

i thought at many times during the book that i would have taken it a different direction.

still a must read imho.

I was quite a Heinlein fan in the days of my youth; I recall enjoying Stranger in a Strange land when I was a know-it-all teenager, but that was so very long ago, and a world of difference between thinking I knew everything and realizing how little I really know... The book has been on my re-read list for quite a while now, but I had not considered reading it from the perspective of AS awareness until just now; thank you for triggering that thought, krex.

Good fortune,

- Icarus would rather live with the Martians...

Thank goodness for my memory "issues"...I love to reread books as the new person I have become over the passing years.If it is the same story you read at 16....then it is time to worry.Luckily,I always find things I missed before,a new vocabulary of experiecnce to redefine the authors intent.(Much sadder when you find you have out grown an author that you used to love...for me it was Steven King...though Dark Tower remains readable)


I to wish to nest among the martians and canabilism seems less barbaric then electing George Bush.

I read this book, but like Sedaka, didn't like the Scientology stuff. I didn't finish it, either, because I got irritated with all the sexual stuff. This seemed to bring it down into the mundane. Maybe I'll go back and finish it one day.

But Krex, I agree with the similarities to AS that the character seems to have. I was totally mind boggled early on, because so much seemed to correlate with our plight. I think it's an outstanding, one of a kind book.