Adventures In The Lunar Landscape
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I don’t really care for politics. I recognize that it’s a necessary evil in any civilized society but I still don’t want to understand or participate. A more civic-minded friend of mine would probably say that I am failing my duties as a citizen if I don’t take pains to at least understand politics, but in some ways, I’ve always been a slacker. Any political knowledge I possess was acquired in spite of my best efforts to remain oblivious.
However, had I read The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress much earlier in life than I did, perhaps I’d have learned more about politics. It’s a wonderful book, written by Robert A. Heinlein (one of the fathers of modern science fiction, along with such luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov) and first published as a complete novel in 1966, one year before humans first set foot on the moon. The book is written from the point of view of Mannie O’Kelly-Davis, who was born and lives on the moon in one of the underground warrens.
The original inhabitants of Luna were not there by choice, but were sent by their governments for being criminals and political exiles. Although I’m not sure it’s actually scientifically true, based on what we now know about people living in lower- or no-gravity environments, Heinlein posits that there is a limit to how much time anyone can live on the moon and still survive in the higher gravity of Earth. This means that most trips to Luna are one-way, and people (like Mannie) who were born there can never live on Earth.
I won’t say too much about the politics and governance of Earth and Luna, because revealing how everything works (or doesn’t work, once Luna and Earth are openly at war with one another) is very much part of the appeal of the book.
One of the other main characters of the novel, Professor Bernardo de la Paz, was exiled to Luna for his political beliefs, which I think can be reasonably described as anarchic. The professor really doesn’t believe in any government or law at all, and as Luna struggles to free herself from Earth and establish herself as independent, the discussions Prof has with his co-conspirators are certainly very interesting. I’m no fan of anarchy as a political system but I do see the appeal in the Professor’s arguments.
“As it says in Bible, God fights on side of heaviest artillery.”
Much of the book has not aged well and there are some factors which might seem offensive to some. For example, the knowledge of how computers worked in 1966 and extrapolated out to how they might work 100+ years later falls far short of the mark. But if you think for just a moment about when the book was written, then you can appreciate how completely ahead of his time the author was, even if he got it wrong.
One of the social factors that might offend some is polygamy. Even after decades of people being sent to the moon and more being born there, men still outnumber the women more than two to one (which is still better than when Luna was first colonized, at which time it was ten to one). In many cultures on Earth, this has historically resulted in women being treated only as property with no rights, belonging to the most wealthy and powerful. But Luna goes the other direction. Women are highly respected (and admired…it’s considered rude for any man not to snap his fingers and whistle when in the presence of any Lunar woman; it shows respect for her beauty, no matter what she looks like); and they always choose their men. A woman’s right to choose is sacrosanct. Frequently, women have more than one husband. And if a woman wants to be rid of a husband, she simply leaves him and he cannot do anything to prevent her.
“Revolutions are not won by enlisting the masses. Revolution is a science only a few are competent to practice. It depends on correct organization and, above all, on communications. Then, at the proper moment in history, they strike. Correctly organized and properly timed, it is a bloodless coup. Done clumsily and prematurely, the result is civil war, mob violence, purges, and terror. ”
In Mannie’s case, he belongs to something called a “line-marriage”, which is explained in the book but which is so complicated and layered that I’m still not sure I understand. I certainly don’t plan to try to explain it. But it is clear, watching the interaction between the family members, that they are indeed a loving family, even if it doesn’t look like a family by Western (Earth) standards.
The third main character of the novel is a woman by the unlikely name of Wyoming Knott, who likes to be called Wyoh or Wye (and don’t say, “Why not?” because apparently that joke has been done to death). She enters the orbit of Mannie and Prof at a rally intended to promote anti-authority (that would be the Earth authority ruling over Luna) sentiment; the rally breaks up in chaos when authority guards crash the meeting and start shooting people. Mannie, Wyoh, and the Prof flee in the confusion, and later meet up to plan their own revolution.
There is one final essential piece to this revolution, and that’s Mike. Mike is a Lunar computer who has made enough neural connections to have passed some critical threshold and now thinks for himself. Fortunately for all of Luna, Mike considers Mannie a friend, and comes to consider Wyoh and the Prof friends as well. And without Mike’s help, the revolution would never have gotten off the ground.
“I wake up in night and think I’ve heard him—just a whisper: “Man . . . Man my best friend . . . ” But when I say, “Mike?” he doesn’t answer. Is he wandering around somewhere, looking for hardware to hook onto? Or is he buried down in Complex Under, trying to find way out?”
What follows is a fantastic view of a layered, successful conspiracy to remove the authority from Luna. Mike is able to pass himself off as various characters, including Adam Selene (the supposed head of the Revolution) and Simon Jester (a character known for mocking the authority). I can’t remember which book it was now (I should have made a note!), but a recent science fiction novel I read mentioned Adam Selene and Simon Jester. Bits and pieces of this book have made it into lots of work that follows.
I don’t want to say any more about the plot, because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. But before you check the book out of the library or buy it off Amazon, I would suggest that you consider checking it out as an audio book first, which is how I first encountered it. The version I listened to is narrated by actor Lloyd James, who chooses to portray Mannie’s voice with a Russian accent, which works very well indeed. The book is beautifully performed, and I of course bought my own copy off iTunes. I listen to it about once a year.
Give it a read…or better yet, a listen. You might find that politics and economics (and indeed, computer science) are not as uninteresting as you might have first thought.
