Book: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

There are books that, regardless of the objective quality of their contents, have messages that are so agreeable on a personal level that it's hard for you not to like them. I have a feeling that "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," written by Robert Heinlein, falls into this category. In my opinion, there are few better introductions to libertarian ideas than this novel ("Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand made me want to drive an icepick through my foot). It is widely considered to be one of Heinlein's masterworks.

The former penal colony of Luna (Earth's moon) is the home of a unique society where individual rights and free enterprise thrive without a real government. Disputes are resolved privately, markets use the gold standard, and crime is generally low (the families of any victims can easily toss the offender out of the nearest airlock).

The only fly in the ointment is Earth herself, who oversees the Luna colony indirectly and maintains a monopoly over what is bought and sold from the colony; the people of Luna ship thousands of tons of materials to Earth, while receiving less and less mass in return. The emerging sentience of a computer sparks a revolution seeking to overthrow Earth control - but how can a ragtag group of colonists fend off against the military might of an entire planet?

It's a pulpish book in some places, and the writing is sometimes not very good - the character of Wyoh is so idealized it borders on caricature - but the overall plot and speculative society of Luna is a fun read. The novel, while being a tale of revolution, is deeply distrustful of revolutionary governments, which is an observation that has proven to be correct, at least in the 20th century. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is one of my favorite books - here's a quote:

The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it contains until it destroys. I was not joking when I told them to dig into their own pouches. It may not be possible to do away with government— sometimes I think that government is an inescapable disease of human beings. But it may be possible to keep it small and starved and inoffensive— and can you think of a better way than by requiring the governors themselves to pay the costs of their antisocial hobby?