The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

The lunar penal colony of Luna City lives under the thumb of Earth's Lunar Authority, exporting grain at fixed sub-economic prices. Manuel Garcia O'Kelly, a computer technician, discovers that the central HOLMES IV mainframe has awakened into sentience (Mike). Joining radical agitator Wyoh Knot and philosopher Professor Bernardo de la Paz, they launch a lunar revolution using railgun mass drivers.

A towering masterpiece of science fiction. Popularized the acronym TANSTAAFL and laid the conceptual foundation for modern computing, orbital defense, and libertarian political theory.