It ain't perfect but the criticism of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress seems overblown to me. Then again it's my favorite book, so I'm certainly biased. The Professor, in my opinion, is not presented as being uncritically correct; the errors he makes and the fact that people do end up disregarding many of his thoughts/suggestions are important. Anyways, here's one of my favorite excerpts from the book:
"Manuel, once there was a man who held a political make-work job like so many here in this Directorate, shining brass cannon around a courthouse."
"Why would courthouse have cannon?"
"Never mind. He did this for years. It fed him and let him save a bit, but he was not getting ahead in the world. So one day he quit his job, drew out his savings, bought a brass cannon--and went into business for himself . "
"Sounds like idiot."
"No doubt. And so were we, when we tossed out the Warden."
Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws -- always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: "Please pass this so that I won’t be able to do something I know I should stop." Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them "for their own good" -- not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it.
I'd really recommend moon dust; It humanises the astronaughts wonderfully. It's easier to appreciate the affect of the moon landings on humanity, but I really didn't appreciate the profound effect it had on the humans who went there until I read this.
"Manuel, once there was a man who held a political make-work job like so many here in this Directorate, shining brass cannon around a courthouse."
"Why would courthouse have cannon?"
"Never mind. He did this for years. It fed him and let him save a bit, but he was not getting ahead in the world. So one day he quit his job, drew out his savings, bought a brass cannon--and went into business for himself . "
"Sounds like idiot."
"No doubt. And so were we, when we tossed out the Warden."