Rating: 
Summary: Sheer excellence.
Review: Starship Troopers excels in several ways. First and foremost, it's a great action read. It's a thoughtful look at leadership, especially in the military. It's an insightful look at politics and command. It's a thought-provoking examination of society. And it's a rollicking boy-becomes-asskicker-becomes-leader, growing up the hard way tale.We follow Juan Rico from the impetuosity of his youth (enlisting in Federal Service because the girl he liked was too, thus being cut off from the cushy job with his father's successful company), through a gruelling boot camp (where they make it as tough as possible to stay and incredibly easy to leave), smack into humanity's first interspecies war (where he and his fellow new recruits are liabilities not worth mention until they see their first combat and become brothers-in-arms), through the crushing burden of leadership (where those in command must take responsibility for absolutely everything that they and their men do). Heinlein accurately portrays the esprit de corps of elite (volunteer) military units. One of the most insightful points of the book is that men fight because of their comrades-in-arms, not for politicians, citizens, or ideals. And despite all the high-tech toys the military may have, it's still the mudfoot putting himself in harm's way that decides a military action. Before attacking Heinlein's politics, one should look at our own culture and ask if we truly have all the solutions. If we do not, do we have the intellectual honesty to actually read this book without arbitrarily dismissing Heinlein's ideas as not being compatible with our own? Two excellent discussions that illustrate Heinlein's mastery of language and 'call a spade a spade' attitude come to mind. First is his discussion of the contradictory term 'juvenile delinquent.' He accurately points out that 'delinquent' means one who has failed in duty, but by very nature a juvenile is one not ready for duty. The second is his response to a 'violence never changes anything' argument: ask the Carthagenians and city fathers of Hiroshima if violence changed anything. An author who can make such clear, concise points of his beliefs is worth reading, whatever one's stance. Reflection upon a contrary opinion is never a wasted exercise. Agree or disagree with the specifics, the underlying, central foundation of Heinlein's politics is irrefutable: responsibility and authority are inexorably linked, and the severance of that link will never benefit society. Starship Troopers is very quotable; Heinlein's asides, much like History & Moral Philosophy teacher Jean Dubois' lessons, are a time bomb inside our heads. Some gems are visible immediately ('it is better to do something constructive at once than thing of the perfect thing to do hours later,' 'happiness consists chiefly in getting enough sleep': paraphrasing is mine) and some only through repeated readings ('once a basic truth has been stated it is never necessary to reformulate it; it retains its truth through translation and repetition': once again, my paraphrasing). I can never do more in a simple review than hint at what lies within Starship Troopers. There are too many levels to explore in one reading, much less this short review. Starship Troopers, ultimately, meets the acid test of the classics of science fiction: take out the sci fi, and it's still a great read. Add the sci fi, and it makes a great read phenomenal.
Rating:
Summary: An Allegory of WWII in the Pacific
Review: Heinlein does a lot of moralizing and philosophizing in this book. He talks about the duties of citizenship and the decay of Western civilization. His observations relating to use of force, child rearing, and social responsibility are not "politically correct" in this modern day and age. His views on the equality of women weren't "politically correct" when he wrote. Back in the late 50's and early 60's I read and re-read this book until I completely wore out two copies. I often skipped over the philosophical sections to get to the "good stuff"--the action. I didn't appreciated the philosophy, but I did love the action. I also didn't realize that the book was an allegory for WWII. Heinlein served in the Navy during WWII, and this might account for the decidedly Pacific flavor of the book. The Bugs are the Japanese. They fight every bit as tenaciously as the Japanese did, and in the end they are as thoroughly defeated. The bombing of Buenos Aires is, of course, Pearl Harbor. The Mobile Infantry is the Marine Corps. The world where they take R&R is Hawaii. The capture of the Brain Bug might correspond to the cracking of the Japanese code and the ambush of Yammamoto. Other parallels can be drawn, but you can push the analogy too far. The numerous landings correspond to the amphibious assaults of the island hopping campaign which was to culminate in the final amphibious assault on the Japanese homeland. That last assault was made unnecessary by Hiroshima. Heinlein ends his book with a thinly veiled criticism of Hiroshima. Toward the end of the war, the Earthly forces had perfected the "Nova bomb", which could simply destroy an entire planet. Although Earth had the technology to simply destroy the Bugs' home world, they decided to spend the lives necessary to capture the world by assault. Although I was too bone-headed to appreciate the Pacific War/Bug War parallels as a child, I did pick up on Heinlein's criticism of Hiroshima, and parrotted it to my father. Dad was a Marine during WWII and had been slated to participate in that last assault. Needless to say, Dad had an entirely different take on the bombing. After reading "Storm Landings", by John H. Alexander, I tend to agree with Dad.
Rating:
Summary: Starship Troopers-an ecxellent book
Review: Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein, is a unique masterpiece of science fiction, which tells us a simple story of a soldier, and yet takes it to new heights. The book was met well by readers worldwide. Sony made a hit movie (named similarly) based on it and there even was a computer game. However, despite this success, the book had created a controversial conflict. While millions of fans hailed the book, almost every book critic worldwide criticized the book. However, even constant critic attacks did not prevent Starship Troopers from becoming a bestseller in United States and winning the Hugo Awards in 1960. Starship Troopers tells a story of a soldier thrown into an epic battle which will decide the fate of human race. It is XXII century. Earth is now called Terra. Humans have already colonized other solar systems in the Galaxy. However, in the depth of space they meet a deadly new enemy. Arachnoids are intelligent insects, far larger than usual ones, and are possessed with a single idea: to destroy the human race. Heinlein's hero is Juan Rico, son of a rich businessman, who wants to serve in the Army in order to gain the right to vote. He gets into infantry and experiences shock and harshness of becoming a soldier. After Rico finishes his training he begins to fight against the Bugs and their plans to destroy humanity. Starship Troopers audience is targeted at people who like science fiction. The book contains all the elements which score well with science fiction fans. There are aliens, planets, starships and adventures.. Heinlein's world of the future is vivid and realistic but always stays as a background to the main story, and that makes the book easy to read, as it always stands on its course. Furthermore, Heinlein succeeds in reinventing certain science fiction cliques. He brilliantly chooses insects as the alien race which humans are fighting against. Insects, because of their loathsome appearance, are usually hated or treated with disgust by humans. Thus, reader hates the aliens, too, making the story much more believable. Also, such aliens are much more believable and realistic to today's reader, than some six legged creature with claws and an indiscernible features. Heinlein is ingenious in using various literary techniques to mesmerize the reader and make reading Starship Troopers a highly memorable experience. First, he uses first person narrative throughout the book. Not only this brings reader closer to the story, but it also emotionally connects the reader with the hero. Heinlein also uses chronological organization, and one reads the book and goes along the life of the hero. In addition, each chapter reveals more and more about the future world, and that makes reading much more interesting. The book's language is also simple and easy to read and comprehend Furthermore, book contains lots of dialogue, and one feels how the characters interact. Overall, throughout the book, Heinlein succeeds in creating a unique atmosphere, through which one is emotionally connected to the story and to its characters. To conclude, if you are a science fiction fan, Starship Troopers is an excellent book, definitely worth reading and rereading. If you do not like science fiction, you might want to read something else. However, if you are not a science fiction fan, but are interested in it, this would be a good book to start your journey into the exciting world of science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Not like the movie at all, a great book
Review: I saw the movie and decided that the book was worth reading. It was a pleasant surprise when I learned that it had won the Hugo Award (1960) and had been published in the 50's. So going into this I knew that Starship Troopers was a time-tested novel from the Golden Age of science fiction. Expecting a story similar in plot to the movie, I was again pleasantly surprised to find that this was a socio-political writing. Complete with power-suits, alien bugs (the bad guys), military space-training and political theory, this novel had everything but romance. I started this novel on a Sunday and called in sick on Monday so that I could finish reading it. After I had read it, upon reading the reviews, I noticed there were many people offended by the political theories presented in the book. I remember one person warning the potential reader "not to take the politics too far" or "not to take this book too seriously." That's because this book makes you think. It's about the value of citizenship in a democratic government based on a franchise derived from the military. Some even contend that the book parallels Nazi political thought; but this is most likely because it was written so close to the end of WWII. Whether or not you agree is completely up to you. So be careful, please. This book will not only entertain you, but make you THINK as well. There aren't many sci-fi books that do that. So in that regard, I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascist Garbage
Review: I should start out by saying that a) I have never seen the movie and b) as an army veteran in a militia state (Switzerland), I should presumably be receptive to one of the (supposedly) core ideas in _Starship Troopers_, that citizenship has to be earned by public service. Unfortunately, Heinlein seems to have very little use for the actual *exercise* of the citizenship: His characters refer to it on derogatory terms, all of them get killed or become career soldiers rather than voting citizens, and none of them evidences the slightest interest in actually *changing* anything in this oh-so-perfect society. Instead, we get treated to a view of a society which constantly brutalizes its members from childhood through military training to their slaughter in poorly motivated military tactics and to justify it all, harangues them in regular indoctrination lectures. Blatantly taking a page out of the Nazi playbook, the instructors keep referring to their poorly reasoned apologies for their brutal ideology as "exact science" and "mathematics" - with such a perverse use of "mathematics", it's no wonder that the protagonist keeps having difficulties in his math studies. Recommending the book for a "young adult" audience is a bad idea. Like Ayn Rand's _Atlas Shrugged_, another work of fascist science fiction, it's bound to poison impressionable minds with a pseudo-philosophy that it's going to take them years to grow out of. It might be interesting, however, to present this book in combination with two other books: Joe Haldemann's _The Forever War_, which presents a much more plausible scenario of the effects of intergalactic war on soldiers and society, and Hans Peter Richter's _I Was There_, an autobiographical account of what it's *actually* like to grow up in a fascist society (Nazi Germany; readers of _I Was There_ will find a chilling similarity to the society of _Startship Troopers_). Leaving aside the disturbing ideology (which is rather hard to do), the book is reasonably well written (which is why I gave it 2 stars), except for the dialogue, which is suprisingly wooden for such an acclaimed author.
Rating: 
Summary: Baaaaad hardcover
Review: I bought the hardcover because I thought it would be nice to have in my collection. However, the one I bought was an "econoclad" book which seems to mean a paperback with a poorly glued on card-board cover. Hardly what anyone would consider a real hardcover. Still a good story if you are not judging it by its cover... but not for the collector looking for a real hardcover.
Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's best
Review: Starship Troopers is one of those sci-fi novels which is described in such a way that you feel you are there with the characters, suffering their losses and basking in their triumphs. He has a political philosophy in this book, but it it well woven in the storyline, and doesn't come off as preaching. Also, this book isn't a right-wing treatise like some say it is. That fact that veterans were the ones that were truly free illustrates one point: you don't really appreciate something unless you fight for it. This doesn't mean that everyone doesn't deserve freedom, but that those who sacrificed the most for it will cherish it the most. I think Heinlein did an excellent job of conveying his message, and that he did it in a book as enjoyable as this one is impressive.
Rating: 
Summary: Old but still good for kids to read
Review: I remember reading this book when I was very young. It was thought to be so right wing that another book called the "Forever War" was written to refute its ideas. Robert Heinlen was a soldier who served in the Pacific in the second world war. The combat scenes in Star Ship Troopers are similar to some battles in the pacific. The first one is set on a tropical planet with lush vegetation. The last battle is similar to Iwo Jima. The book conveys the sense of urgency and perhaps fear that must have been felt by servicemen of the United States faced by a fanatical and up to late 1942 successful enemy. The enemy in the book are a species of insects who unlike the film use modern technology. The war is one in which mankind and the insect enemy fight a war of extermination. This again replicates the fighting in the pacific with its brutality and the take no prisoners approach of the Japanese and Americans. About two thirds of the book deals with the training of the main character and a description of a futuristic military society. In that society only war veterans can participate in the political process. The book also celebrates what is clearly the American basic training used for infantry as a character building exercise and as vital in the war effort. It was the celebration of these "military virtues" and the futuristic political system which led to it being criticised as fascist. Its ironic in a way as Nazi Germany for instance used training regimes for its armed forces that encouraged more individual initiative and for more devolved responsibility. The training in this book is more what Frederick the Great would have used for his Grenadiers. It was a strange experience to re-read the book after 20 or so years. The strong points in the book is the brooding atmosphere through it of a society in danger. Of the need to create an army and of a society just winning in a desperate struggle to keep the enemy at bay. It conveys what it must have been like to live in Britain during the Blitz or perhaps more accurate in the Soviet Union in 1942. The action scenes are well done but they only amount to a small part of the book. The political issues seem to have passed away somewhat now. It seems to be a book of its time rather than having any real message for how things should be. Or at least a message that really speaks to anyone. I remember as a very young person reading this book in a couple of days. That is surely what Science Fiction Book are about anyway so four stars. .
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written Treatise on Heinlein's Moral Philosophy
Review: My party line on this book is that it has the plot complexity of a porn novel. Rather than sex -- which is included in many of Heinlein's other works -- Starship Troopers is filled with philosophy. Lovers of the movie, beware: this is no simplistic sci-fi novel. Though it contains adventure, like many Heinlein novels Starship Troopers would be better suited to a course in philosophy than a course in 20th century science-fiction. Starship Troopers follows the career of Johnny Rico, a young volunteer with the space-age Mobile Infantry. Johnny moves from being unsure about his service commitment -- he signs up for two years to gain citizenship (the right to vote) -- to choosing soldiering as his career path. The transformation is explained thorugh many pages of easy-to-understand flashbacks to Johnny's high school days and his instructor in "moral philosophy." Heinlein's philosophy is also propagated through the use of Johnny's inner monolouge and conversations he has with characters throughout the book. The glimpses we are given of Johnny's world show us Heinlein's view of a perfectly organized and morally just society, a society where only military veterans have the right to vote. That society appears to be Heinlein's answer to the social and moral degredation he predicts in many of his other novels --- such as "I Will Fear No Evil." The plot serves as a device to guide the reader through that world. The philosophy, however, is marvelously well presented. It is well woven into the fabric of a rather insignificant plot. Even if you don't agree with Heinlein -- and I doubt many will -- the questions he raises and suggestions he makes are ample food for thought. For all its philosophy, Heinlein is still a good writer. Starship Troopers is an easy and relatively enjoyable read, commendable primarily for its moral and ethical implications. This fits into the body of Heinlein's works where the plot most certainly comes second.
Rating:
Summary: Still one of RAH's best.
Review: Heinlein wrote three books with contrasting political systems. In Beyond This Horizon, he depicted a futuristic socialist utopia, where the most pressing social issue is boredom. In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein built a rugged techno-libertarian experiment on the moon, and set it against the authoritarian Earth in a war for independence. None of these was greeted with the derision and scorn that followed the filming of his classic Starship Troopers. Heinlein painted the third form of government, democracy, using Troopers as a canvas. He asked the simple question, "what would happen in a democratic society if suffrage were limited to those who served their country?" With this simple start, he fleshed out an engaging and heroic vista, where men and women fight for the sake of preserving humanity's future. Troopers has been criticized as a tribute to Fascism, which is true of the movie. Luckily, the movie bears no relation to book. Troopers was and is an experiment with democracy, the author hoping to create a world in which those who vote also were those who cared most about its future. Read it for yourself.
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