Rating: 
Summary: Get a clue
Review: Excellent Book... Movie was good for an action flick... But the movie was made by someone who was more worried about PC than making it about the book... Still great reading by anyone's standards... This means you.. yes you... the ones that rated it so low... Because even if you rated it low you still read the book and it made you think enough to comment about the contents... Pretty interesting how we can comment on something that was published awhile ago... But it seems to hit alot of nerves today... Made alot of people think... I think RAH accomplished his goal for this book...
Rating:
Summary: Characters vs. Action
Review: I just happened to be reading some of these reviews, and it seems to me that those who read ST either loved it or hated it. I loved it. The characters make you want to care about them because they are almost overflowing with personality. You want to get to know them. Johnny Rico could be just about any one of us growing out of the innocence and sometimes aimlessness of childhood to join the ranks of the world we live in. This book is about understanding yourself and the world you live in even though the world Heinlein created may not be exactly like ours. I think that if you read this book and didn't get anything out of it, you weren't reading it. I haven't seen the movie yet, though I read the script and judging by that, I think the people that made the movie were more concerned in making this into an action flick, rather than focus on the people and the motives like Heinlein did. I'm not so sure Heinlein would have been happy with it, but I liked it. : )
Rating:
Summary: i LOVE THIS BOOK, READ IT!!!!
Review: I have read this book and i believe it is one of the best books i have ever read.Heinlein takes us to a far off world with teenager recruits of the future that have to defend the galaxy of giant bugs.Ive read this book three times, it is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is like Space: Above and Beyond
Review: Juan Rico's nobody special. Just an ordinary kid who never really intended to follow through on his promise to join the Federal Service. As a World War II buff, I'm intrigued by the action. I guess all World War II veterans felt that way. Something made them join up. Whether it was patriotism or a judge saying, "Son, you have two choices, the Army or prison." It really doesn't matter. This reminds me of a mistakenly cancelled Fox series called Space: Above and Beyond. R. Lee Ermey's drill sergeant makes West, Hawkes, Vansen, Wang, and Damphousse, think of the concept of teamwork. Teamwork is essential in war. If you can't trust the people you fight with, you're dead. As the British said during World War II, of pilots who'd died in the Battle of Britain, "you'd buy the farm." During the Civil War, it was called "Seeing the Elephant." Whatever you call it, whatever euphemism you use, you're still just as DEAD. Disregard all other bad reviews of this book. I haven't seen the movie. Someone once told me: "You can't say you hate bananas if you haven't tried them." I'm saying that to people who are tempted to write a review of a book they haven't read. Both ST and S:AAB are about the same thing. Faceless enemies attacking Earth. Whether it's the Chigs of Space: Above and Beyond,or the Bugs of Starship Troopers, its moral is the same. Don't get caught with your pants down. Nobody should listen to people like Patrick Buchanan or the militia movement. Patrick Buchanan is an isolationist with a Father Coughlin complex. He thinks that if we withdraw from world affairs, everything will be all right. In the 1920s, it was called "a return to normalcy," a euphemism for isolationism. If the Cold War has taught us anything it's that the United States can't abdicate its responsibility as a world leader. A responsibility we reluctantly inherited because Britain, France, and the other countries of Europe were unable to lead. Since we were virtually unscathed by the war, we were the logical choice by default. Major Reid's History and Moral Philosophy class at the M.I.'s OCS, is interesting. He discusses the reasons why the Federation came about. He mentions a war that never happened in 1987. He also mentions the Korean War which had ended six years before. The fact is that Robert A. Heinlein got some things right and some things wrong. Starship Troopers is a good book. As for the movie, I'll reserve my judgment of it until I see it. For those who are tempted to compare it to the book. Wait until you see it for yourselves. A good book is always better than a movie based on it but sometimes movies that get bad reviews are the best and those that get good reviews are the worst. You'll never know.
Rating: 
Summary: Good thing I'll Be Dead by Then
Review: The movie coming out, I thought I'd read this. I was dissapointed. Heinlien seems to preach throughtout the book of this "wonderful" new nation in which military and brutality is held above all. I got a little sick of Johnnie's one-armed teacher ranting and raving about the weaknesses of the 20th century democracies "a department of defense never won a war" and the harsh treatment of military offenders. And there was little character realism. Nearly every line of dialogue dated the book, I found myself imagining characters from 50's sitcoms as the book's characters. Anyway, this is as ok book if you're looking for something different. If you like philosophical looks at people fighting insects, try Ender's Game.
Rating:
Summary: Starship Troopers - One of Heinlein's best
Review: As a recently retired veteran of almost 23 years of total service, I think that RAH captured in this book an essential truth about soldiers; that is, in spite of the advanced weapons systems and powered armor available to his Mobile Infantry the troopers themselves possess the same mind-set and philosophy of their predecessors. This is evidenced by Heinlein's use of quotations at the start of each chapter of Starship Troopers (i.e., "You apes want to live forever? - Unknown Marine Sergeant, France, WWI). Although his political views expressed in this book may be considered a little extreme with regard to the fact that only honorably discharged veterans were granted citizenship, the book overall is a good, fast read.
Rating:
Summary: The Book and The Movie - Why you can love them both
Review: I have owned a copy of ST since it was first published in paperback and have always loved the book. You can like(or love) the movie as well if you simply treat it as entertainment. Even with the internal contraction, the movie is a story I think RAH would have enjoyed. It did things he wanted to do, but because of the morals of the time, it would have been impossible. Just watch it, enjoy the special effects(ignore the fact that creatures that build faster than light ships kill with claws and pincers). and get a good laugh at the Nazi uniforms.
Rating:
Summary: By how far can you miss the point?
Review: I am constantly amazed at those who denounce Heilein as fascist (even bearing in mind the noble tradition in American political debate to let libel substitute for discourse). Because he postulated a mildly totalitarian society in ST, why is he pilloried for it? Anyone who has read a cross section of RAH's other books (including the charmingly idiosyncratic travelogue Tramp Royale) knows that Heinlein was adamantly opposed to all forms of governmental coercion. So here he poses a possible society in which the franchise is only awarded to veterans (who incidentally are volunteers - no draft) and briefly discusses how that came about, it's just setting the stage for the real point of this novel, which is the relationship between the professional soldier and the society he protects. Duty, honor, integrity... that's what this book is about, not the glorification of war. Heinlein pulls no punches, even with the powered armor and pocket nukes this war is no walkover, it's nasty, brutal, and ugly. People (that is, humans - "our" side) get maimed and killed, where anyone would find glorification in the descriptions of combat is beyond me. What Heinlein is saying is that some things must be defended, even at the risk of our own lives. So the society he postulated is not an idyllic one by our own standards... it wasn't by his, either. Others have commented adversely about the unsympathetic nature of the enemy and wanted more development of them, but Heinlein deliberately and artificially created an adversary who was entirely unhuman and a war which was flatly unambiguous - this isn't Vietnam, you can't feel empathy for the aliens, or wonder if this is the right fight, or even concede the justice of their cause. This is a pure crusade, something which seldom if ever comes along in human history. That simply distills the story to its essentials - the soldier's relationship to his society, remember? For a true political manifesto, read his "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," where he espouses his libertarian philosophy. He is realistic enough there to have it miss realization in the end, because while libertarianism makes an admirable ideal it's an unworkable utopian reality - face it, we can't trust each other all the time, and there are some of us who need government support to varying degrees, and sometimes natural disasters overcome our individual abilities. But please don't make RAH responsible for your own prejudices - reread this book, jettison your "cold war paranoia" putdowns and think about what Johhny Rico is fighting for and why. Observe his evolution from aimless teenager into professional soldier fighting for his people's survival. And for those reviewers who obviously are basing their comments on the film - shame on you! Let's display at least a modicum of intellectual honesty here, please!
Rating:
Summary: Virile Nietzschean Instinct All The Way!!
Review: Gentlefolk, One reviewer earlier wrote that ST should be required reading for Political Science students--- an excellent point (I myself am slogging through a Ph.D. in the subject). The text operates on several more or less distinct levels at once, all of which are useful for students of government. On one level, it is about the maturation of a young man as he finds purpose and awakens to the realities of life. On another level it is about a war of ascendance between two incommensurably different species. On a third level it is about political philosophy, especially the reciprocal nature of 'rights' to 'obligations'. This last level is what seems to provoke the most controversy. The morality of this future society is almost completely free of Christian values. It is a society where honor and virility are worshiped. Where inequality is recognized with clarity as an ineradicable element of existence. A society with hardly any elements of Christian weakness (or its redistributive secular political correlate, leftism). The whole book is an unqualified exhaltation of Man at his best and most potent--fighting for a noble cause, unyielding and heroically enduring massive losses without nary a blink. The weak (--those unable or unwilling to endure the test of citizenship--), while given freedom in a prosperous society, are not stake- holders in such a society. Birth means little in the Terran Federation--it is what one does that counts. In a word, the text puts strength and virtue (the martial virtue of pagan Republican Rome, not the Vatican!) once again at the center of man's world. Of course, strength and martial virtuosity have always 'counted'--but in Heinlein's post-Christian world, where men are liberated from life-sucking & self-negating anti-values, honor is unabashedly accorded where it is due: to the best of men. From each according to his ability, to each according to his ability! As Alexander the Conquerer said on his deathbed, in response to a query about who shall get his empire: "To the strongest".
Rating:
Summary: Starship Troopers, a great book
Review: Starship Troopers was one of the best sci-fi books I have read in my entire life. Though, you may think that the movie is like the book it isn;t. The book is much, much, much better. I think you should read this book if you like science fiction.
|
