Starship Troopers

Rating:
Summary: See the movie, ignore the book
Review: Paul Verhoeven's film version of _Starship Troopers_ does something with this story that Heinlein was apparently incapable of doing: makes it entertaining. Verhoeven took a military tract verging on religious zealotry and turned it on its head, using its very words to put the lie to Heinlien's ideas and ideals. Verhoeven's cutting parody of military propaganda makes Heinlein's treatise look flat-footed and dull.

Rating:
Summary: Starship Troopers- A modern day U.S. Army officers guide
Review: Starship Troopers is one of the greatest pieces of military literature I have ever read. Heinlein has captured the spirit of the armed forces. His view of the relationship between enlisted men and their officers is exact. Being an officer in the U.S. Army field artillery I can say that this book can tell you everything you need to know to be an officer in the armed forces. It shows how an officer needs to depend on (and listen to) his or her Non-Commissioned officers to do be able to accomplish the mission. It shows self sacrifice, total commitment and the needed relationships that form in military units. You ROTC guys (Johnnie wore those Silver dots, too!) and especially you academy pukes would do yourselves some good to read this book before you give your first order to a soldier whose life you are responsible for. Now I'm just going to give you guys a quick tidbit about my feelings about that awful movie. I don't know any soldier that thinks war is a joke like those 90210 rejects in the movie. Also the book made it clear that the MI were a combo of the infantry and armor (tanks) because the suits basically replaced tanks. Here is a quote rom page 80. "It isn't a tank (the suit)- but a single MI private could take on a squadron of those things and knock them off unassisted if anybody was silly enough to put tanks against MI." What was so impressive about the MI in the movie? Nothing. Heck, I'd take on that entire group of screaming idiots with one U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams anyday. I'd show them the true meaning of infantry being called 'Crunchies.' For that matter if the movie MI were just regular infantry, why weren't their any tanks? My tank company in Germany could have just drove our tanks through the bugs and ended the war on the first day. Well, I'm done venting. READ THE BOOK! DON'T SEE THE MOVIE!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding novel betrayed by a poor movie
Review: An often misunderstood book that people think is controversial, the idea that serving one's country to buy a stake in it is fascist is nothing more than rabid antimilitarism. While Heinlein may overstate his point to make it obvious, it is still a very good one. The real point is that people should contribute to their country. The book far exceeds the movie's technical grasp. The movie leaves you wondering why they didn't bring a tank, the book explains why one wasn't needed. The Starship Troopers of the book are infinitely more formidable than the movie's.

Rating:
Summary: READ THE BOOK, DON'T SEE THE MOVIE!!!
Review: I had the good fortune to read this book before I saw the positively awful film version [a parody, if ever there was one] of it. It's great, filled with fascinating political and moral ideas--and manages not to be dull at the same time. It's also filled with adventure, though it does not overdo itself. It is the right balance of both. Don't come to this book expecting a clone of the awful Verhoven movie. It isn't one. Instead, you'll get possibly the best science-fiction ever written. (It's also decent, for those who objected to those tasteless bits in the movie--I closed my eyes in those parts.)

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT a fascist or sexist manifesto
Review: Don't any of you GET IT? Just because you don't like the society in a futuristic novel, it DOESN'T mean the author is trying to brainwash you into his misguided beliefs. Didn't you ever read "Animal Farm," or "1984," or "Brave New World?" Did you think THEY were preaching and desiring a future without personal freedom? Get real. If anything, these authors all wanted to show what MIGHT happen, not what they WANT to happen. "Starship Troopers" is a great novel (and a pretty good movie, with or without Doogie). It tells a story of one possible future world You might want to live there. Then again, you might not. But, it is FICTION!!! Give up the social analogies. Read it. Then watch it. Then judge it as a STORY, not as a textbook. I hope the film stirs up the desire to read the book. Trekkies, Lucasites, Dr. Who fans... you'll all love it!

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Summary: THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ IN MY LIFE.
Review: THIS BOOK IS UNBELIEVEABLE,IS ALL I HOPED IT WOULD BE.EVERYTHING FROM THE DROP TO THE BUG PLANET TO THE BATTLES,THE DESTRUCTION THE BUG.BY FAR,THIS IS THE BOOK TO READ.WHOEVER IS READS THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE BUY THE BOOK NOW!!! YOUR BIGGEST FAN, RONALD BUSSOLATI

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thought-provoking book.
Review: The movie is an absolute travesty which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the book -- and in fact it appears to be a deliberate attempt by Verhoeven to destroy something he either didn't understand or felt threatened by.

The original book champions the theme of moral responsibility, and proposes that only those who are willing to serve their community are best qualified to have a say in running it. The coming of age of Juan Rico, a young Filipino man who volunteers for federal service with the usual combination of arrogance and ignorance found in high-school graduates, is entertaining without being painful. Heinlein does again in ST what he does in his best novels -- raise SF to an art form by raising deep social, political and philosophical issues in the context of a possible future.

Rating:
Summary: Strongly recommended!
Review: When I got this book, I had the impression that it was going to be a story about gung-ho soldiers, running around and blasting things up, so when I reached the fourth page, I put it down (I must admit that I had been negatively influenced by the movie trailer I had just seen the night before).

Well, I am glad to say that I was completely mistaken! It is one of the most interesting and thought provoking books that I read this year; it certainly deserves a 10! It is an interesting exposition of military "philosophy" and the author's ideas are quite interesting (although I may not personally agree with some of them); I really don't have to say much more than the other people who reviewed this book... If you're not looking for plain action or adventure, I strongly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Great story, with some intellectual content to match
Review: This is one good book. Aside from the exciting and interesting story, it presents some interesting views on society, duty, democracy, and the military machine. For a former Corporal with a tour in Bosnia like myself it is one of the few occasions where I have read a book that really captures an "Army Spirit" and manages to communicate it well. The "Moral Philosophy" contained in it gives food for thought, and makes some interesting points though you might not agree with them, though if you can't seperate your opinion from some interesting intellectual material this book is not for you. A great book, and a great read. I just wish it was longer.

Evert-Jan C. Duindam

Rating:
Summary: The book is great; the movie sucks.
Review: I get rather annoyed when a director has such contempt for both the audience and the material that he ridicules the former by trashing the latter, betting the audience is too stupid to notice. Verhoeven has said the he did not read the book, and that he thinks SF has no merit. Verhoeven's distorted Mobile Infantry make the Iraqi army look like Navy SEALs -- he either learned nothing in his stint in the Danish Marines, or he holds the moviegoing public in contempt.

Overall, it was as bad a translation of a book to the screen as I have ever seen. Verhoeven and his screenwriter decided to take a book about civic virtue and substitute their own agenda, twisting the meaning into something it isn't and then making a parody of that. Thus, a discussion of the of citizenship in a democracy becomes how to get ahead in a police state; civic virtue in risking one's life to protect a wounded comrade becomes summarily executing the wounded; and individual thinking and initiative become torture for asking the wrong question.

In an earlier review, [e-mail] from Los Angeles, CA makes several assertions (e.g., Heinlein's "notion that political power grows solely from the barrel of a gun") which make me wonder if he had actually read the book. By far the worse, though, was his comparison of Heinlein's Federation in _Starship Troopers_ with the Draka in Stirling's _The Stone Dogs_. He says:

> In both, the Citizen class are educated, upstanding, courageous paragons of virtue living attractive, prosperous lives
> based on a commitment to military service. Stirling shows us the slave labor and butchery of dissidents behind the
> pretty picture: with Heinlein we have to figure it out for ourselves.

The society of Stirling's Draka is explicitly, self-consciously, and unashamedly based on slavery justified not by religious or moral "right" but simply by force of arms. Heinlein's Federation bears no more resemblance to the Draka than does any Western democracy. One can certainly argue that Heinlein's Federation is unrealistic (to which I would argue that the book is about civic virtue, not government); claiming that Draka-like atrocities occur and that we have to "figure it out for ourselves" is the literary equivalent of libel.