Starship Troopers

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading as a condition of sufferage
Review: A friend mentioned that this was an incredible book, and being a fan of "Stranger in a Strange Land" for nearly 2 decades now, I dropped my reading list for a Sci-Fi space escape... I forgot it was Heinlien; low and behold some of my favorite stomping grounds, a provocation of social values, moral values WITH analyses, all in the sterile environment of Science Fiction. Myself, being flung left of center, Starship Troopers reminded me of some of my more conservative "core" values regarding freedom, service to man, and duty... A Klingon's paradise. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I could cite chapter and verse that which Hollywood wouldn't dare touch (Their very own "31 crash landings" by which to avoid controversy)... but, "Hey!", I'm there for the F/X. Starship Troopers will make you think... and fan the fires of disagreement; this is a good thing. The usage of Sovereign Franchise as a form of government, the challenges to our "unalienable rights" (very poignant), the forwarding of duty as the application of "survival" toward the "group", and Heinleins "59" analysis of the end of the XX'th centuries social and judicial woe's was a prophetic indictment of the status quo. I didn't agree with the RAH's whole doctrine... Then again it wasn't a doctrine was it? It was a novel. A science fiction novel... put out as a model of a utopian society, I don't believe that was RAH's point. Let Starship Troopers stir the settled detritus of your social value system and leave you feeling like your back in college spoiling for moral debate... Then ask yourself "What's the point?".

Rating:
Summary: So it's a nazi book after all!
Review: I truly loved this book, a challenging combination of action adventure novel and philosophical tract. I didn't agree with everything -- certainly not the idea that corporal punishment is a cure-all -- but I have always felt that society is a product of history, of cumulative sacrifices and thus can never be handed to the next generation free of charge. However, now we know that this idea is nazi, thanks to Paul Veerhoven and his Hollywood idiots. Can you imagine the nerve -- he put Doogie Howser in an SS uniform just to make the point! Well, it isn't the point. I hope everyone reads this book, and *thinks*. I shiver to think of what Kevin Costner is doing to "The Postman."

Rating:
Summary: Great book, full of ideas!
Review: I enjoyed the movie and it led me to reread the book after 30 years. It is a great book filled with ideas that force one to think and yet is still enjoyable fiction, a superb story, well told. The book is much much better than the movie. It this kind of book that got me interested in science fiction in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: A gauntlet thrown down
Review: Starship Troopers does not advocate a facist goverment! It considers a democracy where individuals who desire the right to vote must prove that they are willing to pay the cost of freedom. The fact, that so many people today find this requirement for personal responsibility threatening, does not bode well for our nation. I first read the novel in a high school English class. I was a 16 year old punk at the time. It greated a great deal of debate, to say the least, but had a profound impact on me. I enlisted in the Marine Corps on my 18th birthday, against the wishes of my parents, and have served, as both an enlisted Marine and Marine Officer, for 11 years. I have reread the book several times and was excited to learn, in 1992, that the Commandant of the Marine Corps had made Starship Troopers required reading for all Marines. Read this book with an open mind. It is science fiction literature, more importantly it challenges the reader to examine our role in society. Bryon J. Fugate

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic, thought provoking book. Truly a classic.
Review: What can you say about a book that resonates so clearly with common sense? Most people of a liberal bent are attacking the political ideas as "facist", to the point that I've seen the term "right-wing" applied in the newspaper reviews of the movie. RAH's idea that the franchise is purchased with service (not combat service mind you, which most of the half-wits seem to miss) is not far removed from Thomas Payne's statement, paraphrased, that freedom is purchased each generation with the blood of patriots. How about holding people responsible for their actions? What a concept! In an age where only 20-30% of the electorate bothers to vote (how many of you bothered to even find out if their were any ballot issues this Nov 4?) perhaps the vote should be earned; maybe then we'd have some people who knew the true cost. Bottom line, the book was not only a great read, but helped mold some political ideas that have lasted (in this reader) over 25 years.

Rating:
Summary: excellent and a possible prediction of our future
Review: I thought Starship Troopers was a creative and thoughtful book. I thought it had powerful characters and a barren, alien setting where noone has been before.Altogether, Starship Troopers was an exotic sci-fi novel.

Rating:
Summary: An ageless science-fiction hit!
Review: For those who know that science-fiction is more than just having fun with what the future may have in for you... I read this book for the first time some twenty years ago, and still enjoy it and discover new things in it!! By the way, since I have the French translation (excellent), the French title reflects a song written by a famous French singer. A perfect match, maybe even better than the original: Etoiles, garde-à-vous...

Rating:
Summary: Predictable plot; interesting philosphy.
Review: Heinlein is only sometimes up with the best in his science of the future. However, he is the best at putting up a political/social philosophy, and seeing where it leads. This time he uses the idea of citizenship (voting) as something that is earned by federal service, and throws in a war against aliens to stress the philosophy, and the people who think they believe in it. The plot is predictable, but the philosphy and ideas are intriguing. This is not the best job Heinlein did with this type of approach, and this book's origin as a juvenile book are obvious. But it is a good read. Do not judge it by the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Movie misconceptions
Review: I keep hearing people knock Heinlein as a fascist a sexist and all that garbage but lets face some facts people. to gain your franchise you have to give federal service, not serve in the military, most people end up as cooks, park rangers and paper pusher. You have to volunteer for the Mobile Infantry. Second, women serve in military positions like starship pilot and retrieval boat pilots for reasons. Thirdly, in the fifties when this book was written, the cold war was at its worst, segregation was all over the US, sexual harrassment was not even a fantasy. Heinlein gives us a book where the protagonist is hispanic, the highest ranking officer on his ship is female and where they don't care if you are purple as long as you will fight for your country. The United States was not treated as the savior of all and it had the cajones to tell a paranoid reactionary country what the world was really like instead of the 1950's high school films where the cheerful male voice tells you a stilted version of the world as cheesy as it is wrong. The movie made the news coverage as bad as that which Heinlein wrote against.

Rating:
Summary: A thinking persons Sci-Fi novel.
Review: I think that the movie version will loose some of the great moral and thought provoking ideas that Heinlein had in mind. This will be sacrificed for slick special effects and a universal "us vs. them aliens" story line. My take is that you have to differentiate the movie from the book. Read the book for the literary content and see the movie for the escapism. Also interesting (to me) is that after I read Starship Troopers, the now defunct (due to FOX Broadcasting's Management's myopia) series "Space Above and Beyond" seems to be a loose adaptation of Starship Troopers.