Rating: 
Summary: An all out assault on your intelligence.
Review: Well after seeing that turkey of a movie Battlefield Earth and then reading cult member written reviews saying, "Oh the book is so much better" I decided to have a gander. I managed to 'grab' a copy of the eBook, and am happy at that because to pay money for this utter tripe is immoral as it will only add to the coffers of Hubbard's Scientology cult. The amount of 5 star reviews here had me at first expectant that the book would be good, but after the first page of this... monstrosity... I have no doubt that every positive review on this site is written by one of Hubbard's brainwashed followers. I have in my time read a great many books ranging from fantasy, to military history to science fiction, and I can quite confidently say that this is the worst book I have ever read.First off we have Hubbard's introduction which has to be one of the most self-serving and self-centered pieces of text I have ever read. He seems to think he's some big time professional novelist and the man with the final word on what's real science fiction and what isn't, calling his book 'hard science fiction'. Well Mr. Hubbard keep on dreaming, because you sure aren't a professional level writer and this sure as hell is not 'hard science fiction. I simply cannot believe that this book is held as a 'science fiction classic', I was under the impression that for a story to be SF it had to at least have a grounding in reality, plausibility and science, this book totally lacks any of these attributes. Furthermore it reads as if a grade school student wrote it. Trust me, if you have seen the movie and heard the pleas of Hubbard's devotees saying how much better the book is don't believe them, they are exactly the same with the movie just having less long winded content. You see just like the movie, the book requires you to take these enormous leaps of faith over absolutely gaping plot holes. We are expected to swallow that a bunch of cavemen, remnants of a human society who's high tech armies were destroyed by the Psychlos in 9 minutes, can somehow in such a short space of time bring about their liberation. Along the way we have many oddities like the humans using 1000 year old flight simulators (where did they get the power to run them?) to learn how to fly 1000 year old Harrier jets (fuel and the restoration it would take to get these planes off of the ground are all totally negated) and somehow learning to use 1000 year old firearms to bring about the Psychlos doom. The only explanation for how they are able to achieve this is quite simply MAGIC there is no other plausible explanation offered in the book. The human characters themselves are painfully devoid of character, they are simply cardboard cut outs and the hero 'Johnny Goodboy Tyler' is just too perfect. The treatment of the female characters is painfully sexist and the racial stereotypes represent by alien races like the Chinkos (an obvious dig at the Chinese) is something I find totally unacceptable. It seems not only is Hubbard the whacked out leader of a ridiculous cult, he is also a sexist and racist bigot. The Psychlos themselves are so retarded that you begin to wonder how they even managed to conquer earth in the first place. I mean you think that they'd realize after conquering these 'human-animals' who once had a technologically advanced civilization that a man could figure out how to pull the trigger on one of their guns, or how to organize resistance. But they don't, it totally takes them by surprise and the only explanation we have in the book is the Psychlo's arrogance. The Editorial review of this book mentions that it includes no scientology, well I think this is very misleading, the book is jam packed with scientology propaganda. The Psychlos and the whole implantation thing with the 'Catrists' is so obviously an attack on psychologists who in scientology are held to be the root of all evil which exists in society. I wonder why Hubbard has such a store of hate against Psychologists? Maybe this hate was generated because a Psychologist told Hubbard that his whole idea to start this Scientology cult was ridiculous? Who knows, but I couldn't agree more, this guy and his cult are purely and utterly ridiculous. It immensely distresses me to find that this piece of garbage is so popular, I guess it just shows how dumbed down society is these days when an all out assault on your intelligence like Battlefield Earth can be called 'classic science fiction'. Either that or it shows how deeply entrenched in society scientology is these days. Take your pick, I find both possibilities equally disturbing. If you want to read some classic SF go and get a copy of Day of the Triffids, 2001 A Space Odyssey or anything by Asimov, this book is quite simply the mucky bottom of the barrel. In my opinion Battlefield Earth the book, and Battlefield Earth the movie go hand in hand as the worst piece of writing and the worst piece of cinema ever shoveled steaming under the nose of man kind. We should hold a global book burning bon fire where every copy of this utter filth is gathered and tossed into the flames to forever be removed from history, then we can dance around and sing in joy and maybe throw Hubbard himself in.
Rating: 
Summary: fairy tale meets science fiction!
Review: Johnny Goodboy Tyler is a true hero -- we don't find him weakened by internal struggles or suffering much. He knows exactly what the right thing to do is, and he just does it. The villains are really horrible - no bones about it. You just want to watch the hero wipe 'em all out, with no second thoughts. These elements are really pretty fairy-tale-ish. Most modern-day books don't have such black-and-white heroes and villains, and I found it a refreshing change. Our hero is larger than life - the story is larger than life. It's really HUGE! It's a fast, action-packed story, highly entertaining. Once I picked it up, I truly could not put it down. This was actually a bit of a struggle for me, since the book is over 1,000 pages and can't be read in a day. I found the story slowed down towards the end, as the fast paced action gave way to the subtleties of diplomacy. I've read this book a couple of times (I always re-read my favorite stories), and the first time I really didn't enjoy this part of the reading at all. The second time through I found myself enjoying it much more. Perhaps with age I've learned the importance of diplomacy, so it just made more sense to me. When Johnny Goodboy Tyler perfects his diplomacy, I find he's even more larger-than-life than before. This is a great story if you're looking for a book with big, heroic heroes, and villians you can really hate, and a great, big, huge action tale!
Rating:
Summary: Easily the worst book I ever read
Review: I dutifully read this book from cover to cover. They said it was good. It was not. They said it would get better. It never did. Firstly, L. Ron Hubbard claims that this book was "hard science fiction". Speaking as an engineering PhD, the science in this book is just plain wrong. Simple things, like Hubbard's understanding of a periodic table or what constitutes an unstable element, are completely incorrect. Given that Hubbard claims to have a studied nuclear physics in college, this is nothing short of unforgivable. He did not "simplify" things for the benefit of the uneducated. He is just plain wrong. He did not write this using "the best knowledge of his time." Even back then, an hour's perusal of an elementary physics or chemistry book would have told you how far he is from "hard science." Secondly, the characters are wooden. They simply act. They have no apparent motives other than broad declaratives such as "for the good of mankind", etc. You know no more about what motivates Jonny Goodboy Tyler at the end of the novel than you do at the beginning. He is simply perfect. The perfect warrior; the perfect engineer; the perfect pilot; the perfect diplomat; etc. etc. ad nauseam. My list of the shortcomings of this novel are nearly as long as the novel itself, so I won't bore you with the details. In short, there are many great science fiction novels out there. This is not one of them. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Battlefield Earth is Simply Stunning!!
Review: In this gripping book, man is the endangered species. Jonnie Goodboy Tyler is the name of the hero who ultimately lifts the threat of extinction and wins the world back for mankind. This book will keep you up at nights, unable to put the back down.
Rating:
Summary: You can't put the book down
Review: I have read many books. This was the first Sci-Fi book I read except for Dune. My wife had to persuade me. I usually read other types of books - Stephan Heim, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Umberto Eco etc. When I started reading it, I couldn't stop. It's a totally different genre than I'm used to read - a lot of action, adventure and a good time. It isn't very deep and is not meant to be. It's a lot of action and contains between the lines some great handy tips for life but that's all. As I see it, it's mostly meant for fun, adventure and more FUN!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Battelfield Earth
Review: Battlefeild Earth was a good book. To get to the point quick, it was a little long. However, having never read L. Ron Hubbard before or not knowing much about dyanetics, I thought this book was good. So, what did I like about it. I like the fact that it was about a group of people trying to overthrough their conquerors. It was detailed (though not overly so) and it consisted of some impossible feats. But, this is sci-fi. It is a good story if you are interested in being entertained. Will it change your life. Probably not. I liked the battles and I liked the main character in that he was strong. Albeit too strong. But again this book is just a plain old good story. What didn't I like about the story. The fact that again it is a story about humans killing everyone else. The fact that in every sci-fi book humans overcome everyone that is different gets kind of old.
Rating: 
Summary: This book should have ended much, much sooner.
Review: This started out ok. In fact, for the first several hundred pages, it was a fairly enjoyable read. I was confused, however, when the plot was wrapped up two thirds of the way through the book. The story was over. What could possibly take up another 200 pages? The story wasn't over. It really, really, really should have been, though. Really. Everything that happened after that was ridiculous, extraneous, and rather goofy. New characters--nay, species of alien!--are introduced. A whole new plotline starts. In fact, the book does this several times. It should have ended about 4 different times. The absolute worst, however, was the brand new, totally overwhelmingly important plotline that is introduced about 50 pages before the end of the book. Everything is tidily resolved in a whirlwind of implausible events that quite frankly insult the reader. It almost seems like someone else finished the book for him. It is also in the last parts of the book that L. Ron's anti-psychology views come out. The psychological stuff in the book is extreme beyond belief, totally evil, and really quite stupid. In fact, everything after page 600 was stupid.
Rating:
Summary: pleasantly surprised
Review: I have to admit, when I began reading this novel, I wasn't expecting much. Not having much use for scientology or L Ron Hubbard, the only reason I began reading was because I received the novel as a gift. However, once I got into it, I found it entertaining. Hubbard's writing was actually better than I thought it would be. Some may complain that his writing style is somewhat juvenile, and I would agree with that assessment, but then my question is - is there anything wrong with that? I imagine that I would have enjoyed the novel more back when I was a teenager. The novel definitely has the feel of 1930s or 1940s pulp science fiction - but even that can have a certain charm, if done well. I don't know if LRH purposely wrote it in that style or if he simply fell back onto his most comfortable writing style, but the end result is actually kind of fun.
Rating:
Summary: A TRUE SCI-FI NOVEL
Review: Think of Star Wars, the feeling of Indiana Jones, the suspense of Armageddon, and the triumph of The Patriot, and you have the incredible sci-fi novel, Battlefield Earth. Written by L. Ron. Hubbard, Battlefield Earth is an incredible sci-fi novel that mixes all areas of science fiction all rolled up into 1050 pages! There is no need to get a headache over the length; this book is full of incredible science fiction thrill from page one.
This novel begins in the year 3000 AD with the human race dwindling in size to near extinction while the Earth, a barren wasteland, is being controlled by viscous Psychlo aliens. With eight mining installations over the Earth, the Psychlos grind away at Earth's mineral resources, an alien race that had nearly wiped out the human race over a millenium ago. Now one man has stood up to the entire Psychlo Empire along with the scant remains of survivors. The last of the human race prepares to launch a universal assault on the Psychlos and retake their planet before man is lost forever.
This novel is an entertaining epic, with a rousing story line, and an uplifting feeling of man's fight and triumph. Don't be fooled by the terrible motion picture starring John Travolta and Barry Pepper, the book is a thousand times better and then some. Despite the movie's extremely poor representation that wouldn't even make you touch the book, Battlefield Earth is truly the best sci-fi fictional thriller every written. With over 5,000,000 copies in print, and translated into 20 languages, are good enough reasons to at least buy the book. Out of the novel's 1050 pages, every one is a fascinating read that keeps you reading.
With all of the incredible points, there are only few complaints one could give this book. First off, the length is a little long and the whole incredible feeling and style of the first 700 pages is dimmed in the last 300. The second thing that becomes obvious fairly quick is the reading level. Hubbard writes at an average 15 year-old reading level, which makes it slightly awkward, but the feeling of the novel can reach out to any aged reader. There are subtle points in the novel that are a little hard to notice and are quite ridiculous. The fact that the alien Psychlos can teach its language to humans through a teaching machine is okay, but half the time the aliens are wondering how to understand English when all they have to do is learn it through the same machine. The last 300 hundred pages or so, the humans are flourishing and all of a sudden 16 other alien races arrive on Earth's doorstep discussing politics. This is great if you're interested in political science and economics, but all of the action and feeling is totally gone.
This book is great if you enjoy science fiction and if you're patient enough with the story line. The story drags on a little long and you can get bored with it rather quickly if you're not interested in sci-fi before you read it. Other than that, it is a great read that definitely deserves much better credit than the poor movie version. Overall, it should appeal to many age groups.
Rating:
Summary: "Plan 9 from Psychlo"
Review: This is without a doubt the worst book I've read in my entire life. What makes this book so bad? [Everything.] It contains rifts of reasoning that would defy Evel Knievel. It contains factual errors that even I recognize. I am currently about halfway through it on a library copy--I was planning to buy it if I thought it was good; however after the first hundred pages I realized I had developed a visceral aversion to spending money on this thing. Hubbard claimed in his introduction that he had been writing for fifty years when he wrote this book--i.e. he had had fifty years' worth of practice. It doesn't show. I wrote something of about this length and only slightly worse in quality as a thirteen-year-old. What makes this book so tragic, however, is that one can see that there is "a ghost of a ghost" of a truly epic and breathtaking story lurking behind Hubbard's massive ineptitude as a writer. I have my doubts that he even recognized the potential scope of the idea however. This book represents a failure of talent on a scale matched only by the stylings of the great Edward D. Wood, Jr. In fact, it is a shame that Ed Wood died before he could get a chance to direct the movie. It would have been a match made in heaven. This book is literally so bad it's good, in much the same way as Ed Wood's opus "Plan 9 From Outer Space."
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