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Edited on Sat Nov-12-05 03:58 PM by FVZA_Colonel
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
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5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Deserves at least 10 stars, September 13, 2005
This book should be required reading for everyone. After watching the movie I almost didn't want to read the book. Finally after meeting a friend I served in the Army with convinced me to read it so I could see how Paul Verhoeven destroyed it.
The most fascinating (Being that I spent 31/2 years as an infantry paratrooper.) was that the MI were actually Outer space Paratroopers being launched out of a cannon while orbiting another planet and coming down in parachutes. I would love to try that.
Throughout the book the main character Juan Rico would remember lessons from his History and Moral Philosophy teacher Mr. Dubois. The book talks a lot about this class and I personally agree with lots of things that were taught. (Sorry to spoil one seen in the book here.) The one seen where he congratulates Rico in class because he wouldn't let Mr. Dubois give him first prize for winning the 100 meter run because he came in fourth is something I try to teach my children. (Sorry to spoil one seen in the book here.)
It is sad that Paul Verhoeven stole Heinlein's idea and twisted everything around to make the world Heinlein created look like a bunch of Nazi's. The world Heinlein had was a society where you have to have served two years in the military before you could have the right to vote. There was no Racism. Everyone was treated as an equal. Nobody was forced to join the military. In fact they were discouraged from joining.
The book is a must read for everyone who has some kind of moral values.
Interesting comment, to say the least.
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Starship Troopers (Special Edition) DVD ~ Paul Verhoeven
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Not for Heinlein fans, September 12, 2005
I watched this with a friend that I served in the Army with. The movie was excellent for a Hollywood military film. We even laughed during the scene were Rico told the recruiter he wanted to go Infantry and called him a dummy.(Considering that we were both in the infantry) As a veteran I didn't care for the political statement a man who never served in the military tried to push on every one.
If you read the original book from Heinlein you would find it an insult to his book. Verhoeven only copied part of the plot and the title.
The director of the movie tried to make it look like the humans really started the war against the bugs. Being you couldn't see how they could possibly travel from planet to planet. The book mentions that the bugs do have their own starships. You also believe the Bugs n the book did start the war. Heinlein mentions in the book that both species wanted the same real estate and in the end it was depending on which species had the right to survive. NOT that what the movie was showing. (Just what to expect from the extreme left running in Hollywood these days.)
The thing I hated most (Being that I loved the book) was seeing the soldiers run around looking like Nazi soldiers. Heinlein's book did have a military society but if you look at history the proper name of the Nazi's party was, National Socialistic Deutsch Arbeiter Partei (English, National Socialist German Workers Party) which means the Nazi's were extreme left wingers. If Mr. Verhoeven wanted to base the soldiers on a military society then, Germany before the First World War or the old Confederate Army.
The saddest thing about it was why the book was popular amongst the Paratroopers in the Army. The director could have shown the MI troopers being shot out of cannons on the Starships and coming down with parachutes. That was the best part in the book.
Another sad thing is it showed the women fighting along side the men and between battles making whoopee. The soldiers in the book didn't have time for that and women had different jobs. If Mr. Verhoeven wanted to show a woman can do as much as a man, then he should have paid attention to the book. It was saying that the female pilots were better than the male pilots.
If you never read the book you won't be too disappointed but I would suggest reading the book.
My personal opinion is when you take the name and plot of a book then you shouldn't ruin what the writer was trying to show for your own political ideas. (Especially if your ideas are different from those of the writer.) A movie based closer to the book would have been better. They simply took another mans idea and twisted it. This was very unoriginal and an insult to the writer.
I find it interesting he used the phrase "right to survive." If the bugs did start the war then we of course have the right to fight back, but using the term "right to survive," only makes me think of an almost racist attitude towards the bugs in general. I know "racist attitude towards the bugs" sounds pretty silly, but I do think that attitudes like that can lead to beliefs like "righteousness of our cause," and in the real world, that can prevent serious critical reflection on the motivations for going to war. And (a question posited for debate) shoudln't the bugs have the same right to exist as humans? And then using the common conservative attack that liberals would never want to fight, no matter what, does not entirely help his argument if someone of a liberal persuasion (like me, for instance) were to read this, due to the simple fact that it is incredibly ignorant to make such broad generalizations about a non-monolithic group of people. Also, "the Nazis were extreme left-wingers?" It's obvious that man never studied the rise of the Nazi party or it's rule over Germany and the conquered territories.
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Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Price: $6.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
99 used & new from $1.57
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
This book changed my life, March 13, 2005
No fooling. It changed my life.
I was introduced to the wonderful writings of Robert Heinlein at the age of 16 by a buddy at military school who suggested this book to me. It's hardcore conservative politics and disregard of the 'pseudo-sciences' of sociology and pop-psychology changed me from being a wanna-be hippie to a free-thinking man.
The story it's self is entertaining (please do not confuse this with the movie of the same name. The similarities end there, no mater how much they robbed from this fantastic book). It's quite amazing to follow young Juan Rico as we watch him grow from spoiled high school senior to 2nd lieutenant. The real joy, however, is Heinlein's explanations of why conservatism works.
I recommend this book to anyone of any age.
I did not get the impression that "Conservatism works" from the book. What I got was the idea that our well being is built upon the sacrifice of others, and that there ought to be privlidges for those willing to make those sacrifices. Heinlen was not a conservative in the way this man is thinking of him (I also think he is a but of a fool for thinking sociology is a 'psuedo-science' along the lines of magnetic healing or astrology), though I would say I disagree with some of Heinlen's ideas. Also, I find it interesting that such a "patriotic conservative" would be a fan of this book, as Heinlen basically expressed a belief that the idea that there are "natural rights" as described in the Decleration of Independence is absurd (a belief that has been stripped away in his society), and the idea of "natural rights" has been the keystone of our democracy since 1776.
Finally, while Heinlen was probably not a fascist, he was, most likely, a militarist. And when you are a militarist, you walk a dangerous line between advocating the use of force sanely and falling prey to the old adage "boys and their big, shiny, military toys- eventually, they'll want to use them."
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