Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers contains some great quotes and some very good, rousing dialogue between charactors Heinlein explores issues such as child-rearing and discipline, punishment, the franchise, rights and obligations, and other areas of government and the human experience.' I was not real excited with the reader, but overall a good listen

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This book was a lot more preachy and boring than I remember it to be. There are many things about this book which are very interesting, but unfortunately there were an equal number of things which just dragged by. (3 1/2 stars)

It's a classic, an historic work. But the shape of the tale is bogglingly bizarre. Heinlein skips over Officer Candidate School, except to include a scene in one classroom of a teacher jawboning political theory. Poof, Juan is an officer, pause for an extended scene of jawboning about what it means to be an officer. Then a long, dramatic narrative of a battle is abruptly brought to an end, right at the climax, by falling rubble which makes the hero wake up in the hospital with everything okay. ?!!? The only question remaining is whether it is Fascist propaganda. Yes and no. No, Heinlein wasn't a Fascist, and he didn't see his book as Fascist. But the only thing that prevented his Terrans from being a Fascist state was that the Powerful were all kindly and fatherly. And THAT is the only thing this book has in common with his other classic, the Love-and-Peace bible "Stranger in a Strange Land."

I read this book in High School. Then, about 2 years ago I watched the movie. I kept thinking, "I don't remember that in the book!". Well, I am glad to say my memory did not fail me. The book is nothing (in my opinion) like the movie and also (in my opnion) TONS better than the movie. The character's have much more depth in the book and we see Rico as the "love lost" teenager turned "Starship Trooper" in a much more detail. Definatly would recommend the book to any true SciFi fan.

Great reading of a classic book. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

Robert Heinlein wrote these books for teenagers. I loved them as a kid and still do. I wish that kids today would read his kids books. They teach a lot about honor and personal responsibility. I think he influenced generations of people. Simple book but a fun read.

If you thought the movie was a shallow action flick - you're right - and this is not the movie. This is the book, and is less about action and more about honour and personal responsibility. RAH had a thing for taking the consequences of one's own actions, and this is certainly one of his best soapboxes for it. I loved it, and understood it better than when reading it - course, I was 12 then! It's a very romantized and artificial view of the future world, and no one could say he predicted the future particularly brilliantly, but I love his take on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Well worth it if you are a fan of Heinlein or are trying to understand the points he made.

Starship Troopers, unfortunately, has the expectation of being a a Space Drama ala Hammer's Slammers or Falkenberg's Legion. It isnt. While there are scenes that take place in combat, the majority of the meat of the book is spent in the class room, whether its High School, Basic, AIT or OCS. This is a book about thinking, about morals and about responsibility. If you want a shoot-em up, go rent the movie, if you want a deep thought provoking book read on.

Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress got my expectations of Heinlein books so high that Starship Troopers fell short. Starship Troopers has a very different tone than the movie that came out a few years ago (which was supposed to feel like a comic book). The book was much more serious, and had Powered Suits. I enjoyed the sci-fi elements and I especially enjoyed the interesting thoughts about why 20th century society is doomed to fail. What I did not like (the reason I gave it a lower rating) was that by the time you finally feel like you're in the setting, the book just ends.