Starship Troopers (Library Edition)
by Robert A. Heinlein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert A. HeinleinReader: Lloyd James
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2000-01-01
ISBN: 0786199466
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Book Reviews of Starship Troopers (Library Edition)
Book Review: Entertaining sci-fi war stories by a militaristic ideologue
Summary: 3 Stars
Where this book excels is in its characterization of military life, structure, and personalities. The sci-fi aspects are also quite forward-thinking, for its day (it's nearly 50 years old, and hardly seems dated)! The various adventures recounted by the main character are pretty entertaining, too.
However, those elements are interleaved with a fairly insistent sales pitch for extremist conservative social ideology and militarism. The irony of this is that the arguments put forth are characterized by the very sort of "fuzzy-headed wishful thinking" and "pseudo-science" upon which the author repeatedly (and rightfully) heaps scorn and disdain.
Anyone truly interested in the necessity, efficacy, and consequences of corporal punishment of minors can surely find a wealth of high-quality academic research on the topic. To give him the benefit of the doubt, this aspect may have been a product of era in which it was written.
I can't really comment on the bit of warfare and foreign policy doctrine, though I can believe it might be supported by game theory. And as for the militaristic political ideology, all I can say is that I'm glad he didn't try to claim there was a formal, mathematical justification for it. Oh, it's not a bad thought experiment, and I'm not so insecure about my political beliefs that I'm unwilling to contemplate any alternative systems - but I found the insistence and narrow-mindedness of the arguments to be a bit disturbing. That, and it got off to a bad start with the whole corporal punishment solicitation.
I haven't read any of Heinlein's other works, but I hope he stuck to the topics he knew and did well - namely sci-fi and warfare - and left the societal prescriptions to the sociologists and anthropologists.
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