Starship Troopers

[Wombat311]

I rather enjoyed the animated series called 'Roughnecks' based on the book.

[WellAdvised]

I sought out the book after seeing the movie. As a sci-fi fan I thought the film was excellent, and was expecting much the same from the book.

I was completely wrong, the book was on another level completely. The film had retained some of the ideas, but the book went further and was very thought provoking. It was an excellent read, and hard to believe it was written so long ago.

We shall not speak of the movie, that followed the first movie, in the hope it will never be brought up again.

Another sci-fi classic written years ago is 'Make Room, Make Room' by Harry Harrison - which was made into the movie Soylent Green with Charlton Heston.

[MaroonToBlue]

"Make Room, Make Room" was great. "Dune" was another good book that got turned into an only semi-related movie

[Nole795]

I rather enjoyed the animated series called 'Roughnecks' based on the book.

I forgot about that show. I was good CGI back in the days. I may have to put that on my Netflix list.

[Wolfman]

I have been reading the book off and on (between other books) and it is pretty decent. I think the biggest thing you notice about the book, is that it has a lot of the philosophical outlook on things.

Basically the few scenes in the movie that you see with "class discussion" are very fleshed out and more frequent in the book; also, the author pretty much made his own unique training regime, and tactics of how space marines would function.

The philosophy and imagination were apparently enough to put it on the Navy Reading List.

[mobrien316]

"Make Room, Make Room" was great. "Dune" was another good book that got turned into an only semi-related movie

"Dune" is my second-favorite book of all time.

[ngcsubutterbar]

The romans had a similar system of citizenship.

[Mike Romeo]

I read the book only after I saw the movie. What I personally got out of both was what the United States Air Force was already instilling in me philisophically, and that was "service before self".

I was very intrigued in the concept that citizenship was not a birthright and had to be earned. Military service was the fast track to citizenship, through sacrifice, because we're all individually much smaller than the big picture.

Retired USAF Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski's take on Starship Troopers: Heinlein’s citizenship is granted for soldiers who have made it through boot camp, where they have learned not to question authority, to follow all orders from above instantly and exactly, and who have no other allegiance than to the all-wise central state. It is a Rumsfeldian vision of citizenship. It is a citizenship where each moral compass is not individually discovered, tested and mapped, but instead simply imprinted. It must be because "Man has no moral instinct." (source)

[Valor55]

Retired USAF Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski's take on Starship Troopers: Heinlein’s citizenship is granted for soldiers who have made it through boot camp, where they have learned not to question authority, to follow all orders from above instantly and exactly, and who have no other allegiance than to the all-wise central state. It is a Rumsfeldian vision of citizenship. It is a citizenship where each moral compass is not individually discovered, tested and mapped, but instead simply imprinted. It must be because "Man has no moral instinct."

What's interesting is that it is explained in the book why you have to have military service to get your citizenship. It's not because military service makes you smarter or more disciplined. It's because the individual has had to place the greater good above his own and knows the importance of serving society, not self. I thought it was very interesting. While military service isn't the only criteria I'd use I recognize that our system of letting anyone vote is insane.

[Wolfman]

What's interesting is that it is explained in the book why you have to have military service to get your citizenship. It's not because military service makes you smarter or more disciplined. It's because the individual has had to place the greater good above his own and knows the importance of serving society, not self. I thought it was very interesting. While military service isn't the only criteria I'd use I recognize that our system of letting anyone vote is insane.

I got that impression too. It seemed like the point of military service (and earning your citizenship) wasn't to "set" everyone's moral compass the same - it was to make them cherish it; to think what it actually means, and to make informed decisions that was based out of personal ethos for the greater good.