Thanks for the recommendation! Yeah it's a great one on multiple levels. Far more complex than I thought it would be from a commentary standpoint.

Still a cool story :)

thanks for watching! Yes, you DO need to get into sci-fi. It's such a great genre with so many options depending on what you're into. I tend to prefer more near-future sci-fi, but it's good to try new things from time to time, like this book.

Even the fighting in ST is to highlight the civics lessons that come before or after. It's still a good, edifying read.

Nah, i had enough civics lectures in college. Heinlien was a trained naval officer but never saw combat. He thought about war as being beautiful in some way, and it isn't. He's more or less into worshipping the military. If he was an ordinary bloke today he'd be the kind sharing cringe inducing memes about standing for the flag or whatever. His political philosophy isn't worth the paper it's printed on. He is popular with idiots because of his shitty takes. In the book he suggests that the end of spanking caused an almost apocalypse and resulted in the new state. This is kinda similar to millennials not owning houses because of avocado toast. Makes total sense if you're an idiot. The very idea that only servicemen should have the right to vote creates an aristocracy. This system is quite untenable if you're not a service member. Even today, plenty of politicians who are veterans tend to focus so heavily on service, which is usually proved by showing you a picture in battle uniform in a warzone, despite most of them being desk jockeys. If you want US examples, Pete Buttigieg and Ron Desantis or even President Bush Jr are good examples. They served, sure. Buttigieg helped disrupt finance networks and described drove a truck into Kabul 100 times, Desantis was really good at torturing people at GITMO, and Bush jr managed to stay sober enough to not crash. Hell, president LBJ went for one single joyride in a bomber and demanded a medal for it, which he got- none of the rest of the crew did. They do act like grizzled war vets who went door to door clearing houses in Mosul or whatever. The average bloke would sign up and if he's really unlucky go through the meatgrinder, while privileged folk would call uncle general xyz and ride some more desks. You also apparently need to serve if you want to have kids. Western democracies don't have enough babies being born either way. I could go on, but the gist is, his political philosophy is rubbish. Also, I get doing the philosophy once. Thrice? Seriously? The only worse writing I can think of is the 300 page long rant/monologue in Atlas Shrugged. But Atlas Shrugged can be shat upon for many reasons, not just bad writing. I'd wipe my arse with atlas shrugged but I'm civilised and use a bum gun for personal hygiene. The use of power armour is why the book did stand out. But it really needed more fighting.

Thanks! And thanks for the insight. I haven't read Starship Troopers, so I'm glad to hear I read the good one first.

Interesting, I'll have to check that out. Funny you mention Full Metal Jacket. Editing the review inspired me to look up some clips of it today.

@@JasonFuhrman Oh, you have to read it sometime. It's not only a very well written, pretty fast read, and the darkest, most visceral war novel I've read, it can also lead one into wanting to find out about it's author, Gus Hasford, and the very interesting, sometimes amusing, bittersweet tragedy that was his post Vietnam War life and writing career.

Part of that writing career is the fact that the Short-Timer's has been out of print since way back, despite the popularity of Full Metal Jacket, and partly due to a huge feud he got in with Stanley Kubrick. PDFs of it can be found online for free easily though, as well as the very good audiobook here on KZfaq

@@earlpipe9713 sounds great!

@@earlpipe9713 I found the same challenge with the other recommendation "We All Died at Breakaway Station." Paperbacks were over $50 but I found a digital copy online fortunately. I will dig around and also check out that audiobook. Thanaks!

I wasn't sure what to expect in the characterization realm. I've read a lot of sci-fi and would argue that it's entirely possible to have good characterization in the genre. It just depends on what you're looking for. I tend to prefer near sci-fi stories, Kazuo Ishiguro's two novels Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun both have fantastic characterization, and it only makes the idea the writer is exploring more powerful when tied to someone who feels real, someone we can empathize with. That will only make your investment, and perhaps epiphany, of how the idea affects humanity by seeing it through the lens of the human condition. Films like Ex Machina by Alex Garland is another great example. Exploring the idea of AI in regards to them being indistinguishable allowed it to really hit home harder tying it to character. I respect what Haldeman did here, in keeping the POV character detached from the events, as I mentioned in the review. It's a different take, and one that speaks volumes with what this novel is trying to achieve. I could be completely wrong, however, but I can't imagine Haldeman is that careless.

You should. It's a quick read, and I'm curious what your take would be. I knew very little going into it, and I think that was a good decision.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into it

It depends on what you're looking for. I enjoyed it quite a bit overall. I just had to adjust my expectations with characterization.