Quote:
Originally Posted by GlennD
I'm trying to bite my tongue as well.  Heinlein is one of my favorite authors and Starship Troopers is probably my favorite book ever. NOT a huge fan of Stranger in a Strange Land though.
I think Starship Troopers is far less a military theory treatise than an essay on personal responsibility. His classroom scenes delve into the results of a culture that deemphasizes personal responsibility in favor of the government being a 'caretaker'. The military setting of the book gives Heinlein an extreme example since a military officer has so much more responsibility both for himself and for his subordinates than most other situations most of us will encounter. He not only holds his own life but the lives of those reporting to him in his hands. Not to mention it was an interesting setting for his original target audience (teenage boys).
And I second adding John Norman to the list. |
And I'll third
John Norman to that list, EXCEPT for the first three (maybe four) GOR novels, which was exactly what I was looking for after Burroughs.
Don