Starship Troopers

Firstly, I should disabuse you of the notion that this book suffered an ill-concieved film adaptation by the same name, written by Edward Neumeier, and directed by Paul Verhoeven -- both of RoboCop fame. That movie would more aptly be called "Bugs in Space" -- or as this site puts it at one point, "Paul Verhoeven, Jon Davison, and Ed Neumeier's Twisted Parody of a Book They Claim They Liked But Have Done Everything to Befoul," and had it been, it would have been a decent movie -- sort of; it wasn't -- on either count.

Now, on to the book itself. Starship Troopers is a book that has changed the course of many lives; it is both a compelling story and potent propaganda. However, one must remember that propaganda is not all bad. It was written in a time when patriotism was failing in this country due to seemingly endless political blundering and constant involvement in pointless wars. In as much as Heinlein wrote to convince young men that duty and honor compelled them to render service to the nation that had served them, he also wrote a cutting critique of heavy-handed violence that was all too common in the world he knew. I have put off finishing and posting this review because I was unsure of how I felt about this book, but now I know it is trully for the best. I also feel strongly about placing it on par with such classics as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver, that caution us against what could be. However, Heinlein was different in that his account of our future past shows humanity triumphing by way of a renewed sense of duty and dignity.

The Infinitive of Go

I finally found myself reading a book I purchased on a whim at McKay's used books in Chattanooga some time ago. I had never heard of John Brunner, let alone the book itself, but the unusual cover art and the somewhat intriguing title -- not to mention the seventy-five cent price -- caught my attention. It is the tale of a somewhat unsuspecting inventor, living in the height of Cold War paranoia who develops a unique mode of transportation called a "Poster." This device allows nearly instantaneous movement of matter between two paired units. Everything seems to be going well until the first human currier to be "posted" to a foreign embassy kills himself immediately after transfer. This sets in motion a chain of events leading to an ending with more than a few similarities to "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton. Once the first chapter or so is out of the way, it becomes a compelling and involving narrative with a few more profound philosophical consequences than were to be found in most short fiction of today -- especially interesting is its rather frank treatment of homosexuality in one of the characters. One thing to note though would be a quick read of some sort of explanation of transfinite numbers -- importantly Aleph-null, Aleph-one, etc.