After reading the combat sequence at the start I'm absolutely amazed at how the book lacks the heavy patina of zeerust you'd think a sci-fi book from 1959 would have. Though, I think that just gets to how influential this book's been on sci-fi. In that sequence I see the movie "adaptation," I see Halo, I see Aliens, I see all the depictions of future warfare we've had. I forgot just how big Starship Troopers was in this regard and it's a blast getting to experience it again.
So much inspiration for future sci fi. The Aliens drop ship + female pilot. Power armor like the fallout universe. The bugs themselves being the Zerg of Stracraft cannon. Well done Mr Heinlein.
Female pilot seems like a bit of 50s "wokeism" if you want to call it that: the idea that they have better reaction times and make better pilots then men, in an era where it would have been very difficult for a woman to become a pilot. The former is definitely not true -- though I don't know when this was first studied -- and the latter doesn't appear to be supported by evidence with the additional benefit of 60 years' worth of history.
Having just read "A Stranger in a Strange Land'' (also by Heinlen, about the same year) I have to agree. While Stranger has a very retro-futuristic feel to it (language, technology, culture, etc. all very clearly come out of the '60s) Troopers, at least in part due to its influence on modern sci-fi, hardly feels dated at all.
After reading the combat sequence at the start I'm absolutely amazed at how the book lacks the heavy patina of zeerust you'd think a sci-fi book from 1959 would have. Though, I think that just gets to how influential this book's been on sci-fi. In that sequence I see the movie "adaptation," I see Halo, I see Aliens, I see all the depictions of future warfare we've had. I forgot just how big Starship Troopers was in this regard and it's a blast getting to experience it again.
So much inspiration for future sci fi. The Aliens drop ship + female pilot. Power armor like the fallout universe. The bugs themselves being the Zerg of Stracraft cannon. Well done Mr Heinlein.
Female pilot seems like a bit of 50s "wokeism" if you want to call it that: the idea that they have better reaction times and make better pilots then men, in an era where it would have been very difficult for a woman to become a pilot. The former is definitely not true -- though I don't know when this was first studied -- and the latter doesn't appear to be supported by evidence with the additional benefit of 60 years' worth of history.
I do agree with the other, more ethereal explanation. It's just good to hear a Woman's voice as you get pitched off to potentially die.
Having just read "A Stranger in a Strange Land'' (also by Heinlen, about the same year) I have to agree. While Stranger has a very retro-futuristic feel to it (language, technology, culture, etc. all very clearly come out of the '60s) Troopers, at least in part due to its influence on modern sci-fi, hardly feels dated at all.