Tag Archives: Book Review

Starship troopers – Book review

October 26, 2014 6:35 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note – This is the next in a continuing series of book reviews for sci-fi classics.  Troopers, as I well refer to the novel from now on, is one of the more influential and controversial sci-fi novels ever written.  In it we see Heinlein’s writing begin to turn away from the juvenile novels of his early career and his move towards his more libertarian views.  The novel is both loved and hated by critics for its content and to this day sharply divides readers.  Heinlein is one of my favorites and I will no doubt review some of  his other works later on in the series.  As always, spoilers from here on out so if you don’t want to know, stop reading.]

Troopers was a controversial novel even before it was published.  Written at a time when public opinion was beginning to turn away from unwavering support for the military, the original publisher rejected the novel.  Heinlein was incensed by this rejection and decided to end his long association with this publisher and he also decided to begin writing books that dealt less with action and more with abstract concepts and ideas.

As a former military man he had the utmost respect for the military and one of the ideas he wanted to explore is what a world run by not a military dictatorship but a military democracy might look like.

One of the biggest misconceptions that the book has suffered in its history is that Heinlein was promoting fascism through this book.

During his life Heinlein progressed in his political views from being quite progressive (he supported Upton Sinclair in his bid for the California governor’s race and was quite active in the EPIC movement in the 1930s), to being quite conservative in the 50s and 60s, to finally settling into a libertarian stance by the 70s until his death.  One thing that he was never about was being fascist.

In the novel the idea of universal suffrage has been replaced by earned suffrage.  The entire world is now under one single global government.  Although everyone is a resident of Earth, not everyone is a citizen.

Heinlein makes a distinction between protections and privileges.  While everyone enjoys equal protection under the law not everyone enjoys the same privilege and the primary privilege denied to some is the right to vote.  Only those that agree to serve the state can vote.  Here is where the confusion lies.  Many critics charged that Heinlein meant only those that served in the military could vote but the text clearly states that any sort of government service would suffice.

The central idea that Heinlein is trying to get across in Troopers is that citizenship was not just a passive concept that was handed to the individual at birth but an active concept that had to be earned by merit otherwise it became a stagnant and meaningless construct.  Food for thought for a country such as our own where sometimes less than 50% of eligible voters turn out for elections.

The story itself is fairly straightforward.  We begin with a “flash forward” as the protagonist, Juan Rico, engages in a battle on an alien world wearing a futuristic space suit called power armor and from there we flash back to before the war when Juan, a young man born into a rich Filipino family, falls in love with a young lady who is enlisting in the military.  Trying to win her favor he enlists and is promptly disowned by his father.  With no choice he goes through basic training.

During training the enemy, a race of arachnid aliens, destroys Buenos Aires and kills his mother.  Now driven partly by revenge we follow along as Juan participates in several major battles.  He is sent to officer training school.  During his training he reunites with his father who is now also in the military and they reconcile.  The novel ends several years later as he finds himself now in charge of a company of troopers preparing to invade the enemy homeworld.

Along the way the narrator engages in a series of discussions with professors and instructors that are really expositions of thought concerning several of the key concepts that Heinlein wanted to cover in the book.  These include debates on merit based suffrage, how the current form of government had evolved, the root cause of all wars (Heinlein’s conclusion was that the root cause of all wars was economically based), the morality of using violence to resolve disputes, and the strengths and weaknesses of a “free” civilization such as humans had versus a totally communistic civilization such as the type that the arachnids had.

A note on the alien arachnids.  Physically they were described as a giant version of a spider crossed with an ant.  Arachnid civilization was subdivided into a caste system of warriors, workers, and royalty.  The worker caste did all the manual labor, the warrior caste did all the fighting, and the royalty caste included not only leaders but scientists and engineers.  The caste system not only described the jobs held by each arachnid but extended into their physical structure.  Arachnids for one caste were different from arachnids for another caste.

The entire arachnid civilization worked as a hive mind working for the good of the whole.  The suffering or the death of the individual did not matter as long as the hive prospered.  To Heinlein this was what contemporary communism represented.  The individual subsumed into the state and made into nothing more than an insignificant part of a larger machine.

The influence of Troopers has been primarily felt in the military.  The novel has become suggested reading in some branches of the military and several key concepts have worked their way into contemporary strategic thinking.  The primary concept of making the military into an all volunteer and professional army is the prime effect.  At the time of first printing the U.S. still relied on a large, unwieldy, and badly trained conscript army.  In the last half century the military has reduced in size considerably and the training and equipment for each and every soldier has more than made up in the amount of offensive potential.

Other things like the power armor concept, a mechanical and armored exoskeleton, worn by characters in the novel are well under development and will probably enter service within the next 20 years.  The concept of mechanically enhanced strength is  currently under development.

In pop culture the novel has affected a genre of Japanese animation called mecha anime.  This has spawned entire anime series and movies as well as live action Hollywood  movies.

For me though the main takeaway from the novel is the discussion of what it really means to be a resident versus a citizen of a nation.  The citizen has to take an active interest in the welfare of the nation otherwise he is nothing more than a spectator or commentator just criticizing from the sidelines and never taking responsibility for making the situation better.

Scene from the justifiable panned movie version of Starship troopers

Posted in: books, review, thought , Tagged: ,

Dune – book review

September 24, 2014 6:26 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note – I’ve been wanting to write this for a while (in fact since watching Alejandro Jodorowski’s Dune documentary) but it’s a huge post as you will soon see and I’ve had to piece this together over several weeks.  This will be a review of the book Dune and there will also be a short discussion about the 1980s movie Dune at the end.  I am going to start a new review category of classic sci-fi books.  Possibly one per month.  We’ll see how this goes.  Anyways, as always, spoilers from here on out so if you don’t want to know, stop reading.]

 

 

I first came across Dune in my brother’s personal book collection back in the 1980s.  I remember my first impression that this was a literal brick of paper and that no one could read all of that.  Indeed at nearly 800 pages in length and with an appendix of more than 100 pages it is more than a daunting challenge.

However Frank Herbert’s writing style is fairly easy and the only challenge I found was keeping all the esoteric terminology straight in my mind. Once you do keep it straight it turns out to be a fairly straightforward read.

I think I will begin this with a little preface on the story’s background and an explanation of some of the key concepts.

The story takes places in the distant future (the year 10191) and humanity has spread to every corner of the universe.  This exodus was made possible through the use of “space folding”, a technique that allowed instantaneous travel between different parts of the universe.  Although possible it was also dangerous as many ships became lost. This was mitigated by the use of artificial intelligence computers.

Over time these artificial intelligence computers became a part of all aspects of human life.  Humans grew lazy and dependent on these computers.  The machines finally began to rule humanity.  A great revolt ensued (the Butlerian Jihad) and the machine overlords were cast down.  A new feudal order was established with several key families elevated to the status of nobility.

Artificial intelligence was banned and humans were forced to develop their minds to do the calculations required for interstellar travel.  This was accomplished in part with the use of mind altering substances discovered on other planets.

A word on mind altering substances (drugs) and sci-fi writers of the mid 20th century.  Frank Herbert drew upon the speculation of scientific researchers of what might be possible to accomplish by using mind altering substances.

This speculation stemmed from research carried out in the late 19th and early 20th century by researchers like Sigmund Freud who believed that drugs like opium and cocaine would help relax mental inhibitions and allow the mind to have full command of its faculties.  What he found to his horror was that these substances were very addictive and could inflict psychological and physiological damage in untutored hands.  Freud himself later denounced the use of these substances but some of his disciples continued on the research.

In the middle of the 20th century writers like Herbert turned to this research as well as studies delving into eastern meditative practices and the latest research in western medicine and concluded that humans had not yet reached their full developmental potential and that with the proper regimen that humans could in fact become super humans.  In this spirit Herbert introduces the notional spice Melange, known simply as spice.

Spice is only found on a desert planet called Arrakis.  A planet without water and plagued by giant underground worms that attack anything that moved.  At first spice was found to extend life and promote health but it was later learned that it could also expand consciousness and allow the mind greater flexibility and latitude.  These characteristics allowed humans to create living human computers that could make space travel safe.  Due to this, spice has become the most valuable commodity in the universe.  Those that control the spice have great economic as well as political power.

All the mental training schools use spice.  Three of these mental training schools are the Spacing guild, the Mentats, and the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.  The spacing guild concerns itself with the mental calculations needed for space travel.  The Mentats are humans trained to do all manner of mental calculations and have perfect memory.  The Bene Gesserit sisterhood use spice to develop their bodies and minds.

The Bene Gesserits believed that it might be possible to create a supreme being (called the Kwizatz Haderach) by the careful manipulation of royal bloodlines.  They would then control this being and through him control the universe.  To that end the Bene Gesserits made themselves available to the royal houses as concubines and would act as advisers to the royal houses and subtly manipulate the politics of the empire over millennia.

So, the story begins as the royal lady Jessica (a Bene Gesserit and concubine to Duke Leto Atreides) receives Reverend Mother Superior Helen Gaius Mohiam.  The reverend mother is cross with Jessica due to the fact that she had a son and had been ordered to only bear a daughter to Duke Leto.  The Bene Gesserit plan was to marry an Atreides daughter to a Harkonnen (The enemies of the Atreides) son and move their overall plan forward.  Jessica had put this plan in jeopardy by having a son.

The mother superior had arrived to test Jessica’s son, Paul, to see if he could serve the sisterhood.  Although rare some men also served the Bene Gesserits.  She finds that Paul has excellent physical and mental control and admits he may not be a waste after all.

Paul has had the benefit not only of his mother’s Bene Gesserit training but that of Thufir Hawat, the duke’s Mentat adviser, Gurney Halleck, the warmaster of House Atreides, and Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster of House Atreides.  The training and education provided by all these separate individuals has altered and enhanced Paul’s mental and physical attributes to the point that Jessica suspects that he may be the Kwizats Haderach.

In the background a plot is developing.  Emperor Shaddam had grown jealous and fearful of Duke Leto’s political power and has devised a plot with their Harkonnen enemies to destroy the Atreides.  The Emperor will grant Leto control of the planet Arrakis and all its spice wealth and lull him into a false sense of security.  Meanwhile he will support the Harkonnen to launch a sneak attack on the Atreides and destroy him.

Everyone seems to know of the plot including Leto but he decides to willingly step into the trap in hopes of turning the tables and gaining an advantage.  Jessica advises Leto not to step into this trap but Leto insists that they can defeat this threat.  After hearing this she decides not to tell Leto that she is pregnant with their daughter as it would distract him from the planning he must do.

Thufir and Duncan believe that they can find some allies on Arrakis called the Fremen that would help defeat the Harkonnens and the Emperor.  The Fremen are the nomadic tribesmen of the deep deserts of Arrakis and are fiercely independent.  Duncan has made some preliminary contacts and believes some sort of alliance is possible.

As Paul prepares for the trip to Arrakis Dr Yueh, the family physician, gives Paul a miniature copy of the Orange Catholic Bible as a gift for the trip.  Paul begins to read and absorb the teachings in the bible.

Leto, Jessica, and Paul arrive on Arrakis and have to accustom themselves to life in the desert planet.  Water is the most precious thing here.  Even the moisture in a moist hand towel is not allowed to escape but sold and fought over.

Jessica makes contact with some of the locals.  She uses their religious beliefs and superstitions to protect herself and her son from assassination.  The Bene Gesserit sisterhood had manipulated and altered the local religious beliefs thousands of years earlier through the use of the Missionaria Protectiva, a form of religious engineering, to exploit the local population.  The locals see Jessica and her son as part of their prophecy, the Lisan Al-Gaib, the voice from the outer world that would lead them to freedom.

In the meantime the Harkonnens are moving forward with their plot.  Baron Harkonnen’s Mentat, Pieter DeVries, has secretly suborned Dr Yueh, to betray the Duke and to sabotage the Atreides defenses at a key moment.  DeVries had captured Yueh’s wife and promises Yueh to return her if he betrays the Duke.  The Harkonnens have amassed a giant invasion force and even have access to some Imperial Sardaukar soldiers, the elite forces of the imperial army.

Duke Leto makes contact with the Fremen and both sides seem disposed to an alliance.  The Fremen warn Leto that they know that there is a traitor in Leto’s household but not who.  Leto discusses this with Paul and he decides to frame his concubine Jessica as the traitor in hopes of drawing out the real traitor. He allows Thufir and Gurney to believe this as well.

Yueh disables the defenses and drugs the Duke.  The Harkonnens attack and massacre the Atreides troops.  The plan however goes awry.  Yueh has known all along that the Harkonnens have been lying but he wants revenge for his wife’s murder.  He implants a poison gas tooth in the Duke’s mouth and tells the Duke in exchange for saving Paul and Jessica that he wants the Duke to kill Baron Harkonnen.

The Baron and Pieter soon arrive.  They kill Yueh and inspect the sleeping Duke.  The Baron orders Pieter to retrieve the Ducal signet ring for him but as he does the Duke exhales the poison gas killing himself and Pieter.

Jessica and Paul in the meantime have been taken to the desert by the Harkonnens to die but Yueh has loosened the straps for Paul to escape and he kill the guards.  They rendezvous with Duncan Idaho and meet the local Fremen leader, Liet.  Liet gives them directions to a sietch, a mountain hideaway, where they can hide.  Just then the Sardaukar show up.  Duncan and Liet die holding off the Sardaukar while Jessica and Paul flee.

In the aftermath it is revealed that Thufir has been captured and is now in the employ of the Harkonnens.  He is tricked into working for them as he believes Jessica was the traitor that betrayed the Duke.  Gurney has also escaped and is now in the employ of spice smugglers on Arrakis, he also believes Jessica was the traitor.  The reason they both believe this is that it is revealed that Jessica is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen.  An unknown Bene Gesserit sister was a concubine to the Baron at one time and became pregnant with Jessica.  Only a few people know this fact.

Baron Harkonnen returns to his home world and leaves his stupid nephew Rabban in charge of Arrakis.  The Baron orders Rabban to abuse the locals as he wishes but above all he wants more spice to sell.  The destruction of house Atreides has cost a fortune and he needs money more than ever.

Back on his homeworld, the Baron meets with the Emperor’s representative, Count Fennring, and they discuss the conspiracy and the Count reveals that the Emperor is displeased that the Duke died and that Rabban is mishandling the spice production.  The Baron assures him that at the proper moment Rabban will be replaced by his favorite nephew, Feyd, and that all will be well.  The Baron intends that Feyd might marry the Emperor’s daughter and become Emperor one day.  Secretly the Emperor fears that the Baron is trying to form a pact with the Fremen as the Duke had been.

Back on Arrakis Jessica and Paul have made contact with the Fremen and joined them.  Jessica and Paul discover that the Fremen are far from simple nomads.  They are actively and laboriously gathering water and using it to plant small areas with desert resistant plants in the southern desert to slowly turn the planet green.  This is a painstaking process that will take centuries but the Fremen see it as worthwhile.  They farm the desert, gather food, survive the dangers of the desert, pay large bribes in spice to spacing guild officials to keep satellites from spying on them, and fight the Harkonnen all at the same time.  Paul and Jessica marvel at their tenacity.

The Fremen call him Paul Muad’Dib.  After some initial trials the Fremen are convinced that Paul is the Lisan Al-Gaib, but more importantly Paul has become convinced he is too.  The mixture of Mentat and Bene Geserit training as well as the teachings in the Orange Catholic Bible have allowed Paul to be able to predict the future somewhat.  He fears that if he embraces this destiny that he will set loose a bloody Jihad upon the universe.

Paul and Jessica teach the Fremen a new fighting technique called the weirding way.  This is a secret Bene Gesserit technique that allows practitioners to fight at blinding speeds and defeat their opponents.

The old Reverend mother for the Fremen, Mother Ramallo is dying from extreme old age.  Jessica decides to accept the role of Reverend Mother for the Fremen.  She drinks the water of life, a poison substance secreted by baby worms as they die.  If her advanced body control can change the water of life and keep her from dying, it will transform her into a Reverend Mother.  She survives the test but the water of life also affects her unborn daughter, Alia.  The water of life transforms her unborn daughter into a Reverend Mother as well.  Alia is born able to speak and has the full knowledge of a Reverend Mother.

Over the next 2 years using the weirding way and under Paul’s command, the Fremen inflict crushing defeats on the Harkonnens.  Paul takes a Fremen woman, Chani, as his wife. At first Jessica rejects Chani as unsuitable to mix with his bloodline but later she relents after Paul’s son Leto II is born.

Thufir advises the Baron that the Fremen aren’t just a small group of tribes in the desert but are really a nation of millions and all able to fight almost as well as the Sardaukar.  He further advises the Baron that Rabban has bungled things so much on Arrakis that the Baron should stop sending aid to Rabban and accelerate the plan to replace Rabban with Feyd.  In desperation Rabban has pulled all his troops back to the cities and tries to offer a truce to the Fremen.

Meanwhile in the desert Paul takes the last test to secure his mantle of leadership over all the Fremen.  He proves to them that he can ride the massive sand worms of the desert as a true leader should.  Word spreads among the Fremen tribes and the Fremen warriors clamor for Muad’Dib to lead them in a Jihad to cleanse the Universe.  After the test they come across Gurney and his band of smugglers and initially fight but the two old friends are reunited and stop the fighting.

Paul sends for his mother and Gurney attacks her.  Paul is barely able to stop him and explains that she was not the traitor.  He is disturbed that he was not able to foresee this attack.  The visions of the future that were once so clear have become clouded.  He must take the water of life in order to progress.  He takes a single drop and slips into a 3 week-long coma.  Finally he is able to see all of the past, present, and possible futures clearly.  He has become the Kwizats Haderach.  He knows that not only the Baron but the Emperor himself are coming to crush the Fremen with a giant army.

Paul finally realizes that he cannot stop the coming Jihad or deny his destiny.  He can only direct its flow.  He decides to attack first.  Using a plan involving atomic weapons, the giant sand worms, and the fanatic abilities of his Fremen he overwhelms the Sardaukar troops.

Before the battle occurs however a Sardaukar patrol has found a seitch where Paul’s son, Leto II, is located.  They kill the child and capture Alia and bring her back to the Emperor and the Baron.  During an interrogation she reveals that she is Paul’s sister and also the Baron’s granddaughter.  She then stabs the Baron with a poison needle and kills him.

After the battle, Paul faces off with the Emperor and his entourage.  Among the entourage are the Emperor’s daughter Irulan, the Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohiam, representatives of the spacing guild, Feyd, and Count Fennring.  Paul is nervous as he can’t see the future with regards to the Count.  Count Fennring appears as a black shadow to him.

Paul demands that the Emperor abdicate and give his daughter to him as wife.  The Emperor refuses and says that he will unleash the full force of the empire against Arrakis.  Paul then states that he has the power to destroy all spice production on Arrakis forever.  The two representatives of the spacing guild that are present use their abilities to look into the possible futures and are appalled.  They demand that the Emperor abdicate.

The Emperor turns to Fennring and demands he destroy Paul but Fennring refuses.  It is then that Paul finally recognizes Fennring for what he is.  Fennring is an almost Kwizats Haderach.  His genetic line was close but not close enough.  Using his own abilities Fennring has been able to disguise himself from Paul’s future vision.  Fennring understands what is happening and that it must be allowed to happen.

Feyd steps up.  He demands to fight Paul with knives.  Feyd is an accomplished gladiator and is sure he can take Paul.  The two fight.  Feyd tries to use a poison blade hidden in his clothes to kill Paul but Paul dodges it and kills Feyd.

The Emperor has no choice.  He abdicates and gives his daughter to Paul as wife.  Paul turns to his own wife, Chani, who will now have to take the role of concubine and explains that this is strictly a political decision and that he has no feelings for Irulan.  Jessica comforts Chani by telling her that although they are concubines, that history would know them as wives.

 

Books and movies combining mystical and scientific elements rarely work out very well.  The two sets of ideas never seem to mesh well together and the result usually tends to skew towards one side or another and inevitably tends to alienate both sets of audiences.  However when they do mesh well the results are spectacular as you can see in titles like “2001: A space odyssey” and Star Wars.

In Dune we have the central theme of cosmic or mystical destiny being pushed along by the science but we never get the idea that the science is being brushed aside as an afterthought.  Without the science the space travel, the new drugs, the genetics are impossible.

The second thing I noticed were the obvious parallels to the geopolitical situation in Dune and in the middle east. Spice takes the place of oil of course.  Various powers and alliances are jockeying for control and manipulating religion and resources to achieve their aims.  The people caught in the middle become resentful towards everyone.

Lastly, the unspoken theme that I noticed was that these legends and myths introduced long ago as a means of control turned out to be true. These sophisticated, technologically advanced people thought that they were manipulating some simple nomads when in fact they were the ones being fooled.  All their ploys and plans and tricks turned out to be working for a greater purpose that most of them could not even guess at.  We may have plans for the universe, but don’t be so sure that the universe doesn’t have plans for us.

I promised a brief discussion on the movie Dune.  The movie was much maligned by purists for liberties and compromises that the producers and director had to take. To those uninitiated to Dune it was confusing.   I actually saw the movie back in 1984 and it was the first and only time that an usher at a movie had to give me a sheet of paper explaining the various terms in a film.  All I can say is try to fit an 800 page book into a 2 hour film and see how well you do.

Posted in: books, review, thought , Tagged: ,