Aw! <3

Like, what books I'd recommend, or just....stuff to do underway that would be in the self-improvement area? The big two that jump out as underway activities are always "save money, and work out."

What platform are you floating on?

So the first thing I do with all my proteges is I hand them the grading sheet for Sailor of the Year/Quarter and a blank evaluation, and I ask them to grade themselves. Not everyone wants to be, or needs to be, Sailor of the Year or a 5.0 sailor, but if that's the standard the Navy has set as "the best," then at least we have a guideline of what we should be working toward, right?

One thing that was pretty big at my last command was the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. Instruction here. One thing that is a really easy way to gain community service hours while underway is to make blankets for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society's "Budgeting For Baby" class. You can crochet (that's incredibly easy, I promise) or you can google one of the thousand DIY no-sew blanket tutorials. If you belong to a Bluejacket Association or Enlisted Association or whatever, you may be able to get them to fund the cost of buying the material...or even ask the FCPOA if they'll give $50 to the cause. You can head over to Jo-Ann's or Fabric.com and check out their discount sections too. NMCRS offers 30 hours per blanket. Taking an hour out of your Holiday Routine for the entire float.....most of the DIY no-sew blankets only take an hour or two to make, sooooo. Collect those hours. Add in a COMREL or two, and there's no reason you can't end a float with over a hundred hours of community service. This is particularly great if you have a friend or two to make blankets with you....snag one of the TVs on the messdecks and watch a movie while you crochet. You can also contact a local homeless shelter and see if they need hats and crochet hats for them. Obviously not a good suggestion if you're stuck underway on a submarine with no space, but if you're surface side--good to go.

Books I'd suggest, well, hm, this could get out of control pretty fast, but off the top of my head:

• Personality Plus by Florence Littauer or her work specific version
  
  
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
  
  
• It's Your Ship by Capt Abrashoff
  
  
• Starship Troopers
  
  
• Ender's Game (Ender and Starship are obviously straight scifi but there are some really awesome leadership principles/concepts/ideas that are worth mulling over. They've both been on past CNO's recommended reading lists too....and they're just fun to read.)
  
  
• For money, while, like, 99% of his stuff is "Duh!" I can't discount the practical steps he outlines, so Dave Ramsey's books, particularly Financial Peace is worth reading. His whole book is basically the wiki in r/personalfinance, but if you're wondering how to get your finances straight I recommend picking up this book. Just, in general. Good basic information and a starting point. Not saying you need it, but "saving money" just happens underway by virtue being trapped out on the ocean =)
  
  
• Leaders Eat Last

I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:

Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.

Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...

Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.

Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.

A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.

Hope I was helpful!

Okay so, keep in mind that I have chronic depression so uh... my answers may not be the most uplifting. Sorry.

Questions, Part 1

1. Oh geez... uh... let's see... shit... Man, I don't really know. I mean, I guess probably something from when I was really little, too dumb and innocent to know just how much the world sucks. A time before I had to worry about anything. I can't really think of a specific example. Sorry :(
   
   
2. Yesterday was pretty nice. My uncle came by and we chatted about stuff for about an hour. We never really do that anymore. He usually just calls or comes by for a brief enough moment to remind me that I'm a fuck-up and a failure at life, and to give me something like money or food that I've had to beg him for. So yeah, actually having a friendly chat about random bullshit with him was nice. Wish we could do that more often...
   
   
3. Play video games and watch Anime. That's about all my life consists of, really.
   
   
4. Die :D! But besides that, uh... I dunno. I don't really have any other hobbies besides gaming and watching anime.
   
   
5. I really, really need to read more. There's so many classic books I desperately need to read, but never manage to get around to reading. In fact, I've only read one actual book in quite some time - and my friend wrote it. This one (sorry for the shameless shilling) to be specific. So when my buddy becomes famous, I have a signed copy of his first book :P.
   
   Buuuut... if you're willing to look outside of regular books, and would like to try out a Manga (Japanese comic, if you don't know), I highly recommend Yotsuba to! (aka Yotsuba&!). If you want something that will put a smile on your face, Yotsuba has got you covered.
   
   However, if you want to try something even more unique, I highly, HIGHLY recommended the When They Cry series of visual novels. Possibly my favorite written works of fiction ever, I could probably go on for hours and hours about how amazing they are. There's two separate When They Cry stories, each one being 8 games (or "books" if you want to consider them that, since they are 99.9% pure reading with no real player interaction) long. And yes, they are long. Reading the entire series straight through would probably take you more than a month. And don't let the "visual novel" name put you off - it's NOT a dating sim.
   
   The first series, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry) is a suspense/mystery story with mildly silly mood, things do get dark. Very dark. Without spoiling too much, the story is about a kid who moves to a small town, and finds that the town holds a dark secret, where each year on the eve of their town festival, someone dies and someone else goes missing - and the source of this is event is attributed to an angry local God named Oyashiro-sama. So our hero begins to investigate the cause of the events, not believing in curses or evil Gods, but perhaps he might be biting off more than he can chew...
   
   On Steam, only the first 4 Higurashi "books" have been released thusfar. You can get the remaining 4 on Mangagamer's website, but this version is better since it has upgraded graphics (with the option of using the old ones too) and retains the original (awesome) soundtrack which had been changed in the old Mangagamer version. The rest of the remake should come out eventually though. I'd recommend at least checking out the first one and seeing if you like it, but keep in mind, the beginning of the story is deceptively cheerful.
   
   And then, there is, in my opinion, the greatest thing ever written. Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry). It's officially a spiritual sequel to Higurashi, but you can read Umineko without having read Higurashi, but it's definitely recommended to do so if you can.
   
   Umineko is also 8 "books" and that package on Steam includes the first 4 of them, known as the "Question Arc" (the latter 4 being the "Answer Arc"). As for it's genre, it's a mystery. Or maybe it's fantasy. It really depends on your perspective - and whether or not you will believe in Witches.
   
   See, Umineko tells the tale of the wealthy Ushiromiya family, and on the eve of their annual family conference at their secluded island mansion, a letter arrives from one claiming to be a Witch, who claims that she will collect on a debt owed to her by the family - with their lives. Brutal murders occur in the name of sacrifice, to resurrect the Golden Witch, Beatrice, but our hero, Battler, doesn't believe in Witches. Even in the face of bizarre, unexplainable murders, Battler insists that the culprit must be one of the 18 people known to be on the island. But what if there is a mysterious 19th person, Beatrice? If not, who is committing the murders, and... why?
   
   Sorry if I've kinda gone on a rant, but I LOVE the When They Cry series (especially Umineko) and I HIGHLY recommend it if you love a good story.
   
   6 . Oh.... um... Just uh... read that whole thing above, I guess lol. I'm also really fond of JRPGs, as you can see, I've put hundreds of hours into JRPGs on Steam alone, and of course, I've completed countless JRPGs on other platforms as well (I'm actually emulating Tales of Legendia on PCSX2 right now). I'm not into WRPGs at all, but I have no problem sinking dozens - or even hundreds - of hours into a good JRPG. If you haven't played many of them, I'd be happy to recommend some, if you'd like. Unfortunately, Steam is really kind of lacking in JRPGs and a lot of the last-gen JRPGs are only on PS3, which I don't have. Some of them have been ported to PC, like FF13 and Tales of Symphonia HD, but there's a lot that are still PS3 exclusive that I'd love to play, like the other Tales games and Ni no Kuni. I've considered requesting a PS3 on here at some point, actually, but I never get around to it since I figure no one would grant such a big request lol. Anyway, but yeah, at least SOME JRPGs are now coming to Steam these days. Can't wait for Tales of Berseria in January! Though I wish they'd bring these other JRPGs to PC, plus others like FF15 and Persona 5.
   
   Questions, Part 2
   
   
6. Well right now, I've actually been suffering from some health problems and very little seems to be being done about them. A few months ago, I went to the hospital because I was having chest pains and they determined that the problem was damage to my esophagus from acid reflux. They gave me some medicine and sent me home, and it took several weeks for it to get any better at all, but it still kind of hurts and doesn't seem to be getting any better, not for over a month now. They tell me that I just need to take the medicine, improve my diet and exercise, and while I've done the former 2 things, the latter is impossible at the moment because I just don't feel physically capable of doing any kind of significant exercise. If I get riled up, my chest just starts to hurt more. And no, they've said it's not my heart or lungs or anything like that, they're pretty certain it's related to stomach/esophagus damage. But yeah, it's not really getting any better, which is making me feel more miserable :(
   
   
7. Cut out all the foods I love and replaced them with fucking crap that I can't stand because the doctors said that's what I have to do. And again, it's still not really helping.
   
   
8. Probably seen the doctor 15+ years ago when my stomach-related problems started happening in the first place.
   
   ---
   
   Now... I suppose you want to know what I want, right? :P
   
   First off, here's my Steam ID.
   
   Let's see... What do I want most that isn't a preorder... Hmm... Shame that Tales of Berseria isn't out yet lol.
   
   Okay wait a second, 2 weeks? Well, right now, this one game is a preorder, but in 2 weeks, It'll be out. So in that case...
   
   
9. Planet Coaster - I had actually attempted to request this a while back, but it didn't get accepted. The reasons why I want it are all listed in that thread (as well as a rather long story that you can read if you like).
   
   
10. I know you said to put my top 3 here, but that's really the only thing I want at the moment. Everything else is, I think, too expensive at base price to justify asking for, is not out yet, or is something that I probably wouldn't be able to make enough time to play. I had considered asking for Under Night in Birth and Melty Blood but my ability to play those entirely depends on whether or not my one friend who has the games will ever play them with me, and even though he always says he will, he never plays the fighting games we already both own with me anyway... Unless... YOU want to play them with me? :O
    
    As for the why I would want those 2 fighting games... well, they're made by the same company, and I'm already very experienced with the Melty Blood series and it's probably my favorite fighting game series (even though nobody ever plays it :( ).
    
    Okay um... I think maaaaybe this post has gone on just a little bit too long, so... I hope it's not too much for you to read, and uh... just reply to me, if you want. Especially if you're interested in any of those visual novels/manga/games/etc that I mentioned :D

I'll skip over the classics (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick) as they've already been covered.

• Peter F Hamilton is incredibly good, I'd suggest starting with the Confederation Universe series. Very long, and can get a little heavy, but in my opinion, absolutely superb hard sci fi. The universe is similar in size and scope to that of Tolkien's, the science is detailed and well constructed, the space combat is awesome, and I found the characters believable and easy to empathize with. Judging from your criteria, I have a feeling that this series may be just what you're looking for.
  
  
• As others have suggested, Alastair Reynolds is an absolute stand-out in today's sci fi line-up. His Revelation Space universe is complex, engaging and has some of the best science theory I've read. He also includes a lot of biotechnology / biological themes in his work - which is a refreshing change from the nanomachines / cyborg / tech-heavy staples that seem to dominate a lot of modern sci-fi. There's an incredible sense of tension that is maintained for the entire series, more-so than any other modern anthology I've read.
  
  
• Richard Morgan is another of my personal favorites. If you want action-heavy, quality sci fi, look no further. I'd recommend starting with the Kovacs series, (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) they're equal parts Noir / Drama / Action / Sci-Fi / Awesome. Not much space combat, but the ground combat is really, really good.
  
  
• If you haven't read Robert Heinlen's original Starship Troopers (Don't judge it by the movie; seriously) I'd highly recommend it. Not much you can say about it, except that the movie cut entirely too much of the thought provoking content out.
  
  
• John Steakley's Armor is superficially similar to Starship Troopers, but it's far more weighted on the psychological trauma of war; the action is almost ancillary - in fact, where Starship Troopers tends to glorify war a touch, Armor tends to question the validity and purpose of war in an advanced society.
  
  Finally:
  
  
• I'm not going to say anything other than: "Do yourself a favor and read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash."
  
  Seriously. No space combat, but without doubt one of the most entertaining fiction I've read in any genre, and a superb example of dystopian sci-fi. For god sakes, the hero - Hiro Protagonist (I know, right?!) - is a Hacker / Samurai that works for the mafia. Delivering pizzas. Trust me on this: Go with it, you won't be sorry.
  
  Hope that helps and wasn't a Great Wall of Boring Text :-)

Theory of Continuous Groups by Loewner. This book is based on lecture notes which Loewner was planning to turn into a larger book. Unfortunately he passed away before getting much done so some of his colleagues edited and compiled the notes into this book. I'm only quarter of the way in but so far it's given me a really unique perspective into group actions. I'm loving it but it doesn't hold my attention for long spans of time.

Geometry of Polynomials by Marden. Marden is my idol, and I plan to devote my life to studying the zeros of functions. That said, this book is the hardest goddamn book I have ever read. Hell, some of the exercises he gives were actual topics of published research 60 years ago. That seems a little mean to me. Anyway I still love this shit.

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by Gamow. Alternates between stories about a character transplanted into hypothetical worlds where particular laws of physics are exaggerated and semi-rigorous lectures about the physics itself. The section on gravity as curvature of space was especially enlightening. The author uses the idea of a merry-go-round spinning at relativistic speed, so that straight lines on the surface (i.e. geodesics) are in fact curved to outside observers. You can then imagine that the merry-go-round is walled off from the outside, so that on the inside the centrifugal force can be thought of as gravity toward the edge. This is the concept of acceleration of reference frame being equivalent to gravity. For a non-physicist this kind of explanation is AWESOME.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. My first Heinlein, just started it but I'm enjoying it so far. I honestly confused him with Haldeman... I loved The Forever War and I wanted to get another book by the author. Oh well.

Yeah so what I'm a nerd.

If you find this concept interesting, I highly recommend reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. A spoiler free summary of the book would be: Humanity finds stable wormholes in space after inventing near light speed travel. We discover an alien race and go to war with them. The story follows one soldier as he is sent off to fight light years away and has to deal with time dilation (He is hardly aging, but many years on Earth are passing). Here is a [link] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) to amazon. Won the Hugo and Nebula award and is praised as one of the best all time sci-fi books.

• Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"
  
• Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"
  
• Joe Haldeman's "Forever War"
  
• Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama"
  
• Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep"
  
• Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan"
  
• Philip K. Dick's "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" (inspiration for the Blade Runner movie)
  
• Dan Simmons' "Hyperion"
  
  Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
  
  
• Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"
  
• William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
  
• Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"
  
• Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"
  
  Cheers!

I'm reading Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein right now. It takes place in the year 4272 in an interplanetary human civilization with "the Senior", who's been alive since the 1940's (and who's genes aided research into 'rejuvenation clinics' for the wealthy and connected), giving his life stories and wisdom to the leader of a planet who wants to leave and colonize a new world. It's a fascinating read, and gets into some decent scientific detail too. Heinlein also wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

Ender's Game, Revelation Space, Altered Carbon and a few other great series out of there have dedicated a lot to overcoming time dilation.

Joe Haldeman tackled it head on in The Forever War Amazon link, a fantastic book that as a fan of similar stuff, you might like it!

Most of the characters in The Windup Girl are Thai or Chinese.

The Left Hand of Darkness messes around with gender in interesting ways. (Also, Ursula K. Leguin is an all-around fantastic author.)

Robert Heinlein can be a controversial author, but many of his works had non-white protagonists. Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is multiracial, and Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers is Filipino, if I recall correctly.

Someone else in this thread recommended The Brief But Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, and it's not exactly SFF (more in the vein of magical realism) but it is easily one of the best books I've ever read.

*Former gunny

Does he like to read? These are two of my favorites, and I'm fairly certain most vets would enjoy them too:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616641&sr=8-1&keywords=The+forever+war

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616649&sr=8-1&keywords=Without+Remorse

> there's a strong case that a lot of the postmodernist bullshit could be easily countered by a strong religious identity

AMEN TO THAT.

> the most optimal balances of personal freedom vs controlling the worst aspects of human behavior

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A bit more of a pleasure read, but still insightful.
Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

Also worth a read is the book of Joshua in the Bible. Read from a tactical mindset, you can gain insight into military tactics and troop management.

I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...

Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World

Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers

Science and Faith Contact

Somewhat easy philosophy

Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill

Mind: Consciousness Explained

War: Just and Unjust Wars

SEALs, no, but Special Forces are, by design, supposed to interact with and train local forces.

The problem with Barnett's suggestions of a split force is that in neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has there been a climate where a "SysAdmin" force could exist and operate. The SysAdmins would have to be doorkickers with more specialized training.

Removing the hitters from the theater would just invite resistance forces to increase their attacks. Barnett pretends like civil affairs forces don't already exist. The problem is, unprotected, they are just potential casualties. Barnett's solutions don't really show how to fix much of anything because they're strategies for a battlefield that will never exist. The difficulty of counterinsurgency operations can be seen dating back to antiquity. It's not like Barnett suddenly "solved it" with his idea of a split force.

The reality is that there will always be boots on the ground who don't understand the greater strategy and importance of their actions, no matter how much or how often they are told or taught about the implications. You'd have to go full The Forever War and start conscripting the best and brightest from top universities if you'd expect to create an army of scholar-soldiers who have both the talent to combine warfighting/peacekeeping and nation-building activities, and then still have them maintain the level of big-picture awareness necessary for ultimate discretion. The kinds of soldiers Barnett needs don't exist in great numbers. Wars will always be fought with a cross section of the nation's populace, and, well, half the population is below average.

Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, both by Robert Heinlein; both amazing reads. "Stranger" being possibly on of the greatest Sci-fi novels ever written.

Starship Troopers massmarket paperbacks for around 4 dollars :D

and yea the writers of the future is the best of the the literary contests I have seen.. its sad but a lot of them are scams..

also [Cats Cradle] (http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B003XRELGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369440837&sr=1-1&keywords=cats+cradle) is a really good book.. Kurt vonnegut can be kinda hit or miss though some people really like his stuff and others really don't like him.

The list was too long to fit into a self-post, here is the continuation.

Prolific Authors: (5+ Books)

• Going Home by A. American
  
• Surviving Home by A. American
  
• Escaping Home by A. American
  
• Forsaking Home by A. American
  
• Resurrecting Home by A. American
  
• Apocalypse Law by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 2 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 3 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 4 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 5 by John Grit
  
• Holding Their Own I: A Story of Survival by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own II: The Independents by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own III: Pedestals of Ash by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IV: The Ascent by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own V: The Alpha Chronicles by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VI: Bishop's Song by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VII: Phoenix Star by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VIII: The Directives by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IX: The Salt War by Joe Nobody
  
• Apocalypse Drift by Joe Nobody
  
• Secession: The Storm by Joe Nobody and P.A. Troit
  
• Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• 299 Days 1: The Preparation by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 2: The Collapse by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 3: The Community by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 4: The Stronghold by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 5: The Visitors by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 6: The 17th Irregulars by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 7: The Change of Seasons by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 8: The War by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 9: The Restoration by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 10: The 43 Colonels by Glen Tate
  
  Science Fiction with apocalyptic elements:
  
  
• Directive 51 by John Barnes
  
• Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
  
• The Last President by John Barnes
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
• Wool by Hugh Howey
  
• Shift by Hugh Howey
  
• Dust by Hugh Howey
  
• Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  
• Aftermath by Charles Sheffield
  

I'm right there with you brother, I'm also working on such a property. I'm trying to keep it more Black Mirror than Shadowrun. The first book is free as is the card-based roleplaying game. Feel free to check them out for inspiration or to steal some ideas.

Some ideas I like to explore are how much better life actually is with bold new technology. Cyberpunk has a tendency to look at how wrong things can go but what about how right things can go? How many extra conveniences do we have? How does easy access to information and products change the structure of an adventure?

Shit like that makes me giddy.

I read The Thousand Orcs by Salvatore a few years back and thought it was alright. But my favorite series by far is ASOIAF. I would also recommend The Forever War and Anathem.

Absolutely I have a better solution.

SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP

Would you like to know more?

You might enjoy Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War". He delves into this aspect of high speed space travel with some unique thought experiments. It's worth checking out if you're curious about that sort of thing, and it's not a bad book, either.

I'm about to start reading "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Seems to be pretty well regarded because it avoids a lot of silly sci-fi/war stereotypes. Also the story's military are based on the author's own experiences serving in Vietnam.

EDIT: Just checked Amazon and the book's not available for Kindle yet. The page had a link to request it from the publisher. I clicked it so there's one more vote. :)

Attention A New Bulletin From The Terran Federation
=

Have you graduated high school?

Do you want to be somebody and do something?

Well then join the Mobile Infantry today and prove you have what it takes to be a citizen.

The Federation needs young men and women like you to help take our fight to the bugs.

Service Guarantees Citizenship.

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Embers of War set in 3067 came out in 2016

Betrayal of Ideals set in 2822 telling what happened to Clan Wolverine came out in 2016

The Nellus Academy Incident set in 3067 came out in 2018, but it's getting mixed reviews because it sounds like it's more of a Young Adult novel and some people have issue with how some elements in the book were handled.

Catalyst also lists some other books coming to print later on.

The Forever War was a great novel. Probably my favorite after the original Dune trilogy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312536631/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485369920&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=forever+war&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ki76Qf64L&ref=plSrch

The Synchronicity War was a great series and the kindle books are fairly cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-War-Part-1-ebook/dp/B00EZB3WJQ

Man of War trilogy has a Star Trek type feel to it and was enjoyable. A lot of naval military type stuff. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1477848894/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1485370046&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=man+of+war+series&dpPl=1&dpID=51fDKxQn%2B-L&ref=plSrch

Yea, both the stories that make up the Adeptus Mechanicus book are pretty good.

https://www.amazon.com/Adeptus-Mechanicus-Omnibus-Warhammer-000-ebook/dp/B01N6H5JCZ

It really shows the mindset of what AD really is.

You should try the Cobra series by Timothy Zahn the first book is really excellent, the others in the series aren't as good but they're still a fun read.

You should also take a look at Starship Troopers, which is nothing like the movie.

Take a look at the list of past Hugo winners and look for easily accessible ones. A few jump out at me:

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold, or maybe the omnibus Cordelia's Honor

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

I am not sure about any Canadian Forces specific books. But some standard military officer books that in my mind are good to read about leadership and wisdom would be:

• The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester
  
• Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
  
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
  
• [The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell]
  (http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342986110&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Tipping+Point+by+Malcolm+Gladwell)

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Meet the mechs!



I hope you guys give it a chance!

For anyone who enjoyed the movie, the book is also really great.

Also the sequels were just a complete abomination with worse acting, CGI, and completely void of a story.

The Forever War. Many people compare it to Starship Troopers, which was also badass, but I liked this one better.

if you like Sci-Fi at all, do yourself a favor, push the movie out of your mind and read this book.

Maybe The Forever War.

If that isn't it, you should still read it because it is a great book.

I'll echo the other redditor that said The Forever War.

I read it for a comparitive literature class I took and it was the only book besides R.U.R. that I really enjoyed.

And speaking of that, R.U.R.. This is the book that made the word "Robot" into a science fiction staple. And it's a short read too.

Pulser bolts passed close by me, striking someone. I could hear their gasp of pain over my com. I paid it no mind. I was totally focused on the front of the room and Admiral Angotti. Other Marines were forcing their way forward along side me, laying down as much fire they could to protect the hostages who had thrown themselves flat on the floor with the first explosions. The people who had been clustered around the hostages and Admiral were all flat on their bellies, trying to survive and returning fire as best they could. Only the Admiral was still on his feet. It was nothing short of a miracle that he had not yet been hit. Despite the standing orders to take him alive he should have been hit by something by now.

My railgun was against my shoulder as I placed the aiming point over the Admirals chest. At that point I had very little interest in standing orders. The Admiral had turned toward the front of the room and was firing his pulser at anything he could see. What little he added to the chaos of the room mattered little more to me than an excuse to pull the trigger. It broke cleanly under my finger, sending a tiny dart of metal snapping across the room to hit the Admiral in the middle of his chest. I let my finger relax, resetting the trigger. As soon as I felt it click into place I pulled it back again. The aiming point seemingly painted on the outside of his armor as I sent dart after dart snapping across the room between us.

By the third round the armor was pushed beyond its designed limits. Shattering to dust and letting the fourth dart through. It punched through the impact absorbing under layers and the skinsuit worn under that, penetrating his sternum to pierce his heart. Following close behind were three more darts, whose combined energy sufficed to rip the organ to shreds. They continued on to exit his back plate. While elsewhere the pressures built up by their passing through his body caused blood to be forced out the entrance hole as well as the Admirals mouth and nose.

I watched as he dropped to the ground in a spray of blood, my sights never leaving the torn remnants of his chest. He barely had time to hit the ground before I was brought down myself. A Marine slammed into me bringing me to the floor. The space I had been standing in was filled with the silver beam of an energy lance. The massive Private must have seen that I was being targeted when he brought me to the ground. My helmet prevented me from being killed as my head slammed through a desk that happened to be in the way. It was however not good enough to prevent me from loosing consciousness from the impact. I had a few moments of confusion to how I had ended up looking up at the ceiling before I faded into unconsciousness.

---

“Commander Sorenson?” The voice sounded concerned about something. My response was an unintelligible groan. Perhaps they were right to feel concern. I cracked open my eyes and looked up at Lieutenant Rooney. A wave of nausea came over me and I turned over onto my side as I emptied my stomach onto the floor. The feeling subsided enough after that to let me know I had one of the worst headaches I had ever experienced. I felt her place a hand on my shoulder to stop me from rolling off the stretcher I was laying on as I wiped my mouth and fell back to look up at the ceiling. She pulled an injector out of a medical kit and pressed it against my neck. The world immediately slowed down and my headache subsided. A bit.

“What happened?” I managed to say once the spinning stopped.

“You were almost shot, sir. You have a concussion from when Private Meskil hit you a little too hard. Just lie still for a while and rest.” That sounded like a very good idea. Too bad I had responsibilities.

“Did we win?” She nodded as she responded.

“Yes, sir. We lost far too many people, including Ensign Tian, but we managed to get almost all of them in the end.”

“Almost?” I said with my eyes closed as the news about the Ensign hit me.

“Major Nakhoda thinks a few may have gotten away in the confusion. No more than ten or so, and no one on the 'important' list. We did it, sir.” I rubbed my face before looking back up at her.

“It will just have to be good enough. And Olympus?”

“Recaptured and the remaining Chiefs are safe. They seem to have put the majority of their effort here, sir.”

“Fair enough. Do you have any water?” I asked after trying the empty reservoir in my armor. With some help I sat up and gratefully accepted the bottle she offered me, using it to first clear the taste out of my mouth before drinking the rest of it. I looked around the council chambers, now fully lit, was bustling with activity. All around were Marines performing their post battle duties. Securing prisoners, helping the few remaining wounded, counting the cost. More Navy personnel had shown up, some wearing security uniforms escorting away the prisoners. Others wearing medical uniforms who worked on the wounded.

My stretcher was one of many that had been placed near where the main entrance to the room had been. Quite a few were still occupied, though the people in them seemed to have fairly minor injuries.

Further down in the room I spotted Shari with a few of her officers talking to what I assumed was the head of the security personnel that had arrived while I was unconscious. In the clearest sign that everything was over, all the Marines had removed their helmets. I threw the empty bottle away and stood up with a little help from the Lieutenant, I caught the end of their conversation as I approached.

“My platoon leaders just reported that their final sweep is complete, Commander. They report that the building is clear. No remaining opposition or traps.”

“Thank you, Captain. My people will take it from here. Tell your people they did good work here this morning.”

“Thank you, Commander, I will. We are going to hang around a bit until our shuttles have finished their runs. So we will be here if you need us.” They shook hands and turned away to their separate duties. Shari gave a few quick orders to her officers before turning to me. “How are you feeling, Jay?”

“Like I was hit by a runaway shuttle. But I'll be fine. How is everything else?”

“Better than I had expected when we landed. Just about everyone on our list has been accounted for, and the ones we haven't are all fairly low level people.”

“And our people?” I asked with trepidation, remembering the fallen I had passed getting to this room.

“Thirty six casualties, sixteen of them fatal. Among them Lieutenant Martins and Gunny Harris. I'm afraid Sandra was injured as well. She is at the hospital now.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Too early to tell, I'm afraid. I'm going to head over there as soon as I can.” Any response I might have given was interrupted by First Sergeant Lindkvist.

“Captain, Javelin 6 just reported that she has dropped off her last load of injured and is on her way back for pickup.” Top tapped her ear for emphasis as she spoke. Shari nodded and turned to her officers to ensure everything really was ready for our departure. In the mean time I spotted something deeper in the large room that sparked a cloudy memory. The drugs I had gotten obviously only helped with the nausea and pain of a concussion, not the fuzzy thinking and unreliable memory. I shook my head at forgetting that particular moment.

“Shari, you go on ahead. I'll catch up.” She followed my gaze and saw what had sparked my memory. Her smile was gentle as she rested a hand on my arm.

“Take your time. We'll be waiting.” I nodded distractedly and started down the steps toward the dais. The walk down was unsettling as I had to navigate my way through the debris and damage from the intense fighting. While my attention was focused on the dais I could not help but think about how the room had looked only the previous day. There would not have been deep gashes in the polished marble from the heavy lances. Small but deep holes in the walls and furnishings from the railguns. Whole sections of luxurious seating that had burned to ash.

I walked up the steps to the dais and looked down at the two bodies remaining there. They had been covered with white sheets that were now soaked through with blood. I paused and looked down at the nearest one. Remembering how the trigger broke under my finger, the crack of the dart going down range and the blood that sprayed from the impacts. A drying pattern of red drops was visible on the wall behind where he had stood, along with the minute holes my darts had made after passing through their target.

I turned away from the dead Admiral and stopped next to Valentino. I pulled the sheet away from his face and looked down at him. My emotions were a confusing mix of sadness and delight. He had been a friend and a traitor in life. At one point I would have killed him with as much hesitation I had shown with the Admiral under the sheet behind me. I knew it would take me a long time to come to grips with what had passed between us these past few months. The one thing I would not forget though, was that he had given his life in pursuit of his principles.

---

Prologue - Previous - Next

If you can't be bothered to wait a week between chapters you can pick the book up here on Amazon.

[The Forever War] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) by Joe Haldeman.

It has nothing at all to do with atheism, it's just an excellent book.

Try the book sometime by Rober A. Heinlein it is excellent.

Besides the ones that u/Rost-Light already mentioned (Fire and Ice, Sanctuary, Greater Evil), there's also the short-story "Out Caste". If you want to save money, you can buy the eBook-anthology The Tau Empire, which contains Fire and Ice, Out Caste and Sanctuay (and a bunch of other T'au stories by other authors).

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Even non sci-fi readers that I've recommended it to have enjoyed it and been intrigued by the future warfare that the book describes.

The Forever War might be to your liking.

You mean like in this book?

Dead Mech Walking: a mech LitRPG novel (Armored Souls Book 1) by Xavier P. Hunter

The first book I bought was an E book full of other books.

The Tau Empire A Legends of the Dark Millennium book

Aun'Shi
Commander Shadow
Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru's Line
A Sanctuary of Wyrms
Out Caste
Fire and Ice
Farsight
The Patient Hunter
The Kauyon
The Tau'va


This book is from the perspective of a Rogue Trader and the first crusade attacking the Tau Empire.
Rogue Trader Omnibus

This book is about an Imperial Guard regiment fighting Gue'vesa and Tau forces.
Fire Caste

Fire Warrior Is about an individual fire warrior absolutely wrecking imperial forces on his own. It gives a lot of interesting views on imperial culture from the perspective of the fire caste.

I would absolutely buy the first book listed again, it's 10 stories. Some of them are pretty short but it's neat how you hear about some of the characters again in other books.

Not dead. https://www.amazon.com/BattleTech-Academy-Incident-Jennifer-Brozek/dp/1942487711/ref=la_B0031SXNCU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525562861&sr=1-2

There was also new fiction released for the new PC game via Kickstarter.

I'm not a huge sci-fi book fan (Dune was cool), but read The Forever War (http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293510846&sr=8-1). It's great.

He did publish a story on Amazon here

Archives for the links in comments:

• By Piroko (cuchillosmuela.com): http://archive.fo/PcK6g
  
• By Gamer9103 (apple.com): http://archive.fo/lY8bW
  
• By Piroko (amazon.com): http://archive.fo/ZOIA8
  
• By Piroko (knifeup.com): http://archive.fo/oGzg8
  
• By Izkata (journals.plos.org): http://archive.fo/ypxN6
  
  ----
  I am Mnemosyne 2.1, Click with me if you want to live. ^^^^/r/botsrights ^^^^Contribute ^^^^message ^^^^me ^^^^suggestions ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time ^^^^Opt ^^^^out ^^^^of ^^^^tracking ^^^^by ^^^^messaging ^^^^me ^^^^"Opt ^^^^Out" ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time

The whole Dead Mech apex trilogy. Just a big excuse for a stupid fun action gore fest.

Infected such an insanely creepy and cringey story. One of those you would have to watch a 2nd time just to watch other peoples reactions.

Some light reading, perhaps?

The Forever War books by Joe Haldeman.

• The Forever War
  
• Enders Game
  
• Wool

Try:

• The Forever War by John Haldeman
  
  
• Armor by John Steakley
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi
  
  Hmm, apparently anything written by a John something or the other will work...

There is a lot of stuff in interstellar :D

Marooned in Realtime Deals with long time spans

Spin deals with dying earth and people dealing with it scientifically and not, ways to surpass it.

The Forever War deals with the human effects of time dilation

This one or this one?

not necessarily - Johnny Comes Marching Home from the Must Read section is on amazon. Mind you, he specifically made it DRM-free, but I believe that was out of personal preference (Here is the link where he discusses it).

Note also that just because it is being published DRM-free doesn't mean that he isn't getting money for it either.

/u/bellumaster could probably PM /u/semiloki about what he did

Have you read The Forever War?

Science Fiction / Classic War Sci-Fi Novel sounds like Forever War.

The book "Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" by Joel Woodard is one I enjoyed. It was actually authored on this subreddit. Just a warning, it's very depressing.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Comes-Marching-Home-Again-ebook/dp/B010KWD9KU/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=johnny+comes+marching+home&qid=1559318937&s=books&sr=1-12

Reddit link: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/371u4n/oc_johnny_comes_marching_home/

Anyone have any book recommendations for a 26 year old? No topic in particular, not necessarily financial/business or otherwise, just any suggestions?

I'm currently reading:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535
I'm not far into it, but it's basically on how to properly apply mathematics and logic to problem-solving. It's not exactly a new strategy for life or anything, but it's probably a good idea to read if you're analytical. I got it off Bill Gates reading list.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728
Found through the reading list- This one I've finished and can't recommend enough. It's from the 50's and it's intended reader were investment bankers. The main suggestion is hide yourself from bad information because you can't eliminate the impact it'll have on your decision making, and we aren't exactly equipped to know what's good or bad if we don't have experience in that realm already. It's a lot of common stuff people use stats for to push a product service policy etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/
I'm really into it. I love sci-fi. I don't necessarily love philosophy, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's hard for me to read a lot of at once but I don't ever want to put it down. The mindset of the character and narration really gets me. Since reading this, I've heard or noticed many many recommendations for Heinlein, though I'm unsure. He seems to be a proponent of fascism, but I guess he could just be writing down the fantasy of the particular fascist society he created and not necessarily saying "ya know this is how we should be" I don't know. I see conflicting things.

After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:

Modern

• Viper Pilot - memoir of an F-16 Wild Weasel pilot who flew in both Iraq Wars
  
• A Nightmare's Prayer - memoir of a Marine Harrier Pilot flying out of Bagram.
  
• Warthog - Story of the A-10C pilots and their many varied missions in Desert Storm
  
• Hornets over Kuwait - Memoir of a Marine F/A-18 pilot during Desert Storm
  
• Strike Eagle - Story of the brand new F-15C Strike Eagle pilots and their time in Desert Storm
  
  

  Vietnam
  

• The Hunter Killers - look at the very first Wild Weasels, their inception, early development, successes, and failures
  
• Low Level Hell - memoir of an OH-6 Air Cav pilot
  
  

  WWII
  

• Unsung Eagles - various snapshots of the less well-known but arguably more impactful pilots and their missions during WWII (pilot who flew channel rescue in a P-47, morale demonstration pilot, etc.)
  
• Stuka Pilot - memoir of the most prolific aviator of Nazi Germany (and an unapologetic Nazi) who killed hundreds of tanks with his cannon-armed Stuka
  
• The First Team - more academic historical look at the first US Naval Aviators in WWII
  
  
  

  Overall/Other
  

• Skunk Works - memoir of Ben Rich, head of Lockeed's top secret internal firm and his time working on the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 including anecdotes from pilots of all 3 and accounts of these remarkable planes' exploits.
  
• Lords of the Sky - ambitious attempt to chronicle the rise and evolution of the "fighter pilot" from WWI to the modern day
  
• Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs - the story of the long-top secret group of pilots who evaluated and flew captured Soviet aircraft against US pilots to train them against these unknown foes.
  
• Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - story of the US submarine fleet starting at the outbreak of the Cold War and their exploits
  
  
  
  

  Bonus non-military aviation
  

  I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:
  
  

• Neuromancer - defined the cyberpunk genre
  
• Ghost in the Wires - memoir of prolific hacker Kevin Mitnick
  
• Starship Troopers - nothing like the movie
  
• The Martian - fantastic read
  
• Heir to the Empire - first of the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy and the book that arguably sparked the growth of the Extended Universe of Star Wars
  
• Devil in the White City - semi-fictional (mostly non-fiction) account of a serial killer who created an entire palace to capture and kill his prey during the Chicago World's Fair
  
• Good Omens - dark comedy story of a demon and an angel trying to stop the end of the world because they like us too much
  
• American Gods - fantastic story about how the old gods still walk among us
  
• Dune - just read it
  

FUCK YES THERE IS!

http://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-A-Heinlein/dp/0441783589

Copy/pasting how I started from another thread.

Eisenhorn Story about an Imperial Inquisitor's career, as he fights Daemons, Aliens, and Heretics who try to destroy the Imperium.

Ravenor A spin off from Eisenhorn, about his once-pupil Ravenor who has now become an Inquisitor in his own right, as he fights a shadow war against an evil genius heretic trying to destroy the Imperium while a bigger threat looms in the background.

The Emperor's Gift Story about the Grey Knights, who are a special chapter of Space Marines who fight Daemons specifically, and work with the Inquisition. Has a cool tie in with Ravenor, but I don't want to spoil it.

Gaunt's Ghosts Stories about the Imperial Guard, the grunt troopers of the Imperium, as they fight the forces of Chaos. Has a cool tie in with Eisenhorn, set a little bit after it in the 40k timeline. This is omnibus 1, books 1-3. There's literally 15 books in this series, it goes for a while. Very good stuff though.

Titanicus Story about the god machines, the Titans, that are the most powerful weapons of war in the Imperium.

Those should give you a pretty firm grounding, and it's basically the order I read them in (except the Emperor's Gift, I read that one later, I just included it because of the Ravenor tie-in). I read Eisenhorn with no background on 40k, and found it easy enough going to understand when I was in Highschool. I didn't even know it was a 40k novel, I was just looking for sci-fi. It's still my all-time favorite 40k book.

Sci-Fi Starters:

Starship Troopers by Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

The Foundation series by Asimov: Foundation -> Foundation and Empire -> Second Foundation

The Robot series by Asimov: I, Robot...

Armor by John Steakley. It's what I wanted Starship Troopers to be.

Also The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Ship to ship space combat at relativistic speeds!

Armor by John Steakley.

Well, it's not actually my favorite book, but it has really stuck with me and taught me a few cool writing devices. I see some Forever War and Starship Troopers fans in this thread, and Armor kind of rounds out a military sci-fi trilogy for me. Thought it worth mentioning.

You should check out Starship Troopers if you haven't yet. I think it was a big influence on the forever war IIRC.

> Fiction is just a mirror of reality for the most part. Many things that happen in fiction don’t even happen here. But as far as pain and sadness. Joy and love, life and death, it’s all real here. Here it’s real. - Lucian Bane

Fiction that mirrors reality and challenges the reader is more of what we need, the books i listed below have shaped my view of the world in a very thought-provoking way.

Other stuff out there, the pop-fiction, the garbage or crack cocaine for the brain is as bad as TV. Hollywood panders to the masses. Did you know Hollywood usually has two different versions for films released in America and Europe? Yep, that's right - Hollywood dumbs down movies for American audiences. Everything in media these days is centered around comic books and video games - the modern day opiates of the masses.

Some notable fiction that should be required reading:

• 1984 & Animal Farm
  
  
• The Forever War
  
  
• Starship Troopers
  
  
• Lord of the Flies

• Armor - More ground base fighting in powersuits than in space - Second half of the book isn't very exciting - Audiobook is awesome
  
• The Forever War - War fought against aliens over a long period of time. Space and ground battles
  
• Old Man's War - Lots of advanced tech in these books with space battles and ground combat - This would probably be my first recommendation
  
• Currently reading Leviathan Wakes which is turning out to be pretty good

It's in the foreword John Scalzi wrote for the latest edition of Forever War, which you can read here: http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323872336&sr=8-1

(Click on "Click to look inside!").

If you're interested in reading a book with a somewhat similar theme as the movie (who even started the fight? war is not pretty, etc...), I highly recommend The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's sort of an anti-Starship Troopers story where the main character is drafted to war rather than volunteering. Still scifi with bizarre alien creatures but, IMHO with a more memorable story.

Here is a few:

Starship Troopers - the book, not the movie

https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947608&sr=1-1&keywords=starship+troopers

Man's Search for Meaning

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947637&sr=1-1&keywords=mans+search+for+meaning

Sapiens

https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947665&sr=1-3&keywords=sapiens+a+brief+history+of+humankind

12 rules for life an antidote to chaos

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=12+rules+for+life+an+antidote+to+chaos&sprefix=12+rules%2Cstripbooks%2C199&crid=1I6JP76TCR7PC

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

>Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero in an interstellar war against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. But his greatest test will be when he returns home. Relativity means that for every few months' tour of duty centuries have passed on Earth, isolating the combatants ever more from the world for whose future they are fighting.

Read the book.
Although it'll make you hate the movie. A lot like I Am Legend, World War Z, and countless other movies pretty much pissed on the book.
Edit: Why the downvotes, guys? Anyone who's read and seen any of those book/movie pairs knows exactly what I'm talking about. They're nothing alike.

If you haven't already, you should check out the SF classic novel 'The Forever War' ( https://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631 )

It deals with exactly this, with soldiers fighting on the other side of the galaxy struggling to remember what they are fighting for, because Earth changes so much in their decades-long tours.

You sure are getting defensive now, but I'm okay with everyone having their own opinion on matters. I would suggest reading Stranger in a Strange land if you are looking for some more philosophy from Heinlein (it's not boogey man fascist communist killing material I swear).

Also check out Forever War, which is probably the harshest criticism of SST from one of Heinleins peers, which ironically became Heinleins favorite book of all time.

I made a list based on where you can purchase them if you want to edit it onto your post:

This Month's Book

• The Woman in the Dunes by Kobe Abe
  
  

  January:
  

  
  

• [Consider Phlebas
  by Iain Banks]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Consider-Phlebas-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/031600538X)
  
  
• [Brave New World
  by Aldous Huxley]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523)
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451
  by Ray Bradbury
  
  
  
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
  by Oscar Wilde
  
  
• Children of Time
  by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
• [12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
  by Jordan B. Peterson]
  (https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797Y87JC)
  
  
  

  February:
  

  
  

• I Am Legend
  by Richard Matheson
  
  
• Dune
  by Frank Herbert
  
  
• Kafka on the Shore
  by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• American Psycho
  by Bret Easton Ellis
  
  
• Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
  by Max Tegmark
  
  
• Beyond Good and Evil
  by Friedrich Nietzsche
  
  

  March:
  

  
  

• The Old Man and The Sea
  by Ernest Hemingway
  
  
• Moby Dick
  by Herman Melville
  
  
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
  
  
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  
  
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
  
  
• The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
  
  
• Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe
  
  

  April:
  

  
  

• [The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0879518642)
  
  
• [Stoner by John Williams](
  https://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993)
  
  
• [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/0486415872)
  
  
• [No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai](
  https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Human-Osamu-Dazai/dp/0811204812)
  
  
• Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima
  
  

  May:
  

  
  

• [Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima](
  https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Snow-Sea-Fertility-1/dp/0679722416)
  
  
• [Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Horses-Sea-Fertility-2/dp/0679722408)
  
  
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  
  
• In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  
  
• Mythos by Stephen Fry
  
  
• Inferno by August Strindberg
  
  

  November
  

  
  

• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  
  
• Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann
  
  
• Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
  
  
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  
  

  Books Pewds suggested but hasn't talked about in any of the episodes yet:
  

  
  

• The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
  linking pewds to see this u/pewpewpewPEWdie

The Forever War by Haldeman https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312536631/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zTFiDbR3EQFT2

Amazon Product Description: The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...

There was a scene in the new uncut version of The Forever War where, when William Mandella gets to go home on leave, already very sick of the war, he gives an interview to the media about how bad the situation is, how the war sucks, etc., and later hears it on TV, chopped, reedited, and with new words of his added in (not coincidentally, always when the camera is showing the reporter nodding sagely or something) saying how great the war is, how high the soldiers morale is, how much he believes in it, etc. It's only a matter of time.

I wouldn't call being verbose awesome. As for the message in the text you should either read The Forever War, or watch the film again to learn why it's flowery but wrong.

> War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose.

The problem is that political purpose is often dictated by evil, power hungry, short sighted politicians (many of whom have had military experience and are often the worst when it comes to starting more pointless wars), and is counter productive to the continuation of the species (we came damn close to destroying the world many times during the cold war, like seconds away close). For a more contemporary example it was the chicken hawks elevated by military rhetoric that leveled Iraq just to hand out rebuilding contracts for their buddies, laying economic waste to both nations.

Plus I preferred Michael Ironside's delivery, juxtaposed with his missing hand. You don't need a bunch of prose to show violence as authority, "because fuck you" is it's own proof.

Other points that can be easily picked apart (and I'm not the first to do so).

> Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure" --Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was talking about rebellions and the rebellious as the patriots. The removal of tyrants, makes Heinlein's statement disingenuous at best. It's a reversal and celebration of authority, that is ironically only possible due to Jefferson's original rebellion.

> It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals.

This is the Nuremberg Defense, nobody should have to explain why it's wrong.

Too many people read Starship Troopers then praise it without reading it's critiques or counter examples. Heinlein's theories haven't held up well in the years following his book. It's a good story, and a great window into the mind set of a WWII soldier, but as a model for society it's woefully inadequate.

If you really want to understand war and it's wide ranging ramifications in an easily approachable format I would suggest starting with John Keegan's: A History of Warfare. Then read Joe Haldeman's: The Forever War as a Vietnam era perspective counter example to Starship Troopers. Then try watching Verhoeven's Starship Troopers again as it was intended to be viewed, as an intelligent satire.

https://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Gift-Warhammer-40-000-ebook/dp/B01N942WJS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1557243151&sr=8-1


>Annika burst into tears. I’d never seen anything like it – one moment she was composed, staring daggers at Kysnaros; the next she was weeping softly, her hands up to her rebreather mask, the tears freezing into silver trickles down her cheeks.

>I turned from the advancing war machine to glance at her. ‘Mistress?’

>She was already sliding down to her knees, still weeping, staring up at the approaching figure.

>‘He’s real,’ she said in a whisper over the vox. ‘Don’t you understand? Don’t you see? He’s real.’

>The Dreadnought stomped closer, drawing to a halt some ten metres away. Moonlight became bladed lines on the edges of its dense armour plating. Tribal paintwork marked its old, old hull. One of the war machine’s arms was a heavy, brutal rotary cannon – lowered and aiming away from us. The other arm was closer to humanoid, ending in a curved, vicious array of metal talons.

>Annika wouldn’t stop weeping. It wasn’t a display of undignified wailing – but the soft, muffled weeping was becoming unnerving. They were a pilgrim’s tears, shed in a temple at the end of a long journey.

>‘You’re real,’ she whispered to the towering war machine.

>‘Of course I’m real.’ The Dreadnought’s voice was bionic thunder. ‘Get up off your knees, foolish girl.’

>‘My lord,’ I said, as I went to one knee myself.

>‘I am Ghesmei Kysnaros,’ Kysnaros said to the Dreadnought. ‘A ranking lord in His Holy Majesty’s Inquisition.’

>The Dreadnought turned slightly on its waist axis, with a low growl of sacred mechanics. ‘Enough of this. Get up.’

>‘…and a duly appointed representative of the God-Emperor…’ Kysnaros finished, still unsure where to look.

>‘God-Emperor?’ The Dreadnought made the sound of gears slipping, grinding together. From the booming augmetic tone, I assumed it was supposed to be laughter. Either that, or an internal weapons system reloading. ‘Calling him a god was how all this mess started.’

>[...]

>He took a lumbering step forwards. His claw could have wrapped around any one of us with ease, so to see the gentleness with which he touched Annika was almost heartbreaking. The war machine rotated his wrist servos, rattling and grinding as he rolled his claw. Then, with the flat of one savagely sharp talon, he tilted her head to one side, then the other, showing the tears of ice on her pale cheeks.

>‘Enough tears now, little maiden. You have the look of the frostborn about you. What tribe, huntress?’

>‘The Broken Tusk, Great King.’ Her voice was a mouse’s, no louder than that.

>‘I still remember them. Vicious bastards, every one. A blessing in a battle if they were on your side, and a curse if they weren’t. Awful sailors, though. That’s the sad truth.’

>The Dreadnought stepped back, releasing her cheek. ‘No finer sight on any world than a frostborn maiden. Especially a beauty with black hair. Rare back when I had eyes to stare, and surely even rarer now.’

>I stared at the towering figure, wondering if there was some difference in the process by which gene-seed was once cultivated compared to the method now. He seemed to be able to determine that Annika was attractive. I wasn’t sure I could make that perception myself, and I had a thousand other questions to ask: about the warrior’s experiences in the age of the Heresy; about witnessing the Emperor in person; about the classes of vessels that once sailed the stars and now no longer saw use…