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The Forever War

Sunday, September 20th, 2009 Will No comments

I recently read the latest Sword and Laser pick: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. The main character, William Mandella is part of an elite group of an elite group of soldiers that are sent into war again an alien race called the Taurans. The story starts when he’s about to go into training and ends after the end of the war.

This book was written back in 1974. There are parallels between the war in the book and the Vietnam War. I can see the statement that he’s trying, but I think all of that would’ve had a bigger impact on me if I read it when I was a little more politically frustrated.

I like that these old school scifi books take time dilation into account. Since people are out in space traveling at or near the speed of light, they experience time differently than the people on Earth. It has something to do with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Over the course of the book, the main character ages only a few years, but over 1100 years pass by on Earth. You get glimpses into society on future Earth. Crime gets worse. There’s big time inflation and calories become the only currency on the planet. I think that changes later, but I’m not sure. At one point, almost everyone is gay and straight people are seen as deviants. The government encourages this to keep the population in control. Only when someone dies is another person created in a test tube. Most of the soldiers that survive the military campaigns don’t want to go back home because everything has changed so much. Very interesting.

Anyway, it’s a great book and I recommend giving it a read. Is there any point in keeping a list anymore since I haven’t really been following?