Starship Troopers

Most people know the title Starship Troopers as a mediocre sci-fi movie that got released a few years ago. What most people don't know is that the movie is based on a very, very good book. I read the book back when I was little and had the time to read through a book every couple of days. Now I just went back and decided to reread it. Even back in the day--when I was too young for it, if truth be told--I knew that it was a good book. What I was too young to figure out was that it was also a very elegant essay about morality, the function and ordering of the state, and the purpose and design of the military. In it's own way the book exists to make a point in the same way that 1984 does.
What is impressive is that the book manages to do this and still be interesting.
Needless to say, very few of these points made it into the movie.