Starship Troopers

A guy joins the army on a whim and becomes an infantryman. Eventually he also signs up to be an officer in a similarly spontaneous fashion. They fight space bugs and we hear multiple lectures about psychology and society that are clearly just the author preaching to his captive audience. Good writing, but the story doesn't really go anywhere. The main character does some growing, but we never actually see that happen, he just reacts differently as the book goes on. Realistic? Sure. Compelling? Nah.