Gots to be Ender's Game, one of my favorites as with most of you guys.

King Davids Spaceship. Tactics beat numbers.

In terms of writing great thriller style books of the military persuasion, Tom Clancy is clearly very good at what he does: Red Storm, Clear and Present Danger, and more recently Bear and the Dragon and Rainbow Six were very well written. Much of what he writes could be classed as "very-near future sci-fi". However, I also thought that in the last two he described very much "Best Case" scenarios to allow him to show how whiz-bang the new technology is. Particularly in Bear and the Dragon, he seemed to design a scenario where the opposing force would deliberately do everything to leave themselves open to being beaten by technology. I'd really like to see him use his undoubted ability to write compelling thriller-material in a scenario closer to what US forces are dealing with in Afghanistan and post-occupation Iraq. Also, it must be said, though it pains me to do so, that since the fall of the Soviet Union, Clancy has struggled terribly to come up with a convincing "why" for his still-excellent battle scenes.

Cauldron by Larry Bond – Written in 1993 (?), the book takes place in 1997, “world order has been destabilized by recession and extreme nationalism. The French foreign minister creates ‘EurCon’, a European Confederation led by France and Germany that will rule Europe. EurCon's attempt to assimilate Eastern Europe meets with resistance, particularly from Poland, and soon the U.S. and Britain are pulled into the struggle.” It’s a good read and the story line could have been written in today’s world, one forgets the actual book was written 10 years ago.

You savages! Card and Heinlein and Pournelle are fine, but hasn't anybody read anything by H. Beam Piper? Now THAT guy makes Haldeman look invisible. Also, I like William Gibson's take on things.

You guys should check out Ben Bova's Triumph. It's about how the Allies took Berlin because Stalin was slowly assinaited by uranium hidden in a present from the British. It's short,but still good Alternative History. Also Fox on the Rhine is great too. I can't say I have a clear favorite but Red Storm Rising, Enders Game, and The Forever War are on the top for me.

Decisions, decisions... 1.) A Small Colonial War - Robert Frezza 2.) The General (series) - David Drake & SM Stirling 3.) Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen - H Beam Piper 4.) Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein (among the best SF books of all time) 5.) Falkenberg's Legion (series) - Jerry Pournelle

I have not read quite a few of the books mentioned here (gonna correct hat soon) Mine would have to be Red Storm Rising, The Hunt for Red October, Enders Game, and anything Micheal A. Stackpole. The Battletech series, while mostly crap, does have some very good book if once can find them.

Well, I've read almost everything mentioned and can't believe some of the books left out. Here's my favorites, I put a star by the ones that were left out by others. 1. Starship Troopers, Heinlein - How to conquer the universe with elite commandos 2. Dorsai, Dickson * - How could you forget this one! The general makes all the difference. 3. Falkenberg's Legion (series), Pournelle - great Brit/FFL mercenary stories 4. The Janissaries (series), Pournelle * - Another one you guys missed, CIA mercenaries have to conquer a medieval planet 5. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein - AI and moon catapults, how to win by bluffing 6. Legion of Videssos (series), Turtledove * - A Roman cohort is transported to another world by magic, this world is dominated by cavalry and magic 7. The Great War/American Empire (series), Turtledove - What if the South won the Civil War? 8. WorldWar (series), Turtledove - What if talking lizards invaded the earth in 1942? 9. The Dueling Machine, Ben Bova * - What if wars were fought by virtual reality? This was written in the 1950's, by the way. 10. I'm stuck for # 10, none of the others really seem to measure up to these.

Oh yeah, I've got #10 now: 10. Berserker series, Frederick Saberhagen - machines designed to kill all living things take on the universe.