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So Ender's Shadow shows that the teachers running the game behind the scenes were playing a much deeper game, one designed to bring about the insights that Ender developed. That further, it was important that Ender developed them on his own so that he realize, he can never depend on doctrine handed down from the past, and so develop something from a fresh start.

Besides, Ender's Game is simply the setup for Speaker of the Dead, a much more interesting book.

To be fair. I read Ender's Game multiple times when I was younger. I have not yet read it again now that I have a better understanding of Sun Tzu's Art of War and the John Boyd biographies. I have no idea what I'd find if I read it again.

Aren't most heroes in books impossible creatures impossible to be lived up to?

I still think there is a lot more content in Ender's Game than in Twilight. The message of Twilight is basically "be depressed and broody, and a shiny vampire with superpowers will fall eternally in love with you". In Ender's Game at least there are real problems and real solutions, even if perhaps it is unrealistic that a single guy could have come up with them. Then again, the book was written by a single person, so it is not completely unfeasible to have such thoughts and ideas.

Stormin Norman's initial war plan for Iraq 1 was indeed attrition based. We were to land in Kuwait and beat the Iraqis back via blunt force. Cheney,secdef at the time, realized how bloody this would be, and pulled Boyd in from retirement to rewrite the war plan. The marines succeeded brilliantly with their part. The army did not, and concern for their flanks allowed the Iraqi army to escape.

This is very interesting. What book did you read about this in?

http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316...

Of course he is a perverted ideal. It's been a while, but didn't they insinuate he was genetically engineered or something along those lines?

Besides, he is not without flaws. If you didn't notice them, maybe you weren't paying enough attention?

That's Bean. Ender and his siblings were simply the children of two very smart people.

Ender is profoundly not a role model. I think you may have missed something crucial there.

Except that in practice, he actually is a role model for a large number of people in the military.

Well, yeah; "Shut up, do as you're told, and we'll succeed in exterminating those other people" is a lesson the military takes in a somewhat different light from the general public.

I agree. Ultimately, he does all the things he does because the system is using him. Harry Potter is closer to a perverse ideal than Ender.

The thing about Harry Potter is he makes mistakes, he has setbacks. It's not just win after win after improbable win.

Spoiler alert: Ender commits xenocide just to prove his worth. Is that a win?

"simply smash one group of soldiers to another" Wow, massive simplification of a highly effective discipline based strategy (nicked off the Romans).

> Ender is an impossible creature and creates an archetype that cannot be lived up to. People make mistakes, it's what makes them learn, advance, succeed, become stronger. Ender is some kind of perverted ideal.

Isn't that the point? It's the same as reading about the life of an amazing Olympic athlete. The book follows a prodigy military strategist -- shouldn't he be an archetype?

Life is difficult. For me, the point is to let yourself grow stronger to meet those challenges rather than giving up.

I like to think that God is actually deliberately making things harder for me on/with purpose. Keeps me fighting.