Jerry Pournelle's book lists

[Rich Jordan]

Over at Chaos Manor, in remembrance of Dr. Pournelle's birthday last week, they posted a list of the book choices from his columns (along with games). While many are dated, he also chose many that are still relevant. I thought it worth bringing here.

[Langenator]

I've been (slowly) making my way through his There Will Be War anthologies. In and amongst the sci-fi stories are a bunch of non-fiction defense related stuff.

I had no idea Pournelle was that heavily involved in the debates over SDI.

And honestly (are you listening, Calista House?), I'd be happy to pay for a volume that was just those non-fiction pieces, all collected in one place.

[randy]

In the meantime see if you can score a copy of The Strategy of Technology by Pournelle, Possony and Kane.

[Langenator]

Well, Amazon shows 2 used copies for sale, one for just over $60 and the other almost $300.

Or the university library has a copy, which I can check out for up to a year. The perks of being a university employee.

[Rich Jordan]

I've been (slowly) making my way through his There Will Be War anthologies. In and amongst the sci-fi stories are a bunch of non-fiction defense related stuff.

I had no idea Pournelle was that heavily involved in the debates over SDI.

And honestly (are you listening, Calista House?), I'd be happy to pay for a volume that was just those non-fiction pieces, all collected in one place.

There's another non fiction book, "A Step Farther Out". Its not heavy on military; its about energy generation, getting off the planet, and 'survival with style'. Some of the articles are a bit dated (computing!) but reading it and seeing so much hope for the future back then is both inspiring and heartbreaking. But be careful about any kindle-type editions; the transcription I got was pretty shabby and full of errors. I found a paperback instead.