The Best of Jerry Pournelle, Ed. John F. Carr
Jerry Pournelle loomed large in my early development as a science fiction fan. As a matter of fact, one novel he co-authored with Larry Niven was among the very first science fiction novels I read as a kid (Lucifer's Hammer, for those who are curious). Therefore, in the Right Geek household, Jerry occupies a place of honor. Indeed, years back, my late father and I both kept up with his occasional blogging at Chaos Manor; in particular, I respected his commentary on reading education, which, in my experience, was essentially accurate.
Jerry had a strong personality and strong opinions. He was definitely a hard conservative and didn't suffer fools gladly. But he was far too intelligent to be dismissed out of hand -- even if you disagreed with elements of his worldview. And this is not just my impression; this is also the impression of those who worked closely with him over the course of his career, as revealed by the personal reflections published in the above anthology.
On Facebook, I described Carr's "best of" collection as a "Jerry 101" course; it gives you a sampling of each of Jerry's major works, thereby assembling a "further reading" list for anyone who's curious about this particular old master and his contributions to the field. And by the way, said contributions are considerable and generally enjoyable to read. My absolute favorite is probably The Mote in God's Eye (also co-authored with Niven), but if you like mil-SF, expansive future histories, and discussions of nuclear power (among other things), you'll probably like Jerry's oeuvre as a whole.
One final note: Lately, the petty social justice tyrants of SF (whom I will not name so as not to give them undue attention) have been dancing on Jerry's grave because he was an obstacle to their ambitions. Well sorry, cupcakes, but you have been the aggressors and bullies all along. If you'd simply focused on creating the very best SF you could, you would've been welcomed with little complaint (as, in reality, many so-called "marginalized" writers have been over the years). But instead, you've decided to terrorize your fellow writers for not meeting your exacting-yet-ever-changing specifications -- and further, you've attempted to coerce people into agreeing with your delusional radical politics through intimidation, disinvitations, shit-campaigns and the like. So frankly, I'm not surprised - or particularly bothered - that Jerry fought you (and maybe got a little grouchy about it in the process). Boo-freakin'-hoo. As The Best of... illustrates, you're unlikely to erase Jerry's impact no matter how rude you are -- and no matter how much you stamp your feet and hold your breath. You might as well grow the hell up, develop some intellectual humility, and allow yourself to learn from those giants - like Jerry - who preceded you.
Pournelle is up there with Heinlein in my book. He along with Niven and Ben Bova made up much of my teen years and helped shape my world view. The man had quite an influence on me and many others.
ReplyDeleteScience fiction wasn't his only genre of course. Those of us old enough to remember the early days of personal computers read his columns in Byte Magazine. He also did quite a few nonfiction columns on space and the future. Some of which are collected in the book "A Step Farther Out".
As too the critics, screw them. Pournelle will be remembered by the folks who create the future, while the current crop of "woke warriors" won't even rate a footnote. That was one of the surprising things about his passing. Everywhere I went online, people were talking about him and the effect he had on them. That's the kind of influence a Hugo can't buy.
What Chris said. I regret I never tried to stop by Chaos Manor on my countless trips through LA but then I also viewed Jerry as a man of privacy and would not dare to intrude on his or his wifes'.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand his son was Navy and so was I all those times I did my best to bypass LA on my from San Diego to San Francisco and vice versa. OTOH, I made it my business to get through LA very early in the morning unless I was driving to Port Hueneme and back. Convertible, coast high way, Santa Monica.......
ReplyDeleteLove Jerry's books. I learned of him from John C. Dvorak in one of his columns.
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