Jerry Pournelle
While visiting our downunder friend Dirk Thruster at Arm the Insane,(should be a regular read of yours, if it isn’t already) I stumbled onto a link to Jerry Pournelle! My first thoughts were… Well, hell, let me just copy/paste the Email:
Hello! My name is (og). I have a teeny website called
neanderpundit.com.I have a sometimes reader who calls himself Dirk
Thruster,
whose website has a link to yours.That is how I got here.
On first arriving here, my thoughts were, in this order:
“Holy crap, Jerry Pournelle is still alive?”
“Holy crap, he has a website?”
“Holy crap, he’s Conservative?”
“Holy crap, he actually POSTS his EMAIL ADDRESS?”Having survived those shockers, I only want to say that I have enjoyed your work over the years, and to thank you for the entertainment you have provided.
I write neanderpundit.com for my own amusement. I am extremely pleased when it amuses anyone else.(one of my three readers) I have read your essay on “how to get my job” and frankly, I don’t want it. I couldn’t handle the cut in pay nor the agita. And I can’t write worth a damn, I’m just a hillbilly.
I’m fairly sure I have a couple of books in me, but I’ve been talking
with a neurosurgeon about surgically extracting them. Best for all, really.Best wishes, and keep up the excellent work. And welcome to the
blogroll (I hate the word Blog. Oooh, how I hate it)Og
His response:
I may have invented the blog. But not that ugly name.
Thanks
Anyway, he’s got a great website, lots of cool stuff, and he has his head out of his ass on the issues of Iraq and Islam, it’s a good read. Another one of those guys you don’t expect. And don’t expect to be all the cool things he is.
Get your ass over there, read his stuff, and buy all his books. NOW!
And welcome to the blogroll, Mr Pournelle. It’s an honor to link to you.
10 comments Og | Uncategorized

Heh, heh — found JP’s website a couple of years ago — love his books, great stuff on the site — good find!
Conservative indeed. You may not be aware (or you may be now, having read Chaos Manor) that Pournelle was one of the architects of Star Wars — the Strategic Defense Initiative.
M
Another prof that the blogosphere is a SMALL TOWN.
I know Jerry Pournelle.
I first met him back in early ’78 when I joined the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, LASFS for short. Dr. Pournelle is a regularly attending member.
Wow. I wonder if Mr.schMO is aware of this? I’m emailing him the link. Pournelle has been one of his favorites for, well, millennia.
(I know that’s not tech. true, but I still think it’s kinda neat that we are among relatively few humans who not only lived during the turn of a century… :)
I just counted 18 of Pournelle’s books on one of our shelves. The only single author he has more of, looks to be Poul Anderson.
Back in ’81 Dr. Pournelle introduced me to Poul Anderson. His death a few years ago was a great loss to Science Fiction.
Karen Anderson, Poul Anderson’s widow, was at the LASFS the few times I have been able to attend in recent years.
She is one of the finest conversationists I have ever had the honor to speak to.
It should also be noted that LUCIFER’S HAMMER by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, has been used as a text in classes on survival. It is useful in that context because it provides a distressingly realistic “feel” for survival after a disaster.
I believe “Lucifer’s Hammer” was the first of many books, with the good Doctors name behind it, that has been my great good fortune to read. Perhaps on my next journey round the corner to the library I will reacquaint myself with it and others. Glad you found him Og!!
Wow.
Great find, Og.
The guy is an icon.
If you like Mr Jerry Pournelle’s thoughts on Iraq, etc., check out Mr Orson Scott Card’s site, The Ornery American: http://ornery.org
He’ll have you doing backflips!
Bestest,
Mattski
Mattski, I read Mr Card regularly, and you’re right, he’s great!