What book are you reading now?
- Thread starter Ex-Dragoon
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Two books hold pride of place in my library.
A Step Farther Out.
The Mercenary
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Both books are written by Jerry Pournelle.
A Step Farther Out is a reference book. It is an arithmetic book that applies arithmetic to engineering problems generating political debate.
The Mercenary is a work of fiction. A skinny one.
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Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017)
"an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers"
His blog was called Chaos Manor.
"Pournelle held paleoconservative political views"
"He told fellow author Robert Heinlein, Pournelle recalled, "that once I got into advance plans at Boeing I probably wrote more science fiction than he did, and I didn't have to put characters in mine".<a href="Jerry Pournelle - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> In the late 1950s, while conducting operations research at the company, he envisioned a weapon consisting of massive tungsten rods dropped from high above the Earth. These super-dense, super-fast kinetic energy projectiles delivered enormous destructive force to the target without contaminating the environs with radioactive isotopes, as would occur with a nuclear bomb. Pournelle named his superweapon “Project Thor”. Others called it "Rods from God"."
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"Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy":
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en.wikipedia.org
As I follow the news I keep finding myself thinking about Chapter XI of The Mercenary.
A Step Farther Out.
The Mercenary
.....
Both books are written by Jerry Pournelle.
A Step Farther Out is a reference book. It is an arithmetic book that applies arithmetic to engineering problems generating political debate.
The Mercenary is a work of fiction. A skinny one.
....
Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017)
"an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers"
His blog was called Chaos Manor.
"Pournelle held paleoconservative political views"
"He told fellow author Robert Heinlein, Pournelle recalled, "that once I got into advance plans at Boeing I probably wrote more science fiction than he did, and I didn't have to put characters in mine".<a href="Jerry Pournelle - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> In the late 1950s, while conducting operations research at the company, he envisioned a weapon consisting of massive tungsten rods dropped from high above the Earth. These super-dense, super-fast kinetic energy projectiles delivered enormous destructive force to the target without contaminating the environs with radioactive isotopes, as would occur with a nuclear bomb. Pournelle named his superweapon “Project Thor”. Others called it "Rods from God"."
....
"Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy":
....
Jerry Pournelle - Wikipedia
As I follow the news I keep finding myself thinking about Chapter XI of The Mercenary.
