Slashdot Mirror
SciFi Author (and Byte Columnist) Jerry Pournelle Has Died (jerrypournelle.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader BinBoy writes: Science fiction author and Byte magazine columnist Jerry Pournelle has died according to a statement by his son Alex posted to Jerry's web site. A well-wishing page has been set up for visitor's to post their thoughts and memories of Mr. Pournelle.
Pournelle's literary career included the 1985 science fiction novel Footfall with Larry Niven, which became a #1 New York Times best-seller -- one of several successful collaborations between the two authors. In a Slashdot interview in 2003, Larry Niven credited Jerry for the prominent role of religion in their 1974 book The Mote in God's Eye.
Wikipedia also remembers how Byte magazine announced Pournelle's legendary debut as a columnist in their June 1980 issue.
"The other day we were sitting around the BYTE offices listening to software and hardware explosions going off around us in the microcomputer world. We wondered, "Who could cover some of the latest developments for us in a funny, frank (and sometimes irascible) style?" The phone rang. It was Jerry Pournelle with an idea for a funny, frank (and sometimes irascible) series of articles to be presented in BYTE on a semi-regular (i.e.: every 2 to 3 months) basis, which would cover the wild microcomputer goings-on at the Pournelle House ("Chaos Manor") in Southern California. We said yes."
Slashdot reader tengu1sd fondly remembers Pournelle as "frequently loud, but well reasoned." He also shares a link to a new appreciation posted on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site. And Slashdot reader Nova Express also remembers Pournelle's Chaos Manor website "later became one of the first blogs on the Internet."
Pournelle's literary career included the 1985 science fiction novel Footfall with Larry Niven, which became a #1 New York Times best-seller -- one of several successful collaborations between the two authors. In a Slashdot interview in 2003, Larry Niven credited Jerry for the prominent role of religion in their 1974 book The Mote in God's Eye.
Wikipedia also remembers how Byte magazine announced Pournelle's legendary debut as a columnist in their June 1980 issue.
"The other day we were sitting around the BYTE offices listening to software and hardware explosions going off around us in the microcomputer world. We wondered, "Who could cover some of the latest developments for us in a funny, frank (and sometimes irascible) style?" The phone rang. It was Jerry Pournelle with an idea for a funny, frank (and sometimes irascible) series of articles to be presented in BYTE on a semi-regular (i.e.: every 2 to 3 months) basis, which would cover the wild microcomputer goings-on at the Pournelle House ("Chaos Manor") in Southern California. We said yes."
Slashdot reader tengu1sd fondly remembers Pournelle as "frequently loud, but well reasoned." He also shares a link to a new appreciation posted on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site. And Slashdot reader Nova Express also remembers Pournelle's Chaos Manor website "later became one of the first blogs on the Internet."
Too bad for you. You missed out on some great books and a magazine that helped define early PCs and programming.
Go back to your mobile device and continue ignoring the world.
Yes the Byte era. Eyes filled with wonder, not so jaded and cynical back then. Computers had possibilities instead of limitations.
All of his colabs with Niven were always a great read.
Also "Falkenberg's Legion" was an excellent read.
He may be gone, but his writing will be with us for ever.
I'm imagining a beyond-the-grave interview from Heinlein. Pournelle was a pantywaist compared to RAH.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Byte was THE magazine to read for general computer news in the late 80's and early 90's. I have a bunch of them and I re-read them from time to time. This is back when nobody knew what was coming down the pipe, or what would even work. You had document-based object-oriented application paradigms being tried out, all kinds of new languages, new processor and hardware architectures being tried out. Weird storage mediums (floptical? ZIP drives? MO Drives?) By today's standards, weird OSes being tried out (BeOS, OS/2, even QNX made a bid for the desktop)
Now the big research goes into what kind of screens the next smartphones will have, or how much faster the next version of the same graphics card you own will be.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
"a sneering condescending disdain for the liberals that he blames for all the problems of the world."
They are not the cause of all the problems in the world, just for being wrong about all the problems of the world - even when compared to the old Greatest Generation Democrats.
No, not confusion caused by his debilitating health. He was drawn into the whole devolution of the modern conservative movement for many years.
I lost a lot of respect for him when he started spouting a lot of that nonsense well before the GWB days.
Good books though.
Thanks for using your mod points as a "I disagree" button, I'll give you a chance to waste them some more.
The fact is, Pournelle succumbed to the worst commandment of all, not criticizing his fellow "conservatives" as declared by his Saint, the Great Reagan.
Against my better judgment, but to give the benefit of the doubt, I've read a few more pages of diaries. What do I see? The standard right-wing catechisms.
For example, the usual song-and-dance over Confederate statues, and esteem for the fabled Lee. No, it isn't history being torn down, it is a false portrayal of history being rejected. Including the traitor and oathbreaker who invaded the North, caused widespread harm, and whose real saving grace was being strategically incompetent so that slavery was nor preserved as a legal institution. I'm sure he was miseducated as a child, for which he cannot be blamed, but as an adult, well, to use his own words, he really ought to have known better.
Really, he claimed he wanted the law to be colorblind. A nice sentiment. How can you argue against it? Well, leaving aside the quibbling that say, reflecting on the importance of viewing color in this world might constitute, the observation that the most strident advocates of this purported standard often are those who express disdain and disregard towards those who are "colored" with a great leavening of falsehood and prejudice.
He should really have been more aware of the company he was keeping, the fellow travelers with which he was walking.
Failing to do so just destroyed his own credibility. As did representing the "KKK" as the militant wing of the "Democratic" party which is a phrasing widely adopted by the right lately, as they neglect to admit that they are talking about a historical association when said Democrats were more aligned with themselves in terms of political identity.
But it's the Republicans in Tennessee who are all aghast at removing Nathan Bedford Forrest's statues, the ones who fall all over themselves in defending him, ignoring his crimes and abuses. Then again, he thought that the GOP didn't sell out the free blacks of the South in 1876 either.
Oh, and he still wanted his solar power satellites and kinetic bombardment system. I really hope there is an angel teaching him the error of his ways.
Ah yes, Northgate keyboards.
That was when the world was, well, noisier. But it felt so good....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The whole "KKK are extremist Democrats" is an absurd statement. That was true 70 years ago before the Dixiecrats basically split from the Democrats. And where did most of the Dixiecrats ultimately end up? In the Republican Party.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Except some of the "fools" he didn't suffer weren't fools at all, and it was Pournelle who took pointlessly contrarian positions. His views on Climate Change, biology and vaccines were not the views of a thoughtful man, but rather someone who just had emotional responses to things he didn't like. As I say elsewhere, I enjoyed his writing, but he became a full on crank by the 1990s.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
On the gripping hand, ...
Nicely done.