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This book, first published in 1984 and updated three times since, is fascinating both as a historical document and for its prescient take on where we would be (or might have been) 30 years further on. Pournelle's crystal ball was and is a lot clearer than most. As a top-tier SF author and political/technology analyst, Pournelle applied his imagination to the real world. Any differences in how things actually worked out are due not to any failures in Pournelle's logic and reason, but to failures of governments and businesses to do what needed to be done. And, as Pournelle (and Niven) point out, even in our current dire straits, there is still time to make this vision of the future a reality.
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Among non-fiction books, one of the best is Jerry Pournelle's A Step Farther Out. It contains essays he wrote throughout the seventies. One of the main goals of the book is to show that we can escape the Four Dooms--starvation, pollution, overpopulation, and depletion of natural resources. How? By developing the resources of the entire solar system; not just Earth. It isn't just a fluffy, "let's go to space" dream, either. Dr. Pournelle goes through the numbers, demonstrating that by developing the natural resources of the entire solar system we can survive, happily and with our high-energy society, for thousands of years. We can't survive if we stay on Earth--we'll run out of natural resources and starve--but we will survive if we use our solar system.
Pournelle makes a compelling and entertaining argument in a book so well written you just can't put it down. He also reviews many fascinating scientific and technological breakthroughs and developments. I can't possibly do this book credit here. You'll just have to read it.
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As NASA's Shuttle program grinds to a halt with no replacement in sight, Jerry Pournelle re-issues his classic collection of essays defending the merits of space exploration, arguing that for human civilization to thrive, and perhaps even to survive in the long term, we must gain access to the vast natural resources available throughout the rest of the solar system, starting with our next-door neighbor, the moon. This will not only raise humanity's overall standard of living, it will also disperse our species beyond Earth's fragile biosphere in the event of natural or man-made worldwide disaster.
One reviewer has complained that some of the information in this book is outdated. Speculating about future scientific and technological advances is always a dicey business. However, Pournelle's track record at predicting the future is better than most; and his core argument remains just as relevant as it was three decades ago: we can't afford NOT to invest in space access infrastructure and technology.
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You don't know anything about alternative energy until you've read Dr Pournelle. He clearly makes the case for and against various technologies and, given has multiple post-grad degrees in science, engineering and math, one may say his case is authoritative.
One comment I would like to make. Dr Pournelle notes that he has read this book, as lecture notes, to many college students. Most are shocked to learn neither Earth nor the human race is doomed. Dr Pournelle does not give his opinion as to this source, but I will. They believe so because they've bought the low-grade, Marxist background radiation all their lives: profits are unearned, technology is evil and zero-sum, only peasants are moral. (But never to be left in charge; I can't think of anything Marxists hate more than working-class, lower-case "c" conservatism. Unless its working class, small-"l" libertarians, I mean.)
You can't afford not to read this.
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Buy this one in quantity and give copies to your friends. Read it aloud to them if necessary. This is frankly the best book on what the future can be--energy and prosperity can be widespread and the environment pristine, IF we get going. The human race doesn't have to starve in the cold and dark.
There are ways to produce energy without wrecking (or even harming) the environment. Doom is not an inevitable destiny. Grab this in paperback, Kindle, hardcover--however you can obtain it. Read it. Dr. Pournelle is neither ignorant nor stupid; his facts are facts, his logic impeccable, his narrative interesting, and his illustrations and graphs clear and understandable.
This book is for real. Get it.
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Sage words from 30 years ago that are 100% applicable today. Very enlightening reading - logical, sound arguments that now 30 years later bear even more weight.
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I regret to say that I have had this great treasure sitting on my bookshelf for - I don't know how many years - and I have just got around to reading it. And it is truly an amazing book. No one could accuse Pournelle of being a pessimist, but neither could they accuse him of not being a realist. Even to catalogue the ideas he talks about is testament to his amazing imagination - cheap space travel, lunar and asteroidal colonies, prospects of almost limitless energy, terraforming planets, O'Neill colonies, and on and on. But the really impressive thing is that he has the facts and figures to back up everything he says. Nor does he ignore the objections to his proposals, but considers them all and weighs up the pros and cons with remarkable clarity. He compares EVERYTHING he suggests to its alternatives.
And he begs for people to oppose him with rational and demonstrable objections. He not only has a brilliant imagination and a scarcely credible stockpile of knowledge to back up his proposals, but he is a true gentleman. He goes out of his way to be fair to everyone, though he obviously enjoys debating his propositions. Unfortunately, most of his opponents want to argue on the basis of emotion fuelled by ignorance and the inability to follow a logical argument to its conclusion, people who don't bother to check the facts. What saddens and annoys him more than anything is the failure of people in positions of power to consider alternatives to conventional wisdom, even after their superiority is mathematically proved.Read more ›
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