As someone who is now marking his 31st year in computing I have been a fan of Chaos Manor since the beginning of Byte. Although Byte is sadly long gone, Jerry never stopped, and I am sure if you check his website you will find his column is just as great as ever.
Anyway, Jerry has been undergoing radiation therapy for an unknown growth in the middle of his brain and his blog of his experiences are amazingly frank and, well, inspirational, at least to me.
Anyway, if there are any Dopers that are fans, now would be a good time to maybe send him an encouraging note and check out his site.
Pournelle fans feel free to post!
See, I’m a fan of Pournelle’s column (well, back in the Stone Age when it was Chaos Manor, and Byte was still around, RIP Byte!) and read it off and on from his website, but somewhere along the way I picked up a book of his and really didn’t like it. Also, the more I learn about his political views, the more I realise that I lean in entirely the opposite direction. For some reason, that interferes with my unalloyed enjoyment of his writing - which is perhaps illogical and certainly counterproductive.
His website’s also in desperate need of a redesign, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that he considers himself a wordsmith, not an artist, so his website will never be flashy. I think there’s a divide between flashy, elegant and klunky, and he’s still on the wrong side of that divide.
However, this isn’t to say that I don’t wish him well, and hope he has a speedy recovery!
Dr Pournelle is a very good writer, although he’s much better when he collaborates with Larry Niven. I hope he recovers from the treatment.
I’ve actually been to his house to drop off some airline tickets. I’m aquainted with son, and I’ve been a big fan (even when he’s not collaberating!) for years.
I wish hime all the best. May he be dynamiting ponds for years to come.
I always enjoyed his Chaos Manor columns, but I never got around to reading any of his science fiction. When did Byte bite the big one?
1998; revived as a website only in 1999: Byte (magazine) - Wikipedia
I value Pournelle for a contribution to political theory: The Pournelle Chart. It’s not by any means the best system of mapping the political spectrum yet devised, but it is very thought-provoking.
In his own politics, Pournelle seems to be that rarest of animals: A paleoconservative with a brain.