Earlier today I skimmed Jerry Pournelle‘s Chaos Manor, where he mentioned that he was back from DragonCon with both a cold and the flu:
Was supposed to go to the Mars Society meeting in Irvine, but I didn’t feel up to it and would have been a burden on Larry who generously offer to drive me. I suspected that would be sure exposure to this ConCrud and since he escaped it he doesn’t need it. But mostly I didn’t feel up to it. I’m still in pajamas. I type horribly as well. But that’s the way it goes. I did read all the mail and sort out a pile that needs answering.
[...]
More later I’m experiencing a wave of nausea.
Bye for now.
His son reported this sad news later:
I’m afraid that Jerry passed away. We had a great time at DragonCon. He did not suffer.
There is a page is for site visitors to post remembrances and thoughts.
I enjoyed Lucifer’s Hammer — which got me thinking about bootstrapping civilization — and The Mote in God’s Eye. I’ve been meaning to read There Will Be War.
From dust we are made, to dust we depart. There’s supposed to be a new edition of Pournelle’s Strategy of Technology with commentary by Martin van Crevald coming out soon. I’ve followed his blog for decades, and as far as I can see he was never wrong about politics and war. I’m glad he had a good life and left good descendents, and sad he was never Secretary of Defense or head of Nasa or both.
Sad news indeed; the world has lost a splendid writer and an astute observer. RIP, sir.
Just learning this today.
What a loss. His writing and edited books played a huge role in defining my 1980s teen years. The CD series lingers in my memory quite strongly.