A Step Farther Out

This book is not Science Fiction--it is Fact. Let the finest science fiction writer of our time, co-author of the smash bestseller LUCIFER'S HAMMER, take you on a guided tour of the wonders of our age, and of ages to come. We live in an age of marvels. We could still go to space. We could still mine the asteroids. We could still take part in developing mankind’s vast future. Indeed, it is easier to do now than it would have been when I wrote these essays. We have computers and the Internet. There is free exchange of ideas throughout most of the world, and the information revolution relentlessly expands that area. We still face the threat of famine, but it is not as acute as it was in the times when these essays were written. Communications, transportation, electronics, rocket technology, it’s all better now. We can still go to the planets.Read about: The monstrous Black Hole that may be slowly devouring our galaxy; The Fact and Fancy of flying Saucers; How micro-cybernetic and bio-implants will one day give you a photographic memory and the calculating power of an Einstein; Turning venus into a second Earth--and the Asteroids into our own Back Yard; How Western Civilization can not only survive--but survive with style! All this and much much more. Every chapter is State of the Art, every idea A Step Farther Out.Contents: * Non-Fiction by Jerry Pournelle (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Preface: The Freedom of Choice (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by Larry Niven * Foreword (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by A. E. van Vogt * Introduction (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part One: Survival with Style) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 1] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Survival with Style [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Blueprint for Survival [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * How long the Doomsday (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * That Buck Rogers Stuff [A Step Farther Out] • (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Two: Stepping Farther Out) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 2] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Here Come the Brains [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Big Rain [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Flying Saucers (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Building the Mote in God's Eye [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Three: A Step Farther In: Black Holes) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 3] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Gravity Waves, Black Holes, and Cosmic Censors (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Fuzzy Black Holes Have No Hair [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Crashing Neutron Stars, Mini Black Holes, and Spacedrives (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * In the Beginning ... (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Afterword to Part III (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Four: Space Travel) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 4] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Halfway to Anywhere [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Those Pesky Belters and Their Torchships [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Ships for Manned Spaceflight [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Life Among the Asteroids [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * What's It Like Out There? (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Five: A Generation of Wonder) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 5] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * A Potpourri (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Highways to Space (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Come Fly with Me (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Tools of the Trade (And Other Scientific Matters) (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Six: The Energy Crisis) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 6] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Fusion Without Ex-Lax [A Step Farther Out] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle (variant of Fusion Without Exlax 1976) * Can Trash Save Us? [A Step Farther Out] (1977) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Moral Equivalent of War [A Step Farther Out] (1978) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Some Futures [A Step Farther Out] (1977) • essay by Jerry Pournelle .