We seem to be having one of our periodic increases in blog readership: 476 page views yesterday; 535 so far today. These numbers are small by some standards but big by ours. Any new blog readers are invited to use the combox to inform us of who and where they are, which works by Poul Anderson they have read, which they like or dislike and why, and also to discuss Andersonian issues like the fates of civilizations and of the universe, the best ways to manage public affairs, the need to get off Earth, questions about extraterrestrial life, artificial intelligence and Nicholas van Rijn's business practices. Or whatever else you want to raise.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I absolutely agree! I hope some of these 500 plus page viewers will take up your invitation and deposit comments here. Both about the topics you listed or anything else that strikes their interest.
I think Old Nick or Dominic Flandry would have a lot to say if, by some chance, they left comments here! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
(Waves hand in greeting to new viewers.). This is one of the few blogs I read routinely, and it’s always worth it. Of course, Poul was an inspiration to me from an implausibly early age.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I am very glad this blog interests you so much. I must have been about 13 years old when I first read the Chilton Books edition of AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, the first of Anderson's books I discovered. He certainly was an inspiration to me, in many ways.
The most recent bits of Andersonian reading by me, this week, was rereading "The Light" and "The Discovery of the Past," both from the 1984 collection PAST TIMES. Fascinating, the suggestion in "The Light" that Leonardo da Vinci was somehow able to get to the Moon centuries before Neil Armstrong set foot there in 1969. What had Leonardo discovered that did not need the kind of chemistry, metallurgy, et al, seen in the Apollo program?
Yes, I know, the real Leonardo almost certainly did nothing of the sort. But, WHAT IF???
Anderson's "Discovery" essay is well worth reading and pondering over. He argued for the need of all us to take an interest in history, not only for trying to learn from it, but because it is also fun!
Ad astra! Sean
Making history seem dull is a major accomplishment of the American educational system, ina perverse sort of way. All those stories...
Mr Stirling,
Thank you. I have been slowing down with the blog but there is still always much to be said.
Paul.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Very perverse, how American public schools first made history boring to students and now using it to peddle nonsense like "critical race theory." I was lucky, I found books like Bruce Catton's popular and well done history of the US Civil War fascinating, as a boy. Later, I discovered Penguin Books series of translations of historical texts, many of which also fascinated me.* And the works of historians like J.B. Bury, Michael Grant, and Antonia Fraser, etc.
Paul: In your commentaries, you focus largely, as is only right, on the stories and novels of Poul Anderson. But I think his shorter non-fictions also deserve attention, such as that article I mentioned above. I've also took another look last night at his "Our Many Roads to the Stars."
Ad astra! Sean
*Two favorites from Penguin Books are its translations of St. Gregory of Tours' HISTORY OF THE FRANKS, and St. Bede's HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE. I even gave a copy of St. Gregory's work to Poul Anderson as a birthday present in 1991. In his letter Anderson not only thanked me but also said he found many fascinating bits while browsing thru St. Gregory's HISTORY!
Post a Comment