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Papa Schimmelhorn #1-6
Black Holes
Paperback book. Science Fiction
350 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
4 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Pournelle
270 books553 followersDr Jerry Eugene Pournelle was an American science fiction writer, engineer, essayist, and journalist, who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte, and from 1998 until his death maintained his own website and blog.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 25, 2026
This is a good anthology of hard-science-cosmology that focuses on black holes. The book contains a nice mix of factual essays by Pournelle (and one from Robert Forward from 1962), some poetry by Peter Dillingham and Michael Bishop, and eleven stories reprinted from sf magazines from 1968 - '78. Among the authors are Poul Anderson, Grant Carrington with George Zebrowski, Gail Kimberly, Mildred Downey Broxon, Dian Girard, and Greg Bear. There's a funny Papa Schimmelhorn story by Reginald Bretnor, one of Charles Sheffield's MacAndrew stories, and my favorites were the two Larry Niven stories, The Hole Man and The Borderland of Sol. Pournelle dedicated the book to "Steve Hawking," which is cool. Some of the science may be a little dated now, but they were quite cutting edge in their time. It's a good companion volume to Frederik Pohl's Gateway, which came out the preceding year.
August 13, 2010
A collection of short SF (between novellas and shorts), several essays and some poems about black holes and similar objects. The most memorable of them was Niven's "The Boderlands of Sol."
August 1, 2024
A pretty well done anthology of stories of black holes, with some additional content from some top scientists. I only rate it at three, because most content is older, available in several other sources, and has gotten a bit dated. Also, hard to find, as it was never reprinted or published as ebook; still, A worthwhile read if you happen across a copy.
June 10, 2011
A brilliant little gem, and, fairly rare for old hard sci-fi, rarely anachronistic. Stories from Niven and Pournelle and others, it's easy to get caught up in.
September 8, 2018
I first read this book when I was a teenager. Jerry Pournelle himself wasn't new to me but most of the other contributors were and I was impressed by the various approaches to the subject of Black Holes. Having re-read it again thirty years later I found myself still as impressed by the mix of stories and essays. You don't often get fact and fiction sitting side-by-side and I find the concept both interesting and informative. Good science fiction (as this collection is) contains as much fact as fiction, but the addition of real ideas and discussions of concepts really opened my eyes as a teenager.
Most of the pieces in the book were written in the mid to late 70s, with just one dating from 1968. Like all sci-fi of the time, it can seem a little dated with talk of tapes and such like, but the core concepts behind each story are as relevant today as they were then. Stephen Hawkins gets a mention in one of the articles, crediting him with being approaches to responsible for our notions of Black Holes and singularities.
Revisiting a book from your past can often be disappointing, our memories often coated in that ever-present rose coloured tint, but in this case, I was far from disappointed. Black Holes is a great collection and a very enjoyable read.
Authors included in this collection are Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, Charles Sheffield, Robert Forward, R Bretnor, Gail Kimberly, Grant Carrington, George Zebrowski, Mildred Downey Broxon, Dian Girard, Michael Bishop, Peter Dillinger and Greg Bear.
Most of the pieces in the book were written in the mid to late 70s, with just one dating from 1968. Like all sci-fi of the time, it can seem a little dated with talk of tapes and such like, but the core concepts behind each story are as relevant today as they were then. Stephen Hawkins gets a mention in one of the articles, crediting him with being approaches to responsible for our notions of Black Holes and singularities.
Revisiting a book from your past can often be disappointing, our memories often coated in that ever-present rose coloured tint, but in this case, I was far from disappointed. Black Holes is a great collection and a very enjoyable read.
Authors included in this collection are Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, Charles Sheffield, Robert Forward, R Bretnor, Gail Kimberly, Grant Carrington, George Zebrowski, Mildred Downey Broxon, Dian Girard, Michael Bishop, Peter Dillinger and Greg Bear.
September 23, 2023
I just read this and while obviously outdated it was great.
February 5, 2015
This book is about how stories on Black Holes. This was back before we knew much about the Black Holes and the stories are made up to be science fiction in the future. The story is about how a wife and kid got stuck in a Black Hole. The father is going to try to save them but needs help from many individuals.
I can connect to the world because it is about how researchers and their research can easily be provoked. In the book after a fictional war the science department was to not make such far advancements in reasearch or they could become weapons. Now I'm not sure if there is any restricted reaseach but we have a similar ban on Nuclear Weapons use.
I give this book a low two out of five stars. This is because the science fiction in this book didn't pop out. Nothing so out of ordinary and nothing that made it different than other books. I understand that this book was a good 50 years back, but even my Dad was bored. I suggest the Artemis Fowl series, as even that isn't science fiction but it was good fantasy.
I can connect to the world because it is about how researchers and their research can easily be provoked. In the book after a fictional war the science department was to not make such far advancements in reasearch or they could become weapons. Now I'm not sure if there is any restricted reaseach but we have a similar ban on Nuclear Weapons use.
I give this book a low two out of five stars. This is because the science fiction in this book didn't pop out. Nothing so out of ordinary and nothing that made it different than other books. I understand that this book was a good 50 years back, but even my Dad was bored. I suggest the Artemis Fowl series, as even that isn't science fiction but it was good fantasy.
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May 20, 2015Fantasy
November 15, 2007
Learn about black holes and enjoy the stories.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews