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Lucifer's Hammer

PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:30 pm
by edmcdonald
Lucifer's Hammer is a 1977 science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, about the consequences of a comet striking the Earth. As such, it's not about future generations dealing with the consequences of an apocalyptic Event, but about the Event itself. It's been many years since I read it, but I recall being impressed by its story, as well as by its tips for "rebooting civilization". One such tip that I recall: that the most valuable book set to have after the Event might be the 11th Edition of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, published in 1910-1911 as (among other things) a comprehensive guide to 19th century technologies. (For understanding almost anything else, everybody agrees that later books are better - often staggeringly so - but for "applied engineering" subjects, my understanding is that no subsequent edition delved quite as deeply as the 11th.)

Re: Lucifer's Hammer

PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:38 am
by lewis
Yes, I very much enjoyed Lucifer's Hammer myself! And I think your point is a very good one - slightly 'outdated' references might actually be more directly, practically useful if you ever did need to know how to start again from scratch. For example, one of the references I found myself referring back to again and again whilst researching The Knowledge was an 1870 book, Dick’s Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

Re: Lucifer's Hammer

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:19 am
by Strongbow
Great book. A very interesting read, especially with the way it all starts and the descriptions given.

Re: Lucifer's Hammer

PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:41 pm
by Saber Bob
Jerry Pournelle, at one science fiction convention back in the 1980s, told us how he (when he was a teenager back in the 1940s) used that edition of the Britannica to create nitroglycerin, and luckily for him, noticed the warning that said the stuff was "extreamly hyperthermic"--he and his friend used over 50 pounds of dry ice to keep the stuff cool while "cooking" it before setting off a fe ounces of the stuff on a raft in the middle of a pond (setting it off w/ a .22 lr rifle round I believe)

Re: Lucifer's Hammer

PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:59 am
by Strongbow
Saber Bob wrote:Jerry Pournelle, at one science fiction convention back in the 1980s, told us how he (when he was a teenager back in the 1940s) used that edition of the Britannica to create nitroglycerin, and luckily for him, noticed the warning that said the stuff was "extreamly hyperthermic"--he and his friend used over 50 pounds of dry ice to keep the stuff cool while "cooking" it before setting off a fe ounces of the stuff on a raft in the middle of a pond (setting it off w/ a .22 lr rifle round I believe)


:lol: He'd probably be arrested for terrorism and put on a watch list if did it today! :o