Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 18:00:38 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Laumer, was Re: Military robotics
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

> candymadigan at mindspring.com 4/18/2005 5:20:10 PM >>>
>Yeah, we were actually having a conversation along those lines at
>WSFA on
>Friday.  About how people have different methods of learning and
>how there
>are some people who learn best by understanding the concepts and
>some who
>learn best by rote memorization.  I would suspect that engineers as a

>rule
>would be concept learners.  Which would mean that if you asked
>them if they
>had read any Keith Laumer they wouldn't know, but if you asked
>them if they
>had read a book about some specific plot or idea, they could tell
>you.  Frankly, I have no idea what Keith Laumer has written, but I'd
>be
>willing to bet money that I had read at least *some*thing by him.

Laumer I read in the good old Worlds of IF, edited by Fred Pohl.  His
Retief stories were fun.  May have read one or two of the Bolo stories,
but nothing comes to mind.

Worth tracking down is "Worlds of the Imperium ) Ace, 1962; many
editions followed).  Interesting alt history stuff.  Oddly enough, his
mainstream novel "Embassy" (Pyramid, 1965) features the same
protagonist.

Also worth tracking down is "The Great Time Machine Hoax" (S&S, 1964,
many editions followed).

After his stroke in 1971 he wasn't the same, he was bitter.
"In 1971, Laumer had a brain stroke.  I remember hearing about this
when I asked noted SF author Hal Clement what Laumer was like in person.
 Mr. Clement sadly shook his head and mentioned the stroke."

Here's a website: http://www.geocities.com/keithlaumer2002/index.html -
and it's where the above quote came from.

& here's some trivia: his first book was..... "How to design and build
flying models" (Harper, 1960)

mjw