Frank Pournelle 
The latest edition of A STEP FARTHER OUT will release on Amazon in late 2021, co-published by the Institute of Space Commerce.
ANOTHER STEP FARTHER OUT is not science fiction—it’s fact.
Over 50 Years of writings by Jerry Pournelle with many new wonders for the ages to come.
Space based solar power, a 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… Allow the finest science fiction and fact writer, co-author of the smash bestsellers LUCIFER’S HAMMER, FOOTFALL, THE MOTE IN GODS EYE, LEGACY OF HEOROT, OATH OF FEALTY and JANNISSARIES take you on a guided tour of the wonders of our age, and of ages to come.
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 inviting you to STEP FARTHER OUT
“I want to show you marvels. Dreams, in technicolor, with sharp edges. I want to tell you something of the wonder and excitement of science: of the birth of the universe: of black holes, and cities of the future; of how man and computer may forge between them something greater than both; of worlds transformed, and how man may direct the evolution of stars. I want to show you a world that might be made.”
For now. we recommend purchasing only softbound and hardbound editions on Amazon here.
Essays on Technology, Civilization, and saving the world by Galaxy Science Fiction Science Editor Jerry Pournelle, PhD.
Preface by Larry Niven, and Foreword by A. E. Van Vogt.
From the Niven Preface: “Jerry Pournelle is our to make the whole world rich… He’s been building the future since I was in grade school, and he’s still at it.” Essays include “Survival With Style” and “That Buck Rogers Stuff,” as well as excerpts from The Strategy of Technology.
From the Preface to the 2011 Edition:
“We live in an age of marvels. Despite that, we feel a sense of impending doom…. That’s still true… 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. The unrelenting enmity of the Soviet Union has been replaced by other threats, some of them severe, but none comparable to 26,000 nuclear warheads. 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.
We still live in an age of marvels, and it’s still true that the only limit to growth is nerve.”
While we update this work for Amazon including extensive editing and graphic updates, we recommend purchasing only softbound and hardbound editions of A STEP FARTHER OUT on Amazon here.
Just read the original again after picking up a copy at my local charity shop. Were there later editions? Certainly comes across as a bit dated in parts – Carter’s energy policy of the late seventies anyone! Will look forward to the update.
Sorry James – the site languished a bit as we sorted this (and much else!) out, but I’ll do my best here. You ask a timely question! I’m working on identifying and finding all of the editions now. There were at least five, the first in 1979, major updates in (I think!) 2007 and (for sure!) in 2011, and the most recent (for Kindle) in 2014. Dad was working on the next one when he passed away: as the junior “Dr. Pournelle” engaged in space and environmental science for most of my life, I’ve taken on finishing this project and promised delivery by year’s end. We argued a lot about the science bases and economic futures of energy policies, which have certainly undergone resounding transformations since the 1970s, so no pressure there to accomplish the updates while adhering to his vision!