Just a brief word about sources and recommendations for some hard core readings. As you may have gleaned already, I do read quite a bit, and oddly, it is seldom in the genre of science fiction. Instead, most of my reading comes from rather dry or bland historical documents, treatises, or more current periodicals. For example, Foreign Affairs is an excellent source for background in geopolitical thinking. Sometimes history has proven their thinkers absolutely dead wrong. (Some articles written prior to World War II are just such examples of the errors in precognitive writings.) Still, most of the time, they offer an insight that is invaluable and highly accurate about what is going on in the world around us.
Another absolutely fascinating source is a website that is devoted to open source intelligence information. This leader in open source intelligence is the best you will ever encounter, and can be found at STRATFOR. [ http://www.stratfor.com ]. If you really want to know what is going on in the world, then this is the place to look for breaking news, analysis, and a deep insight well beyond that which you get from the media. I’ve been a subscriber for a number of years, and there is no question that it is a leader in my personal consumption of “breaking news.” There is no slant, but instead, it is just a reporting of what is happening in the world. There is no chasing of mystery, no rampant speculation, and absolute zero wasting of time on the latest fad story. You won’t find the Kardashians, or Paris Hilton. Instead, what you will find is first rate analysis by the two founders of this intelligence gathering organization, George Friedman and Robert D. Kaplan, who along with their staff, are perhaps the best in the business.
No, I wasn’t paid by either Foreign Affairs or STRATFOR, I just find that they, along with a plethora of historical texts and sources, allow me to put things in perspective. They also provide an excellent background on which to build a science fiction book. After all, accurate geopolitical analysis, to me, is as important as using hard scientific information in crafting a better science fiction story. It worked pretty well for Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, just to name a few, so why not here! ~ Michael S. Pauley
Another absolutely fascinating source is a website that is devoted to open source intelligence information. This leader in open source intelligence is the best you will ever encounter, and can be found at STRATFOR. [ http://www.stratfor.com ]. If you really want to know what is going on in the world, then this is the place to look for breaking news, analysis, and a deep insight well beyond that which you get from the media. I’ve been a subscriber for a number of years, and there is no question that it is a leader in my personal consumption of “breaking news.” There is no slant, but instead, it is just a reporting of what is happening in the world. There is no chasing of mystery, no rampant speculation, and absolute zero wasting of time on the latest fad story. You won’t find the Kardashians, or Paris Hilton. Instead, what you will find is first rate analysis by the two founders of this intelligence gathering organization, George Friedman and Robert D. Kaplan, who along with their staff, are perhaps the best in the business.
No, I wasn’t paid by either Foreign Affairs or STRATFOR, I just find that they, along with a plethora of historical texts and sources, allow me to put things in perspective. They also provide an excellent background on which to build a science fiction book. After all, accurate geopolitical analysis, to me, is as important as using hard scientific information in crafting a better science fiction story. It worked pretty well for Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, just to name a few, so why not here! ~ Michael S. Pauley
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