Jerry Pournelle

Jerry Pournelle (born 1933- died 2017) was American journalist, essayist, and bestselling science fiction author. He was a regular contributor to the popular computer magazine in 1970, the 80s and early 90s. In 2011 Pournelle joined pundit John C.

The best place to start is the CoDominium Universe series, the earliest of Jerry Pournelle's multi-book series: it opens with King David's Spaceship (1973) and runs to 3 books across 1973–1977, ending with The Mercenary (1977). Jerry Pournelle's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Jerry Pournelle has 177 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1963 and 2025. 145 of them belong to 19 named series — the largest being the Man-Kzin Wars series with 21 books — and 32 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Jerry Pournelle's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are CoDominium Universe (1973–1977, 3 books), Moties (1974–2010, 3 books) and Inferno (1975–2009, 2 books), plus 14 more.

This guide splits Jerry Pournelle's 177 books into 19 named series and 32 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Man-Kzin Wars (21 books, 1988–2019); War World (20 books, 1988–2023); There Will Be War (9 books, 1983–1990); Far Frontiers (7 books, 1985–1986); Jupiter (6 books, 1996–1999), plus 14 further series.