Talk:Ragnar Benson

A New Wiki Article on a Controversial Writer

This is a brand new stub (nascent) article. I would appreciate folks chiming in with additional information, especially ISBNs and any references to the author's noteworthiness and controversy surrounding his books.

In my opinion Benson is noteworthy, because he has written so many published books (35+) that are considered survivalist references. Benson is a controversial figure, since many of his books are on topics such as do-it-yourself explosives, poaching, and creating false identities would not be legal to publish outside of the United States. Trasel (talk) 21:42, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Having his real name and life bio would be an improvement. MBisanz ^talk 21:46, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Apparently, because of the nature of his books, he is very secretive. I just went to the Paladin Press "Authors" page, (http://www.paladin-press.com/authorlinks.aspx ) and found that although he is one of their most prolific writers (IIRC, they still publish 25+ of his books), he has NO biography posted. (Several of their writers with just a few books have posted biographies.) I suppose that if I wrote books on how to make C4 plastique and flamethrowers, I'd be secretive, too. :-) I've heard it rumored that Ragnar Benson is a pen name for Robert K. Brown (the founder of Paladin Press). Another rumor mentioned by a gun show book dealer is that Ragnar Benson is a pen name of an employee of the Ragnar Benson engineering firm. But substantiating either would be difficult. I'll do some more searching. Trasel (talk) 22:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

In one of his books he talks about teaching on "the farm" for the CIA for many years. also within his trapping books he talks about being native american. (Ed) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.53.181.69 (talk) 21:00, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree that he is certainly noteworthy and deserves an article. I'd like to see more biographical data, but as previously mentioned, that may be hard to come by. How about a 'List of works' section? Might be a good starting point. Surv1v4l1st (Talk|Contribs) 23:24, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Recommend that the Notability Flag be Dropped

Given the sheer number of books by Benson that have been published, the controversy surrounding his books, and his widely recognized name in survivalist circles, I recommend that the Notability Flag be dropped. Comments? Trasel (talk) 20:29, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Done, second pass of content seems notable. MBisanz ^talk 02:27, 13 January 2008 (UTC)