Niven's most famous contribution to the SF genre is his concept of the Ringworld, a band of approximately the same diameter as Earth's orbit rotating around a star. The idea's genesis came from Niven's attempts to imagine a more efficient version of a Dyson Sphere, which could produce the effect of ...
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Does the Carlos Wu redesigned Autodoc recycle dead crewmates during the process of healing injured crewmembers that are placed inside of it?
In the Larry Niven/Edward M. Lerner novel "Juggler of Worlds", Sigmund Ausfaller, ARM Agent, notes Beowulf Shaeffer was smaller in stature and now had the body mass of a missing crewmember after ...
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Are the Milky-Way solar systems depicted in Larry Nivens “Known Space” based on “real world” Astonomy veiwed from Earth?
Are the solar systems depicted in Larry Nivens fictional book series about "Known Space" based on Earth Observatory "real world" Astonomy? Or, once the story leaves our solar system, does his science ...
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Recommended order for the Larry Niven “of Worlds” books?
I just finished Larry Niven's Destroyer of Worlds then picked up Betrayer of Worlds and Fleet of Worlds at the library. A quick check of the dust jacket synopsis doesn't clue me in as to which order I ...
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What is the “Kzinti Lesson” from Larry Niven's Ringworld?
I am re-reading Ringworld now, and I came across this term; does anyone know where I can find the origin in Niven's canon of work?
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Is there a website that states which authors have written in Larry Nivens “playground”?
Is there a website that states which authors have taken the literary ball and run with it in Larry Nivens playground?
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Order of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Books
I finished reading (or listening since it was an audio book) to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Mote in God's Eye.
And I was wondering if there is a suggested order to read their books? Plain ...
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What actually happens to ships using hyperdrive in gravity wells?
This post consists basically of spoilers, so you should stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled :)
In most Known Space stories we are told that you can't use hyperdrive inside gravity wells. ...
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What are Starseeds
I'm currently reading Juggler of Worlds by Niven & Lerner. I have read, a while ago, all the Ringworld books and a few other Known Space, so I remember that
However, now that I ran into them ...
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Why is the indentation for Mars missing from the underside of the Ringworld?
I was reading Lary Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers" last night. In the last chapter I read, they were flying the Needle underneath the Ringworld, passing under The Great Ocean, looking at the ...
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How is equipment installed into a General Products hull?
In the Known Space universe, General Products hulls are supposed to be a single molecule manufactured in one go, then equipped afterwards. How is that supposed to work? Since they're indestructible,* ...
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How did Ol't'ro stop Achilles' attack?
During the climactic confrontation at the end of Betrayer of Worlds:
We are told that Achilles saw a bright flash when the missiles were "taken care of", and then a fast moving object showed up ...
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Recommended order of Ringworld novels
Larry Niven's novel Ringworld is, according to wikipedia, "followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels".
1) Is it a good idea to read all of them (or is there another Star Warsgate ...
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If the Puppeteer worlds are traveling near light-speed, shouldn't their time be dilated?
If it were, the time that Louis Wu spent there would have seemed very short, but would have actually been years. Was this ever addressed?
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How close was the Puppeteer's homeworld to the Ringworld?
Specifically, I'm curious about 2 key points in time.
When the Ringworld was first explored by Louis Wu (Ie, the book Ringworld)
During the Fringe War (Ringworld's Children)
And if you want a ...
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Who is the Hindmost in the Ringworld sequels?
In Ringworld, the puppeteer Nessus leads the expedition with a goal of mating with the Hindmost.
In the sequels, the Conservatives took over power on the Fleet of Worlds and the deposed Hindmost ...
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In Niven's Known Space, what currency are the Outsiders interested in?
I seem to remember something a Puppeteer (Nessus?) said about paying them with "Stars".
I couldn't find any mention of this in Wikipedia, so maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
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Puppeteers' homeworld heat a major problem?
I recently read the Ringworld series by Larry Niven, and I was most intrigued by the Puppeteers. In particular, was the claim that their homeworld could do just about anything, except for get rid of ...
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Instability of Niven's ringworld
I've read that the ringworld's design is actually unstable, and that it would drift and eventually collide with the star it was supposed to orbit. How is this flaw corrected in the subsequent stories?
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What were the “mistakes” in the first paperback edition of Ringworld?
The dedication of The Ringworld Engineers reads
If you own a first paperback edition of Ringworld, it's the one with the mistakes in it. It's worth money.
What are these mistakes that were ...
