Questions tagged [larry-niven]

Laurence van Cott Niven is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics.

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What was Niven's fix for the problem in "Neutron Star"?

This is a follow-up to the question 'Unclear meaning of introductory blurb to "Neutron Star"', which quotes Niven writing retrospectively "As is, Schaeffer dies. See the collection ...
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Unclear meaning of introductory blurb to "Neutron Star"

I'm reading "Neutron Star" in the collection The Best of Larry Niven (on archive). Before the story there is a blurb: This won my first Hugo Award, and a lot of mail. There are folk out ...
Mad Physicist's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
140 views

Does The Man-Kzin Wars series have any specific reading order?

Is there any specific order in which The Man-Kzin Wars series should be read in order to avoid missing any vital information that is taken for granted in later volumes?
glahn's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
3k views

Source of the quote "I will blurb your book, or I will read it, but not both"

This is a quote I heard in the mid to late 1980's, attributed to a famous SF author (I usually think it's Larry Niven). But the quote appears to have fallen into the dreaded Internet Late 1980s ...
Spencer's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Canonicity of "Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch" and "Return to Ringworld"

Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch and Return to Ringworld are two adventure games set in Known Space, published by Tsunami Media in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Broadly, they concern events some 20 ...
Nick Matteo's user avatar
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41 votes
2 answers
3k views

Panshin's "savage review" of World of Ptavvs

In Larry Niven's collection N-Space, he says this regarding his novel World of Ptavvs: Alexei Panshin wrote a savage review of PTAVVS. I wish I had a copy, but I tore the fanzine up in a rage, and I ...
Nick Matteo's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
389 views

Why wasn't the Moties planet overrun by Watchmakers?

In the book "The Mote in God's Eye", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the humans are forced to evacuate one starship due to it being overrun by the rapidly breeding Watchmaker caste of 'Moties'. ...
Danny Mc G's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Why couldn't Teela Brown make the same calculation that Louis Wu and Chmeee did?

In Larry Niven's The Ringworld Engineers, Louis Wu, Chmeee, and Harkabeeparolyn But there they run into Teela Brown, who But it's weird: Teela tells Louis: "Furthermore, there is a solution ...
Spencer's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
370 views

What is the name of the Larry Niven story/book predicting Neil Armstrong as first man on moon?

Some eighteen months or so before Apollo 11, Larry Niven wrote a story in which he predicted that Neil Armstrong would be selected by NASA to be the first man on the moon. He also, some years after ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
220 views

What TV series had an adaptation of "Inconstant Moon"?

Larry Niven wrote a short story called "Inconstant Moon." It starts with the hero waking up in the middle of the night to find that the moon is drastically brighter than he has ever seen it. Wackiness ...
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17 votes
1 answer
701 views

Bowl Of Heaven was riddled with errors. Has Niven or Benford explained the awful editing?

In the novel Bowl of Heaven by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford, the editing is sloppy and there are many, many continuity errors. It's quite awful. 22% of reviewers on Amazon gave the book 1 star out ...
James from NZ's user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

How did Louis guess the major reveal in Ringworld?

I've just finished the original Ringworld, but I'm slightly confused by the ending. Specifically, Louis Wu explains how Louis explains to Speaker What does he mean by this? How did he work it out? (...
Sparhawk's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
382 views

Larry Niven near-light-speed story - spaceship on course to hit the Earth. Would like to know more about it [closed]

Larry Niven near-light-speed story - spaceship on course to hit the Earth. Would like to know more about it. I am always concerned with the energy of rocket flight because it seems most space ...
RandomAccelerationsTestUnit's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
228 views

Can stepping discs transport a functioning stasis field?

In Larry Niven's Known Space universe, stepping discs teleport matter from a sending disc to a receiving disc. Teleportation occurs at the speed of light. The sending and receiving discs must have ...
Kyle Jones's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
740 views

Why did Larry Niven name his creature "Bandersnatch?"

Why did Larry Niven call his immense armless, headless, sentient Known Space creatures Bandersnatch? How does the name relate to the Lewis Carroll beast mentioned in the "Jabberwocky"?
Major Stackings's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
188 views

How old is the civilization in The Integral Trees?

In Niven's The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring, how long have the humans been living there since the colony was founded? Clearly, long enough for villages to form and different tribes to develop. ...
JDługosz's user avatar
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25 votes
5 answers
4k views

How to get sunburned through the window of a General Products hull?

In the short story Neutron Star by Larry Niven, the main character Beowulf Shaeffer's face is sunburned somehow when his ship - built from a General Products starship hull - passes very fast and very ...
uhoh's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why did the Ringworld Engineers use flatten map as a way of forming maps of worlds?

Note: I don't ask here why did they created "maps of worlds" at all. That has been mainly answered in this question. My question is: why map exactly, as a way of (visually) forming "maps of worlds"? ...
hindmost's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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What did Peace Corben do to the Puppeteers?

In the short story "Peace and Freedom" Peace Corben sent a message to the Puppeteers by way of the Outsiders threatening the Puppeteers with extinction. “[...] Your interference is offensive, but ...
Kyle Jones's user avatar
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8 votes
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What about the Elephant?

In Larry Niven's The Flight of the Horse collection, the Vivarium contains a number of extinct animals collected from the past, including a horse and a Gila monster, but also an elephant: The cage ...
Harry Johnston's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
491 views

Why are Thrintun-era stasis boxes not opened with remotely controlled or autonomous robots?

A number of Known Space stories involve the opening of stasis devices, an act which poses the serious risk of releasing one or more live Thrint (Slaver) or Tnuctip. If a Thrint is released, its ...
Dana Maher's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
917 views

Niven's "Neutron Star:" plausibility of premise?

It's been a long time since I read the Larry Niven story "Neutron Star," so I'm relying mainly on the Wikipedia article (linked). The body of my question is hidden behind spoiler tags because there's ...
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3 votes
1 answer
1k views

In 'Bowl of Heaven' and 'Shipstar' how visible would distant parts of the Bowl be?

In Bowl of Heaven and Shipstar Larry Niven and Gregory Benford introduce the Bowl a ringworld-like structure (although slightly smaller, about the radius of Mercury's orbit if I remember correctly). ...
Motti's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
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Mote In God's Eye, Chapters 14 and 15, Open Mysteries

Re-reading the Mote for the first time in many years. In these two chapters there are two things that seem to be setting up mysteries to be answered later. But I have not found where they are ...
Organic Marble's user avatar
28 votes
3 answers
5k views

What's with the word "sardonic" in sci-fi?

OK, this is going to seem to be either a ridiculous question or there is something there. I have noticed that Asimov is a huge fan of the word "sardonic". Maybe it's just that I notice it because I ...
ThePopMachine's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why are there Kzinti on Ringworld?

Maybe I've missed it in my marathon readthrough of the Ringworld series, but I can't understand what the Kzinti are doing on the Ringworld. The Protectors went to enormous lengths to make the breeders ...
Shamshiel's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
472 views

Do the Gw'oth know that the galaxy is exploding?

In the *** of Worlds Known Space books by Lerner and Niven a species called the Gw'oth is introduced. They interact with humans and Puppeteers in the novels and eventually establish their own colony ...
Kyle Jones's user avatar
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24 votes
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How would one navigate on Larry Niven's "Ringworld"?

A long,long time ago I read Larry Niven's "Ringworld" and "The Ringworld Engineers". It recently occurred to me that trips on the Ringworld have a problem: The Ringworld is so vast that finding out ...
David Tonhofer's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
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Any artists' concepts of Moties published in 20th Century?

I was fascinated with the unusual design of the Moties described in the Niven & Pournelle novel The Mote in God's Eye. I don't recall ever seeing any illustration showing a Motie. Have any ...
DarenW's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
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Is there a full directed graph for suggested order of reading of all Known Space books/stories?

I know that there are a couple of web sites which list a full timeline of Known Space works. Is the timeline order the suggested reading order for the full Known Space universe? If not, what is and ...
DVK-on-Ahch-To's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
591 views

Are there any Known Space works I should read before Man-Kzin Wars?

Are there any works set in Known Space Universe that should be read before Man-Kzin wars series? Please note the "should" - I am including works that aren't strictly speaking necessary to "get" the ...
DVK-on-Ahch-To's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Where did the escapees from Ringworld end up?

I don't recall that Larry Niven provided any clues as to the fate of the Ringworld denizens that fled the structure via the space vehicles they constructed out of the stabilizing rockets(rim jets) ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
936 views

Why didn't Brennan turn Roy into a protector as soon as possible after Kobold?

In the book Protector, Brennan takes Roy on a voyage to intercept the Pak scouts and lead them away from Sol. Throughout the five to ten year voyage Brennan teaches and trains Roy how to handle the ...
Xantec's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
482 views

Why did Benito climb up Satan while Dante Alighieri and his guide Virgil climbed down?

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Inferno and Escape from Hell are based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Aside from some new tortures for sins brought about by modernization, Niven and Pournelle ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
420 views

Is there a Known Space story about a field that catalyzes combustion?

In the Niven short story "Madness Has Its Place", there's this passage: The ARM suppresses dangerous technology. What the ARM buries is supposed to stay buried. I remembered a kind of time ...
Kyle Jones's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
915 views

Which book, if any, describes the fate of the Brennan Monster in the Ringworld book series?

First introduced in Larry Nivens Known Space novel Protector, was the fate of the Brennan Monster, Earth's first Human Protector, ever revealed in the Ringworld book series? If so, which book tells ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
521 views

Novel in which warships are shielded by superconductors and ice

Trying to remember a scifi novel where the warships were protected in part from enemy lasers and such by superconductive shielding that was in turn connected to a superconductive wire run through a ...
SingularityCo's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
642 views

What is the lifespan of a Gw'oth?

Gw'oth are the super intelligent starfish-shaped beings featured in several Known Space novels by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner. Wikipedia states: "they first experimented with fire only two ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
6k views

Did the "Lying Bastard" create the Fist of God?

Did Louis Wu's General Products' #2 hull equiped spacecraft, the "Lying Bastard", create the Fist of God mountain on Ringworld?
Major Stackings's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why is an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series the only adaptation of Larry Niven's Known Space?

With dozens of short stories and novels written by scifi icon Larry Niven and an awarding winning group of visiting authors, I noticed that Star Trek TAS episode Slaver Weapon is the only TV show or ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
622 views

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 ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
381 views

Are the Milky-Way solar systems depicted in Larry Niven's "Known Space" based on "real world" astonomy viewed from Earth?

Are the solar systems depicted in Larry Niven's fictional book series about "Known Space" based on observations from Earth? Or, once the story leaves our solar system, does his science fiction lean ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

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 ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
5k views

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?
BrianClayton's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
127 views

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?
Major Stackings's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
11k views

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 ...
Ricardo Gomes's user avatar
29 votes
5 answers
2k views

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. ...
R. Martinho Fernandes's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
840 views

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 ...
sbi's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
987 views

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 ...
Kevin's user avatar
  • 273
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

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,* ...
deceze's user avatar
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