The Mote in God's Eye
by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, L.J. Ganser · first published 1974
41% recommend57% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Hard sci-fi first-contact story with an original, carefully worked-out alien species whose biology drives the plot, plus plenty to think about. Suits fans of Ringworld and Rendezvous with Rama.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Science fiction classic about the rise, fall and subsequent rise of a civilization where the peak catastrophe is known as the "crazy eddy point". Introduces the concept of frictionless toilets that don't have any water in them but I suspect the authors didn't think it all the way through - I don't recall a negative air pressure that would keep odours in their rightfull place. Nevertheless a fascinating read. I haven't read this for donkeys years which is why I'm searching for an e-copy.
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I sincerely thought there might be something here related to The Mote in God's Eye [0], a pretty good book by Niven and Pournelle about far off future alien contact. I was dead wrong, but I'll still take the time to link it for the heck of the coincident names. 0 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God's_Eye#Crazy_...
on “The life and sketchy business practices of Crazy Eddie” ↗I also enjoyed Niven/Pournelle's descriptions in Mote in God's Eye - to paraphrase, space combat is incredibly boring except for brief flashes of terror.
on “What future space combat would really look like” ↗I'll counter with: 1) Dune - Frank Herbert 2) Mote in God's Eye - Niven & Pournelle 3) The Lord of Light - Roger Zelanzy 4) Xeelee Series - Stephen Baxter (Or the Manifold: books) 5) The Well World Saga - Jack L. Chalker (Stick with the first 5 books)
on “My Favorite Science Fiction (and Non-Fiction) Books” ↗"a mote in god's eye", one of his many collaborations with larry niven, is excellent. "oath of fealty" is another good one that should appeal to the hackernews crowd.
on “Jerry Pournelle has died” ↗Agreed. His collaborations with Niven were great. Both were great authors alone, but as a team they were really something special. Footfall, A Mote in God's Eye, and Lucifer's Hammer are a few of my favorite sci-fi reads to this day.
on “Jerry Pournelle has died” ↗Niven and Pournelle predicted unrepairability in The Mote in God's Eye - Renner [said] "I remembered something. Have you got your pocket computer?" "Certainly." She took it out to show him. "Please test it for me." Her face a puzzled mask, Sally drew…
on “Ask HN: Favorite technology predictions in science fiction?” ↗Can you "tack" a solar sail? Niven/Pournelle had a cool idea in The Mote in God's Eye of charging your craft when traversing a magnetic field to change direction (not specific to sails, but another passive technique).
on “LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light” ↗…But they don't make it anywhere near the top of my personal top 10 first contact books, which I discovered was my favorite sub-genre. Five that I would I consider absolutely masterpieces are: 1. "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I re-read it so many times that the book fell apart. Hard start for some, since it's written in space King's English, but what they load in the book is a gem. 2.…
on “The Challenges of First Contact” ↗…course, he picks Battlefield Earth. His only comment, "It wasn't that good." I don't think he bought my explanation that I only had to just to see how terrible it was. I wish he'd picked Dune, or The Mote in God's Eye, or Ringworld, or The Left Hand of Darkness. Just about anything else, in fact :)
on “Remarkable things about Battlefield Earth (2012)” ↗ericb, your comment about mental processing speed and speed of communication makes me think you would enjoy "The Mote In God's Eye", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I thought their concept of an alien race was quite original. (Anybody else reading this, human or alien, may also enjoy the book.)
on “Where are they? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing.” ↗…Rama Herbert: Dune, Whipping Star Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Bester: The Demolished Man, The Stars My Destination (also called "Tiger, Tiger") Niven: Ringworld Niven and Pournelle: The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall Gibson: Neuromancer Stephenson: Snow Crash, The Diamond Age Bear: The Forge of God, Eon Sagan: Contact van Vogt: The Voyage of the Space Beagle Lem: Solaris Atwood:…
on “Beginnings of Science Fiction” ↗Some of my favorite SF is stuff he wrote with Larry Niven: Footfall, Inferno, Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye (and The Gripping Hand)
on “Universities are broke – let’s cut the pointless admin and get back to teaching” ↗Like other's have said; his collaborations with Niven are really great. Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer, and A Mote in God's Eye were my personal favorites.
on “Jerry Pournelle has died” ↗Sad day. I enjoyed the fiction and the Byte column, despite him being a jerk sometimes. Anyone interested in science fiction should read at least The Mote in God's Eye.
on “Jerry Pournelle has died” ↗The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. First read it as a teen in the 80s and still rate it as one of the best SF books ever written. Well paced and enormous fun. The Player of Games by Iain M Banks. Probably…
on “Ask HN: What are the best Sci-Fi books you've ever read?” ↗