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Loading... The Mote in God's Eye (original 1974; edition 1991)by Larry Niven
Work InformationThe Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven (1974)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Highly celebrated novel, somewhat disappointed. Nice premise, great conclusion, but feels, reading today, very dated. One only female character who was just the typical Princess Leia. The Prince, cliched. Loved their Inferno novel. Really enjoyed the Ringworld novels. Maybe I would have enjoyed this if I had been reading it around the time I was reading and thoroughly enjoying Heinlein. As a story this was not, in fact, very good. But as a piece of fiction it was excellent. What do I mean by that? Well, there's not really much of a plot. The characters are not terribly interesting, and their individual story lines are rather predictable. But all that's okay, because those are not what this book is about. This book is about how two species alien to each other might actually go about establishing contact with each other. How is trust established in such an environment? How is risk balanced against assumption of good intentions? How does the human tendency to want to reduce things to good or evil deal with the reality that an alien species -- like humanity -- is unlikely to be easily reducible to such simple terms? At it's core, this book is an exploration of these and other questions. So if you're looking for a good story, this may not be the best choice. But if you're looking for speculative fiction, this will likely be a good option. AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched. In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Even if it's very good and stylish book, I can only admit that it's not my kind of thing. ( )