| The Mote in God's Eye | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 147 reviews)
Sales Rank: 25952
Category: Book
Authors: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Publisher: Pocket
Studio: Pocket
Manufacturer: Pocket
Label: Pocket
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 592
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0671741926
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780671741921
ASIN: 0671741926
Publication Date: March 1, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others. The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.
Amazon.com Review
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. This is the first collaboration between Niven and Pournelle, two masters of hard science fiction, and it combines Pournelle's interest in the military and sociology with Niven's talent for creating interesting, believable aliens. The novel meticulously examines every aspect of First Contact, from the Moties' biology, society, and art, to the effects of the meeting on humanity's economics, politics, and religions.And all the while suspense builds as we watch the humans struggle toward the truth. --Brooks Peck
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| Customer Reviews: Read 142 more reviews...
 An absolutely excellent science-fiction novel. October 25, 2008
The Mote in God's Eye" is excellent. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are good to very good authors when they write their own stories separately. However, the team is better than the individual writers; it is excellent! And, I consider "The Mote in God's Eye" to be their best joint effort. After more than fifty years of reading a truly amazing amount of S-F, I consider this book to be among my top ten. I first read it more than thirty years ago, when it first appeared. Today, this book still holds up very well and I enjoyed it as much on my most recent reading, this past month, as I did on my first reading. This is a guaranteed classic in S-F.
Not what I expected October 17, 2008
I grabbed this book off the shelf because I tend to like Larry Niven's work and have read a few of Pournelle's books as well. There was quite a bit of politics involved, which generally turns me off. However, the interactions of the scientific, military and political groups were very interesting.
The characters were interesting and likable: not many flat, disposable, "red shirt" characters.
Consider this a novel about first contact, but not in the way that you would expect it. There are so many considerations in here beyond the usual, "will they eat us" alien encounters.
I don't recall a lot of action, so if you like constant space battles or offworld exploration, this may not be a book for you. There is no shortage of thought-provoking questions and if you're a curious reader, I think this will keep you entertained.
 Some things don't transfer to 21st Century, but decent enough October 1, 2008
THe first 120 pages dragged, dragged.... however, once you slog through that and get to the actual trip out to visit the aliens for the first time, it picks right up. Remember, this book was written in the 1970's and some of the ideology and things we view as sexism TODAY, were just life in those days. Keep that in mind and this is a pretty decent story over all. And such a nice change to meet aliens who are not zombies, cannibals, or bent on finding humans to fill their meatlockers with! Not to mention the idea of finding aliens and realizing the humans are the more advanced species.
 Nefarious undertones August 22, 2008
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Earlier in the book, a scientist states that evolution from sentient beings would stop because they would start caring for the weak. Authors' circular logic about evolution is justified by the characters' stereotypes, 1000 years in the future, cold and heartless Russian, scheming Arabs with lots of money etc.... I found all these stereotypes quite distasteful because the book plows forward as if these were just "given facts" of evolution. Toward the end, the casual attitude the main characters have in controlling alien population was smacking of "Final Solution" which was the actual title of a chapter. Because the main characters had so much money they were discussing things like Planned Parenthood for aliens. Throw in an idiotic love story (as if George Lucas wrote them), I felt like I was reading a high school version of the Nazi's manifesto about World Order and how it must be maintained. Skip this book if you are looking for an insightful look into the future or something resembling reality.
Thoughtful Concept within Engrossing Plotline August 11, 2008
This book kept me very well distracted from beginning to the end, and beyond that as well. In the moment, the action and story was already an impressive display on Niven and Pournelle's parts, but it was the thought that must have been put into the details which made the story live after I'd long closed the book and put it back on the shelf. If you enjoy true science-fiction novels, this is an absolute must. It will not disappoint.
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