BOOKS : Ringworld
By Robert Niven.
This is a really nice mix of story telling and science (though the science is actually quite dubious, maybe 'scientific ideas' would be better). It revolves (heh) around the exploration of a Ring world built around a sun, with shadow squares to simulate day/night and innumberable other things to keep it all going. (BTW, yes this book was written in the 70's a good 30 years before Halo came out...)
The adventurers don't actually reach the Ringworld until a good third of the way into the book, and then they are so assailed that they barely have time to investigate anything while trying to get away (their problem is solved scientifically, which is nice). It is great that the author feels good enough about his story and characters that he doesn't feel he has to rush to the selling point of the book.
There's probably a little too much sex in it, I've never found reading about sex particularly interesting. Some of the rushing around is really an excuse for glossing over some aspects of the world, but all in all it was an enjoyable read that left me thinking
(I am about 2/3rds of the way through the follow up to this book, which is a little more compelling than the original, will review that once I've finished).
This is a really nice mix of story telling and science (though the science is actually quite dubious, maybe 'scientific ideas' would be better). It revolves (heh) around the exploration of a Ring world built around a sun, with shadow squares to simulate day/night and innumberable other things to keep it all going. (BTW, yes this book was written in the 70's a good 30 years before Halo came out...)
The adventurers don't actually reach the Ringworld until a good third of the way into the book, and then they are so assailed that they barely have time to investigate anything while trying to get away (their problem is solved scientifically, which is nice). It is great that the author feels good enough about his story and characters that he doesn't feel he has to rush to the selling point of the book.
There's probably a little too much sex in it, I've never found reading about sex particularly interesting. Some of the rushing around is really an excuse for glossing over some aspects of the world, but all in all it was an enjoyable read that left me thinking
(I am about 2/3rds of the way through the follow up to this book, which is a little more compelling than the original, will review that once I've finished).
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