recommended reading

I just read through Larry Niven's Ringworld in 2 sittings, which would be a personal record if I hadn't finished Neuromancer in one.

It's an undoubtedly fascinating book, hailed by some as one of the greatest works of science fiction. I'm inclined to agree here; the book manages to mix everlasting themes of human relationships with the splendour of an imagined future - a strange cocktail, but one that's defined the sci-fi genre since the early 1900s.

Without giving away too many details - Louis Wu, a 200-year-old veteran space explorer and a little bored with how prosaic his life has become, is invited by a strange (but not altogether surprising) alien on a four-man mission to explore a strange (and mind-bogglingly huge) artifact described rather astutely as "a star with a ring around it". The team (Louis, the human Teela, a felinoid Kzin known as Speaker-to-Animals, and the alien puppeteer Nessus) arrives at the ringworld, and are faced with a series of highly disturbing questions, the answers upon which may depend their own lives.

Larry Niven has managed to construct an epic that involves deeply, with intensely personal and believable characters. Highly recommended reading for science-fiction fans, and all you nonteknischen out there as well.

cheers,
adam