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Peter Tillman's Reviews > Ringworld
Ringworld (Ringworld #1)
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Peter Tillman's review
bookshelves: at-slo-paso-bg-pa, award-win-nom, science-fiction, reread-list
Dec 11, 2015
bookshelves: at-slo-paso-bg-pa, award-win-nom, science-fiction, reread-list
Read 3 times. Last read March 8, 2023 to March 9, 2023.
March 2023 reread. Last read decades ago (1970 book), and I'm amazed how sharp my memories of it are. Louis Wu and his Motley Crew! The Luck of Teela Brown! "In challenging a Kzin, you scream and you leap!" Nessus the Pierson's Puppeteer, with a voice like a teenager's dream-girl. I'll have to look for actual quotes that people have posted. See below for a few.
My booknotes say this is my third read, with the last in 1993. Huh. If he keeps up with the wonderful opening, I'm likely to raise my rating?
Well. By p.80 (of 342, mmpb), more warts are starting to show. First, the physics: basically, it's early-60s Physics-100 level stuff. Do recall that Niven flunked out of CalTech then. Hey, I should talk -- I struggled with entry-level physics too, at about that time. Even the math to handle Physical Chemistry was a struggle. Why do you think I ended up in Geology? Eyes and hands suffice, to start, and I had a WONDERFUL Geol-100 lecturer. His name escapes me -- this would have been ca. 1966 -- but he had a great trick. He would be rattling on, about this & that. Then my neighbor would nudge me. Dr. Whozit would pull out a little bag of Bull Durham and a cigarette-paper, expertly fill the paper & neatly lick it, roll it almost as tight as a ready-roll, light up -- and give the class a big shit-eating grin. Texas, 1965! Different century, different world.
My college GF smoked Pall Malls & introduced me to that forbidden pleasure (among others). And her lips would taste so good after!
Intoxicate me, my cigarette
And give me a scornful air,
I want to stay cold and silent
While hearing sweet confessions.
--Lucianne Boyer, "Dans la Fumee", 1930
More notes from my reread:
@p. 89. Teela Brown offends the resident Kzin by telling him that he is "cute."
"Do not ever say that again. Ever."
@p. 138, the Lying Bastard has crash-landed on the Ringworld, after unfortunate encounters with the shadow-square wires and the anti-meteor defenses, the latter in top-notch working order. The novel has settled into a Thrilling Wonder Story, with the trip as One Damn Thing After Another. Which plays to Niven's strengths. A great writer of character-driven fiction, he is not!
@p. 224: "A kind of war god," Louis said. Teela was making hiccuping sounds. Well, you had to be there!
@p. 234, in the ancient floating palace. Nessus reveals the Curse of Ringworld tech: it would have been absolutely dependent on cheap transmutation, once the move-in and disassembly of the local planetary system was finished. If the transmutation machines ever failed, they were well & truly fucked!
Halrloprillalar Hotrufan! “Prill” for short. By far the most interesting new character: an interstellar ramship crewman, stranded on the Ringworld when her ship broke down a thousand years ago. Her people had very good “boosterspice” but she’s not quite sane. A VERY well-trained and experienced sex-worker! She belonged to a Guild! By their rules, she had to learn to play a musical instrument. . .
Still. Just 3 women in a crew of 30! A definite whiff of misogyny — especially since Niven made the female Kzinti non-sentient. You can see why women readers might down-check the book (and author) for that!
By contrast, Teela Brown is something of a washout. The Birthright lottery! Puppeteers as puppet-masters. Now she’s going to walk around the entire Ring for her Wanderjahr? I never quite believed in the “Luck as Magic” shtick . . .
The selective breeding of Kzinti for (comparative) docility, now, I was totally onboard with that!
The ending: well. Niven remembered Tolstoy’s Rule, and put that super-strong shadow-square wire to good use. And of course I remembered about Fist-of-God mountain, and why it wasn’t on the old Ringworld maps! Worked just fine, and I have “Ringword Engineers” on hand for reread. Which some argue was his best novel. Or at least best in the series?
Ringworld #1: 4.4 stars from me. High marks. A Vintage Classic!
My booknotes say this is my third read, with the last in 1993. Huh. If he keeps up with the wonderful opening, I'm likely to raise my rating?
Well. By p.80 (of 342, mmpb), more warts are starting to show. First, the physics: basically, it's early-60s Physics-100 level stuff. Do recall that Niven flunked out of CalTech then. Hey, I should talk -- I struggled with entry-level physics too, at about that time. Even the math to handle Physical Chemistry was a struggle. Why do you think I ended up in Geology? Eyes and hands suffice, to start, and I had a WONDERFUL Geol-100 lecturer. His name escapes me -- this would have been ca. 1966 -- but he had a great trick. He would be rattling on, about this & that. Then my neighbor would nudge me. Dr. Whozit would pull out a little bag of Bull Durham and a cigarette-paper, expertly fill the paper & neatly lick it, roll it almost as tight as a ready-roll, light up -- and give the class a big shit-eating grin. Texas, 1965! Different century, different world.
My college GF smoked Pall Malls & introduced me to that forbidden pleasure (among others). And her lips would taste so good after!
Intoxicate me, my cigarette
And give me a scornful air,
I want to stay cold and silent
While hearing sweet confessions.
--Lucianne Boyer, "Dans la Fumee", 1930
More notes from my reread:
@p. 89. Teela Brown offends the resident Kzin by telling him that he is "cute."
"Do not ever say that again. Ever."
@p. 138, the Lying Bastard has crash-landed on the Ringworld, after unfortunate encounters with the shadow-square wires and the anti-meteor defenses, the latter in top-notch working order. The novel has settled into a Thrilling Wonder Story, with the trip as One Damn Thing After Another. Which plays to Niven's strengths. A great writer of character-driven fiction, he is not!
@p. 224: "A kind of war god," Louis said. Teela was making hiccuping sounds. Well, you had to be there!
@p. 234, in the ancient floating palace. Nessus reveals the Curse of Ringworld tech: it would have been absolutely dependent on cheap transmutation, once the move-in and disassembly of the local planetary system was finished. If the transmutation machines ever failed, they were well & truly fucked!
Halrloprillalar Hotrufan! “Prill” for short. By far the most interesting new character: an interstellar ramship crewman, stranded on the Ringworld when her ship broke down a thousand years ago. Her people had very good “boosterspice” but she’s not quite sane. A VERY well-trained and experienced sex-worker! She belonged to a Guild! By their rules, she had to learn to play a musical instrument. . .
Still. Just 3 women in a crew of 30! A definite whiff of misogyny — especially since Niven made the female Kzinti non-sentient. You can see why women readers might down-check the book (and author) for that!
By contrast, Teela Brown is something of a washout. The Birthright lottery! Puppeteers as puppet-masters. Now she’s going to walk around the entire Ring for her Wanderjahr? I never quite believed in the “Luck as Magic” shtick . . .
The selective breeding of Kzinti for (comparative) docility, now, I was totally onboard with that!
The ending: well. Niven remembered Tolstoy’s Rule, and put that super-strong shadow-square wire to good use. And of course I remembered about Fist-of-God mountain, and why it wasn’t on the old Ringworld maps! Worked just fine, and I have “Ringword Engineers” on hand for reread. Which some argue was his best novel. Or at least best in the series?
Ringworld #1: 4.4 stars from me. High marks. A Vintage Classic!
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Quotes Peter Liked
“Long ago, Louis Wu had stood at the void edge of Mount Lookitthat. The Long Fall River, on that world, ends in the tallest waterfall in known space. Louis's eyes had followed it down as far as they could penetrate the void mist. The featureless white of the void itself had grasped at his mind, and Louis Wu, half hypnotized, had sworn to live forever. How else could he see all there was to see?
Now he reaffirmed that decision.”
― Ringworld
Now he reaffirmed that decision.”
― Ringworld
“Music had played suddenly through the cabin, complex and lovely, rich in minor tones, like the sad call of a sex-maddened computer. Nessus whistled.”
― Ringworld
― Ringworld
Reading Progress
Started Reading
1971
–
Finished Reading
Started Reading
July 29, 1993
–
Finished Reading
December 11, 2015
– Shelved
March 8, 2023
–
Started Reading
March 8, 2023
– Shelved as:
at-slo-paso-bg-pa
March 8, 2023
– Shelved as:
award-win-nom
March 8, 2023
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
March 8, 2023
– Shelved as:
reread-list
March 9, 2023
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)
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Niven got his evolutionary biology right on this one. First-rate book: especially since it's over 50 years old!
Your fine review has aroused memories of certain major features of this Hugo Winner. For me, this one held up well on re-read - about forty years after a teenage first-read - as did "Engineers" (a sequel). No surprise, given that Niven was one the SF heavy hitters.
I never quite believed in the “Luck as Magic” schtick
Nor I - BUT, the IDEA is fun/interesting - that the "Puppeteers" would "interefere in human affairs" by "breeding for luck". IIRC, Niven did not "believe it" either. The woman was not especially "lucky" (was she?) Self-involved is what I recall (?)
(Niven is not a great writer) of character-driven fiction
Few "Hard SF" authors of "his time" and the generation before were big on characters. SF fans had to turn to "literature" for that.
Rather, Niven tried to "characterize" entire species/cultures - like the Kzin, who would have just as soon eaten the "teammates" as cooperate with them.
Niven made the female Kzinti non-sentient.
That COMPLETELY escaped my notice, but then THAT was hardly relevant to the story.
What WAS relevant was another "cultural characterization" - that the puppeteers were so overwhelmingly fearful and conservative - that they'd prepared an "escape" from a star system centuries before it was anticipated to "go supernova". Quite a grim joke.
AND, the Puppeteer "teammate" had some way to assure that the Kzin could not cut his (several) throat(s). I forget HOW.
Even the math to handle Physical Chemistry was a struggle.
I kinda sorta liked Physical Chemistry - at least that was subject to a rational system - unlike the "alchemy" - where one was expected to "memorize reactions" - what the hell is rational about that? My approach was to drop the class - not required, anyway for a BSEE.
My GF smoked Pall Malls & introduced me to that forbidden pleasure (among others).
Thinking about the lovelies going back - only one smoked (tobacco, that is). She did indeed "Taste Good".
Thanks again for your Great Review.
Jim wrote: "Your fine review has aroused memories of certain major features of this Hugo Winner. For me, this one held up well on re-read - about forty years after a teenage first-read - as did "Engineers" (..."
Thanks for your perspicacious thoughts, and for the kind words!
Incidentally, if you missed Benford & Niven's "Bowl Of Heaven" books, you should check them out. I'm currently reading #3, and it's the best yet!
Incidentally, I eventually did a statistical analysis of geochemical data for my MS thesis. For whatever reason, Statistics made sense to me. Most other parts of maths I was forced into as an undergrad didn't. And I was comfortable with Computers from the start.
Charles wrote: "Have you eva read Protector by Larry Niven? That's what hooked me on the Ringworld Universe."Indeed I have. I don't think I missed any of the early Nivens. I rated it at 4 stars, last read decades ago. I should reread it.
Nice review, Peter. I also had a professor who used a cigarette as a prop. It was a timing device. He would light it up just before his lectures were due to end. We waited for him to take it out of the pack.
My physics was never good enough to pick holes in any sci-fi, now statistics and evolutionary biology might be a different story...