A World Out of Time

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars.

But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core, where the unimaginable energies of the universe wrenched the fabric of time and space and promised final escape from his captors.

Then he returned to an Earth eons older than the one he’d left, a planet that had had three million years to develop perils he had never dreamed of - perils that became nightmares that he had to escape... somehow.

Larry Niven is the multiple Hugo and Nebula award–winning author of the Ringworld series, as well as many other science fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf’s Children, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times best seller. He lives in Chatsworth, California.

©1976 Larry Niven (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This fantastic novel is a mix of Niven hard science and a time-travel concept to boggle the mind.…Even after the last line the feeling remains of the story still rushing on into the magic distance of the universe.” (A. E. van Vogt, winner of the SFWA Grand Master Award)

“Niven rams this fantastic tale at the reader with taut authority, mixing hard science with mind-boggling concepts of time and space to give us a whole new kind of trip.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Niven’s intoxicating concepts, ideas, scientific extrapolations, and exotic hardware bubble up from every page. Rich in imagination and astonishing in breadth…Will challenge the most sophisticated readers.” ( Booklist)

Another hit from Larry Niven's Golden Age

Would you listen to A World Out of Time again? Why?

From the mid '60s to mid '80s, Larry Niven could do no wrong. Every book he wrote was brimming with imagination, science, humor, and optimism for the human condition.

This book was light on the optimism but full of big ideas.

Corbell, dying of cancer, has himself frozen so he can awake in a future where his disease can be cured.

Instead Corbell awakes in a Socialist dystopia in a body that's not his own.

That's all I can tell you because any other hints would spoil the fun you'll have reading this book!

Highly recommended!

What was one of the most memorable moments of A World Out of Time?

Corbell figuring out what the prilatsil in the hospital was for.

What does Tom Weiner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tom has a resonant voice and does a fair rendering of characters. He's good enough that I'm replacing all the audiobooks that were read by Connor O'Brien (the worst reader EVAH!) with Tom's versions. O'Brien managed to make one of the greatest works of sci-fi (Ringworld) unlistenable; Weiner adds value to the books.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Near the end of the book, when Corbell is witnessing world changing events, he's suddenly struck with acute homesickness, missing his wife who's long dead. He longed for his old life and it was quite poignant.

Any additional comments?

What are you waiting for? If you like hard science fiction, buy this audiobook! If you like imaginative fiction, buy this book!

Great book...not your standard fare<br />

This book feels like an adaptation of an old Ray Bradbury short story. The characters are well done and the reading is excellent.

One of the best Sci Fi novels ever written.

One of the best Sci Fi novels ever written. What a shame there was never a sequal wriiten to follow up.

I’m happy to have listened.

The performance by the narrator is really good and I enjoy listening to a man’s voice, especially when it’s a deeper tone. His alternative voices were good and I was easily lost into the narrative. The book, overall, very entertaining. It’s a great take on the future… and boy does it go into the future!

I recommend this to anyone. I believe it to be helpful to state the style and type of voices used for a full and better understanding of what to expect.

A must listen for any time travel buffs.

What did you love best about A World Out of Time?

I actually loved that this wasn't just a time travel book. There is a good chunk of it that takes place in interstellar space. That learning is done by memory shots. That even in millions of years cars will still be an accepted form of transportation. I love Peerssa for some reason. I love the cat tails. I loved that despite this book being written in the 70s, it is still a brilliant piece of fiction.

What other book might you compare A World Out of Time to and why?

I have only listened to 3 other time travel books, "The Time Travelers Wife", and "Times Eye", both of which are nothing like this book. If I had to make a comparison to anything, it would be the Blockbuster movie, "The Time Machine".

What about Tom Weiner’s performance did you like?

Everything, every voice was distinct and separate. Mirelly-Lyra even had that old crony sound. Tom was awesome!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't laugh or cry but I had an acute interest in getting to the next chapter.

Any additional comments?

Got to ask yourself...would you ever take a one way trip 3 million years into the future?

Imaginative and a great story.

This is Larry Niven on top of his game, don't miss it. There are several sequels that hold up well. You're in for quite a ride if you pick this up.

Interesting story

Even though the story takes place at several points in the future, the story itself doesn't age well and becomes a bit dated. The story also can get bogged down in technical "mumbo jumbo" which slows the pace of the story but I've always found Larry Nivens' work to do that. Don't get me wrong! Love Larry Nivens' works but it is a weak point. You almost need diagrams with his stories!

Two Books in One

A fantastic theme: time traveler is pressed into service by the "state" and shifted 3 million years into the future to find an alien civilization. Larry Niven has a strange mind and his view of the "future", engaging. The science is fun and the characters are fleshed out well enough to understand. However, there's really a couple of books/plots in this one. Either one would make a good Star Trek episode.

Brilliant Performance; Modern Classic

Mid-Century sci-fi genius; sweeping tale of the redemption of a lost man in and out of time and space

Generic Niven, Generic Goodness

This book struck me as something to listen to if you're in the mood for some Larry Niven. It pretty solidly delivers on that, albeit not exceptionally so.

Semi-thought provoking, but feels rather dated (anything more recent that concerns life extension always seems to trot out telomeres, and this doesn't). Doesn't detract at all from the story, though.

I wouldn't mind some sort of sequel, which is to say that it seems to leave itself open to one, but I honestly don't know Nivens' bibliography well enough to say whether there is one.

The narrator is the same who's narrated the last few Niven books I've listened to. Does a decent job, and has more or less taken up residence in my mind as the "Voice of Nivens."