Ringworld

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Tom Parker

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, Ringworld remains a favorite among science fiction readers and listeners.

The artifact is a vast circular ribbon of matter, some 180 million miles across, with a sun at its center. Pierson’s puppeteers—strange, three-legged, two-headed aliens—discovered this “Ringworld” in a hitherto unexplored part of the galaxy. Curious about the immense structure, but frightened by the prospect of meeting the builders, they set about assembling a team to explore it:

Louis Wu, human—old and bored with having lived too fully for too many years, seeking an adventure, and all too capable of handling it.

Nessus, puppeteer—a trembling coward from a species with an inbuilt survival pattern of nonviolence. This particular puppeteer, however, is insane.

Speaker-to-Animals, kzin—large, orange-furred, and carnivorous. The kzin are one of the most savage life-forms known.

The party’s expedition, however, goes disastrously wrong when their ship crash-lands and its motley crew faces a daunting trek across thousands of miles of Ringworld territory.

©1970 Larry Niven (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

Still great

Read this as a teenager. Still after all these years it was a very good listen. Yes, it's aged a bit, but it's still fun. Classic Sci-Fi

Surgeon General's Warning!

This book can be quite addictive. Great characters and a story you wish would never end. Thankfully there are lots of sequels. If you liked Rendevous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke you will probably like this one. Has a somewhat similar premise.

Fails the Bechdel test

Excellent story telling, shame about the lake of depth in the female characters, the only two female characters are primarily acted upon rather than acting independanty, and their primary characteristics are looks and sexual prowess. If you can get passed that the writing style is superb, and the story compelling.

good listen

I read this book back when I was a teenager. It was even better now as an adult and listening it to as an audio book

The story was good but too far fetched for me

Aliens build an impossible structure then populate it with a regressing civilization... Really, world wide simultaneous decline?

If you love Sci Fi, you must hear this one

I read this book quite a few years ago. It's remarkable how long ago this book was written, and just how many thoughtful predictions were made. We'll have to wait quite a few years to see if they all bear out. You'd be cheating yourself if you didn't give this a chance.

An enjoyablke listen

Larry Niven has created an interesting story with a weel fleshed out strange and new world. His charachters are nicely developed and the story rides along at a reasonable pace drawing the reader in.
Tom Parker has a good voice and mostly kept in voice for each charachter. I occassionally had trouble hearing the difference between what was actually narrator and the main charachter Louie.
This is the first part in a trilogy and the book abruptly ends with the heros still far away from their home worlds.
I did not think it is a must have book but I did enjoy it and wanted to see where the story went. I will continue into the next book.

A classic

Where does Ringworld rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the top quartile

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ringworld?

When the scale of the Ringworld was conveyed.

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

No.

Any additional comments?

I listened to this one purely because I'd never read it, and it seemed like a gap in my sci-fi background ... It's well worth a listen, though elements of the plot may perhaps be considered a little cheesy today.

it was a new style of writing for me.

to be honest I was quite impressed with the book The only thing was the ending was not quite as awesome as it could have been but we'll just leave it at that still a good book

"rishathra" keeps me from giving it five stars

Pros. Great story. Larry Niven has long been one of my favorite authors and I have listened to this book several times. Highly recommended. Great narration. I would consider it a plus if a book I was considering was narrated by Tom Parker.
Cons: For whatever reason, Larry Niven invented this bizzare idea of "rishathra" (sex outside one's own species). The story would have been every bit as good had Niven simply left that bit out. It's the only reason this book doesn't get five stars.