The Mote in God's Eye

By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

Narrated by: L J Ganser

Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed best-sellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre. No lesser an authority than Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".

©1991 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• All-Time Best Science Fiction Novels (Locus Magazine)

Excellent

Read the story years ago. This narration was easy to listen to and also to understand the complexities of the story.

Classic which hasn't lost it's appeal

Would you listen to The Mote in God's Eye again? Why?

The story is interesting and thought provoking even if some of the technology it discusses has turned out different. The core theme of handling extraterrestrial life encounter if fascinating.

What did you like best about this story?

How it forces you to think about how would you choose to act based on what you are learning as you go through the story. Would you make the same choices.

Have you listened to any of L J Ganser’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but this performance was excellent

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Man's First Contact - Are you ready

Good to the End?

What did you love best about The Mote in God's Eye?

It was a good story and a reasonable premise for making contact and how it might happen. It could easily be a 'Star Trek' movie script.

What other book might you compare The Mote in God's Eye to and why?

It was a good story, but I tried for some time to find how to download 'Part 2'. The ending, as I eventually discovered, was left hanging. I had a similar feeling of having the story abruptly end without 'finishing' with S King's the Dark Tower series. All those hours and never to learn what the Dark Tower was - Anoying. At least the Mote did not cost 2 arms and a leg.

What does L J Ganser bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Emphasis and pace are what any good reader brings to an Audio book. The Kindle Fire allows me to speed up the Audio if I want a faster pace, but emphasis can change the story significantly. Ganser did a nice job of reading.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen mostly when I go to bed at night. Generally I listen in increments ranging from 10 minutes to an hour - then the next night I figure out what I last remember. so I know where to start. Only one book recently kept me up much of the night, Killing Lincoln. Takes a little while to get through a book, but the 'many good nights sleep' is well worth it.

Any additional comments?

I remember reading the 'Mote' paperback 'many' years ago so an Audio book was a great way to go through the book again. I will be doing the Foundation Series shortly. Azimov also uses an 'unfinished' ending technique. I always wonder if the authors know what is next or simply decided to quit writing.

interesting but lengthy

I put this down several times, it took awhile tip develop the story. I usually revisit books, read them multiple times. I won't with this one.

Tolerate the humans to learn about the fun aliens.

The human characters were off putting and used to explore the authors clearly antidemocracy views. The aliens and the interaction of aliens with humans and the description of first contact is where the interesting bits are.

Critical contact

The book demonstrates how difficult it would be to encounter a situation that is both possible extermination or extreme technological advancement. The arguments for both sides are compelling and frustrating. Great story.

A foundational sci-fi work

Would you listen to The Mote in God's Eye again? Why?

Eventual I would listen to his novel again due to the depth of writing. This story can be enjoyed from a variety of different perspectives.

What did you like best about this story?

I best enjoyed unmasking the various concerns mankind would face if/when discovering alien life.

A very fine tale of a distant first contact.

A very fine tale of a distant first contact. Expertly read an performed. I would recommend this to anyone interested in sci-fi.

Great story but, yeah, substandard reader

The story is fantastic, one I've read several times. The narrator, however, is nasal and grating, and appears to be trying to get through the material as fast as possible. ;-(

Don't believe the hype

This was a disappointing book. I thought the praise from Robert Heinlein would be a good indication of the quality of the book but I found this to be an uninteresting space opera. Kings, empires, Scottish accents? Why would these things exist 1000 years from now? The idea behind it was good but it was not well-executed. At the end of the book nothing was wrapped up. All in all, this was a waste of time.