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)

Fantastic listen, best sci-fi listened to to-date

story was captivating and an interesting dialogue on human behaviour/society.
performance was very well done, voicing very consistent for different characters, not over the top but still distinctive.
would recommend

interesting, but dragged at times

This is fundamentally a very interesting novel with an important theme regarding the need for birth control to prevent warfare.

However, the authors could have cut at least 25% of the prose and communicated the same themes. The novel would have been more gripping in a shorter form.

The narration was good and appropriate for the content.

John Christmas, author of "Democracy Society"

a classic

the story itself is a Clarice, and the reader is adequate. no complaints.

Great Classic

Wonderful and thought-provoking story, but somewhat dated. Still, the basic premise and ideas are still of interest in the current century. Narrator is top notch.

Best first contact sci-fi ever

A real classic. A truly alien species can be realistically grasped. Far future human empire is somehow believable too. NOT just for hard science fans

Interesting world, lame story

I misread the author and thought this was an Asimov title. Had I known it was Niven I would have skipped it entirely. The man can write a compelling world, but can’t put out a decent plot. Don’t waste your time on this one.

A Sci-Fi classic, but...

So this is my first time reading Mote, after hearing about it for years and years, as I continue my journey through classic sci fi. It was... Odd.

I can see WHY it was so influential, since it did so many things first and I can see the imprint it left on lots of other sci-fi I have consumed over the years. The problem though, is that I have mostly seen it done BETTER.

The Alien's are interesting, and the alien POV even more so, but we don't spend much time with itand unfortunately spend an awfully long amount of time with the humans, of who only a few are interesting. And a big problem in general is skipping over some of the more interesting things about First Contact, such as the exchanges of ideas and the learning process, which get a few paragraphs before skipping half a year ahead to the aliens knowing the human language.

I don't know. I definitely recommend it, as it IS still interesting, but be prepared that it isn't the perfect gem so many say it is.

Great perspective on humans

What made the experience of listening to The Mote in God's Eye the most enjoyable?

The book got me thinking about how social values evolved; as well as the capacity of humans to grow and evolve. Liked the story. A lot of folks thought the social norms were dated but .... I thought it was an interesting twisted to have a society that had advance technologically but "regressed" socially. Made it more interesting to think about how technology influenced our social norms.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I find often find it hard to follow all the supporting charters in audio books. (Think I'm more visual), but after a few chapters I had the team of character down. While I found the "out date social norms of many of the characters "cheesy"... I liked how it worked together and was able to believe that people would respond in such a manner.

The Russian Admiral was my favorite because he was honest and complex. And even if you didn't agree with his perspective you could respect that he was playing his role.

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

I liked the narration. Think it hard for men to do female characters but he did a good job with the variety of men. Thought he established different rhythms and patterns for each.

Dated sci-fi

This story hasn't aged terribly well. It was good, but not exceptionally so. Also the narrator wasn't great; he did some good voices, but generally his narration was difficult to get past.

Award-winning novel, top-notch narration.

Would you try another book from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and/or L J Ganser?

Yes, I would try another book. In fact, Larry Niven is one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi authors. His Ringworld series and Building Harlequins Moon are exceptional reads.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting aspect was how the aliens were so incredibly different from humans, yet shared many characteristics, which any intelligent species would probably share. The least interesting aspect of the story was how the biggest twist in itself was a bit lackluster, despite covering the subject matter (aliens) in such amazing form, and failed to produce any great event.

Any additional comments?

The book is spoken of as one of the best Sci-Fi books in history. And there are parts of it that really shine and prove that it is. For me, personally, the story fell a bit short towards the end. After creating such an amazing image of truly alien aliens, the book failed to deliver anything more. Still an entertaining read/listen, but once the fascinating world of the Moties has been setup, don't expect any further mind-benders.