Title: Ringworld

Author: Larry Niven

Publisher: Del Ray 1985

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 342

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Science Fiction; 2011- With a Twist

A new place is being built, a world of huge dimensions, encompassing millions of miles, stronger than any planet before it. There is gravity, and with high walls and its proximity to the sun, a livable new planet that is three million times the area of the Earth can be formed. We can start again!

This book was really mixed.  J warned me that it was harder scifi than Have Spacesuit-Will Travel and Ender's Game, and it certainly was.  I liked parts of the book and then got confused about other parts.  My knowledge of physics ans space travel is not on par with J's and I found myself drifting during those passages.  And those passages take up about a third of the book.  I kept having to reread sentences; stopping to think about what he was trying to explain.  Sometimes, I completely glossed over a concept because I couldn't figure it out in a few mintes.  Those were the pages that drained my reading stamina.  I had to take a few reading breaks with this book.  I couldn't do it all in on sitting.

On the good side, I loved all the parts focusing on interactions between the alien species.  Their cultural and language differences intrigued me.  I also found the explanations and mysteries of the Ringworld civilization fascinating.  Those parts redeemed the book for me and kept me reading.  I guess deep down I'm more of an anthropologist than a scifi geek.  And that's okay.

Ringworld

• #1 Ringworld
• #2 The Ringworld Engineers
• #3 The Ringworld Throne
• #4 Ringworld's Children
• #5 Fate of Worlds: Return from the Ringworld (with Edward M Lerner)