The Mote in God’s Eye – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (c.1974)

I would never even know of this books existence were it not for Doug Derry and Bill Pilon. Both are fellow consimers and both blog on consimworld.com. Mr. Derry has been influencing my book buying and reading for many years. It was because of his enlightened Blog that I started following Bill’s Blog. Bill recently re-read this book and it was his talking about it that peeked my interest. Bill’s enthusiasm for this book and the fact that he has read it many times moved this book up to the top of my pile. Also I had not read any SF for a long time and wanted to get one read in 2010. Thanks to both of them for many hours of reading enjoyment. 

In the books first act we meet most of the main characters. Our hero has recently been given command of a ship and is given an assignment that takes him back to the regional capital (planet), while en route mankind makes its first discovery of another sentient life form. The year is AD 3017. His ship is the closest and thus is assigned to go out and meet this alien vessel. 

In this act you get a lot of the history of mankind and a sense of how the science of the book works. This was pretty interesting stuff, especially the Alderson drive and interplanetary travel. Also of interest is the form of government currently in place (which smelled a lot like the British Empire in its prime). After the initial encounter with the alien craft, our hero and another ship are sent to the alien planet where the second act takes place.

Over the course of the books second act we meet our aliens and their system. These aliens are called “Moties” because they reside in the Mote system. I was enthralled with this act as I was so eager to learn more and more about Moties and their world. The authors very nicely introduce bits of information about them slowly over the course of the act and I was very eager to learn more. Also of note is that occasionally the book enters the minds of the Moties, giving us a fascinating glimpse of their impression of events taking place. Eventually we return to the regional capitol planet to start the third act. 

I was a bit worried about this act. My friend Rikk, who had in the meantime read the book once I suggested it to him had painted a somewhat let down in his opinion of the books conclusion. This perhaps is why I put the book down for nearly a month before finally (and thankfully) coming back to it. 

I was thoroughly engaged by the last act and very happy with it. It was certainly not action packed in the sense that we don’t have any climatic space battles or whatnot. However, the tension level was through the roof. The Moties have a secret. We are made aware of it at the end of the 2^nd act, but our hero’s are not. The fate of mankind is at stake. I finished the last 100 pages in a night, some serious speed reading for me. I was so very happy and satisfied with the ending. I immediately went the Wiki and read the overview, which I had purposely avoided until I finished the book. 

All in all this was a fantastic read. Certainly if I read only one SF book every few years, I am glad I selected this one. I’m glad Rikk enjoyed it too. I see from the Wiki that the authors penned a sequel some 20 years after the originals publication and that it is not well loved, I think that I’ll take a pass on it then.

In closing I’ll say that I certainly hope that that horse learns how to sign.