Larry Niven

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born

in Los Angeles, California, The United States

April 30, 1938

gender

male

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.

Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.

Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He...more Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.

Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.

Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.

He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.

In addition to his awards for Ringworld, Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Neutron Star" in 1967. He won the same award in 1972, for "Inconstant Moon", and in 1975 for "The Hole Man". In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "The Borderland of Sol".

Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early story "The Soft Weapon". He adapted his story "Inconstant Moon" for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.

He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...

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Average rating: 3.85 · 183,262 ratings · 5,627 reviews · 328 distinct works · Similar authors

	Ringworld (Ringworld #1) 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 35,557 ratings — published 1970 — 65 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mote in God's Eye (Moties #1) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 25,193 ratings — published 1974 — 45 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 17,874 ratings — published 1977 — 22 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld #2) 3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 11,545 ratings — published 1979 — 36 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Footfall by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 6,442 ratings — published 1985 — 16 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Neutron Star 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 5,091 ratings — published 1968 — 18 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Gripping Hand (Moties #2) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 4,868 ratings — published 1993 — 14 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Protector 3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 avg rating — 4,106 ratings — published 1973 — 23 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ringworld Throne (Ringworld, #3) 3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 avg rating — 3,880 ratings — published 1996 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Integral Trees (The State, #2) 3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 3,285 ratings — published 1983 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Larry Niven…

Series by Larry Niven

Known Space (18 books)
by Larry Niven
3.8456799931554566 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 81,817 ratings

Ringworld (5 books)
by Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner (Goodreads Author)
3.8460842093594696 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 54,127 ratings

Moties (4 books)
by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
3.96832083858555 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 30,146 ratings

The State (3 books)
by Larry Niven
3.692434210526316 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 9,728 ratings

Man-Kzin Wars (14 books)
by Larry Niven (Creator), Gregory Benford, Mark O. Martin, Hal G.P. Colebatch, Paul Chafe
3.612450462351387 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 6,056 ratings

More series by Larry Niven…

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Quotes by Larry Niven

“The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.”
― Larry Niven, Ringworld

tags: science-fiction, social-commentary

57 people liked it

“The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!”
― Larry Niven

tags: dinosaurs, extinction, insightful, space-exploration

50 people liked it

“Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun. ”
― Larry Niven

tags: fun, nature, science

36 people liked it

See all Larry Niven's quotes »

Polls

NOVEMBER SCIENCE FICTION: This poll determines which two books move on to the run-off poll for our November SF Book of the Month!

Embassytown by China Miéville

31 votes, 30.1%

Ringworld by Larry Niven

16 votes, 15.5%

Survival by Julie E. Czerneda

8 votes, 7.8%

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

7 votes, 6.8%

Nothing Human by Nancy Kress

6 votes, 5.8%

Macroscope by Piers Anthony

6 votes, 5.8%

The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson

6 votes, 5.8%

Sundiver by David Brin

5 votes, 4.9%

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

5 votes, 4.9%

The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook

5 votes, 4.9%

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

4 votes, 3.9%

Idlewild by Nick Sagan

4 votes, 3.9%

103 total votes

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Larry Niven

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Series by Larry Niven

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Quotes by Larry Niven

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Larry Niven's Books