Scatterbrain

by Larry Niven

Another dazzling collection of fact, fiction, and wit from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning master of hard science fiction!

Larry Niven is the New York Times bestselling author of such classic science fiction novels as Ringworld and Destiny's Road. His previous collection, N-Space , was lauded by the Houston Post as "outstanding . . . hours of entertainment," while Publishers Weekly called it "a must for science fiction fans." A follow-up volume, Playgrounds of the Mind , was similarly praised by Kirkus Reviews : "An abundance of Niven's curious yet disciplined inventiveness and his fun-filled knack for turning seemingly absurd notions into credible, absorbing fiction. Grand entertainment."

Now, ten years later, Scatterbrain collects an equally engaging assortment of Niven's latest work, all in one captivating volume. Here are choice excerpts from several of his most recent novels, including his upcoming Ringworld's Child and Rainbow Mars , as well as numerous short stories, nonfiction articles, interviews, editorials, collaborations, and correspondence. True to its title, Scatterbrain roams all over a wide variety of fascinating topics, featuring Niven's singular insights into everything from space stations to convention etiquette.

So give yourself a treat, and feel free to pick the brain-or Scatterbrain -of one of modern science fiction's most fascinating thinkers.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Collections, Fantasy

327 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

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.

Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. 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 Kzin 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...

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Larry Niven and his tales of know space, but an anthology of stories this is not, a biography of his work no, a collection of correspondence between collaborators, edits and friends that neither, its a mixture of all of them and more. The book is as the title suggest a scattering of thoughts, excerpts and short stories which has been collected together to highlight the creativity of Larry Niven, I believe there is a second volume out there, will have to wait and see, an interesting read but not his finest.

Okay I will admit I try not re-read books as I have so many still outstanding - although here I do not remember much about reading it the first time.
The previous comments I guess still stand - however I also now agree with other reviews - this is really for the completist, the book is really a smorgasbord of Larry Niven, from revisiting short stories (including one not published at the time), excerpts from novels and musings and conversations with other authors.
One amendment I will make though is that this is the third of such books and as such might explain the rather random (at times) shifts in subjects since I guess the style was established in the previous two books.
I will however add one thing - this gives an interesting glimpse in to the mind of Larry Niven (title references aside) which for all the random subjects is always an interesting exercise.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look, this is one for the Niven completist. It isn't a collection of short stories (though it does contain some, and the new ones are actually very good). Nor is it an autobiography, but does have some autobiographical stories.
Basically if you're forwarned and a fan of Niven's you'll enjoy it, but if you're not forwarned you will be annoyed. If you're not already a fan, this won't make you one.
Read it if you get it very cheap and like Larry Niven's work.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very little here to recommend... do NOT start here if you're not already a diehard Niven fan.

Contents of this book worth rating:

"The Woman in Del Rey Crater", a Gil Hamilton story (available elsewhere in the collection Flatlander). A great story!
4 stars

"Procrustes", a Beowulf Shaeffer story (available elsewhere in the collection Crashlander). Very good, but seems out of context here.
3.5 stars

There's a neat little story called "Loki", originally from Analog magazine but unavailable elsewhere.
3 stars

"Ice and Mirrors", a short story written in collaboration with Brenda Cooper. Originally published in Asimov's magazine, and not available elsewhere. This is probably the highlight of the book, and the notes included might have helped the reader enjoy the story (but they're a bit random).
4.5 stars

"Smut Talk", a short story in the Draco Tavern series. Unavailable anywhere else. Not his best Draco Tavern story, however.
3 stars

That's it... not much is it? Five lousy stories. Oh... but you get excerpts of books. Isn't that great (sarcasm mode)? No, they're a complete waste of time. Don't bother reading the excerpts... if you want to enjoy them, and not just have them annoy you, then you'll need to buy the books anyways, and read the entire thing. Much better than the stupid excerpts.

Contents of this book not worth rating:

"Destiny's Road" (excerpt)
"The Ringworld Throne" (excerpt)
"The Burning City" (excerpt)
"Saturn's Race" (excerpt)
0.5 stars for the collective bunch!

Oh... and there's a whole bunch of random articles, as well. You know, the kind of stuff that you can read for FREE on other SF author's blogs? Where the free excerpts could go, also....

So, thanks to Larry Niven for sharing these articles, but no thanks for not just making up a blog and letting us read them for free. I've spent time reading Frederik Pohl's blog, so I know that oldtimers can do it if they want to.

"Various essays in Scatterbrain"
0.5 stars for the collective bunch!

So... is it fair to do an arithmetic mean to arrive at a score? Or should I take the median score? Really, only a completist needs this, and it's likely a disservice to any casual Niven fan who comes across this and then never reads another Niven book for the rest of his life.

I'll be generous and give this book 2 stars overall. And I'll have something in common with those of you who read it and enjoy it. But I'll also have warned some others who might otherwise hate it (so find some other Niven books, because there are some great ones out there).

[Kinsey Swartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This certainly isn't the book for someone wanting to check out Larry Niven's work for the first time. The title is apt. It's basically a hodgepodge of various miscellaneous writings thrown together by Niven, including short stories, essays, collaborative works, unpublished articles, correspondence, and first chapters of novels. None of it comes close to any of his greatest works, but there are some interesting tidbits. I particularly enjoyed reading the short stories "Loki" and "Ice and Mirrors" as well as the previously unpublished essay "Tabletop Fusion", and especially the epilogue (that and the introduction being the only material written specifically for this book) in which Niven recounts a brief talk he gave to librarians about why Science Fiction should be taken seriously.

But so much in the book is not worth the reader's time. I personally have no interest in reading the initial chapters of longer novels, most of which I've already read anyway. The correspondence with Brenda Cooper, one of his collaborators, might have been interesting if it had been more complete and less confusing to read. Also, Niven tends to babble at times. Easily the worst part of the book is an e-mail he sent to friends when he was recovering from a busted knee detailing in excruciating detail the logistics of making breakfast while alternating between a walker and a wheelchair. I wonder how many of his friends actually managed to get through the original e-mail.

I don't want to come across as overly critical. As I said before, there is some interesting stuff here, some of which isn't available anywhere else. Any Niven completist will want to check to this out. Considering that I picked it up for a buck at my local dollar store, I definitely feel that I got my money's worth.

[Darth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This literally a bit of a mixed bag.
There are some short stories, a few 1st chapters of other full books, some email notes between collaborators, and other assorted things.

Now, the 1st chapters of books, I didnt read any of them in here. I either have read the whole books already, or have the book sitting on my shelf waiting to be read - so no point in them.

The short stories are great - I enjoyed them a lot.

The email notes back and forth are a little tedious, but interesting to see some of the nuts and bolts on how it works - I had always wondered personally, so now I know.

I could have lived a full and rich life without the blow by blow details of the trip to Oslo, but again, it was a little interesting, and it didnt take 500 pages to get to the end.

Overall, I read all things Larry Niven, and most of the short stories in here I did not have in any other collections, so this was a must read for me - and I enjoyed it.

[Randolph King · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, some good, some not. Several were excerpts from other books and were not meant to stand along. They felt like the chapters at the end of books that were to entice you into buying the next in a series. For this, I felt cheated.

As the title suggests, scaterbrain, there is no theme to the book. The stories are random and varied. Even the introduction, which fit the theme, was lacking and of no value, even as literature in my mind.

This is ok if you're a Niven fan, otherwise skip it.

[Rob Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Varied (moderate / good). Few isolated short stories.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, he certainly is a scatterbrain, as he readily admits in the introduction. Although I feel that Niven’s writing has been in a steady decline for the past couple of decades, his short fiction and especially his articles are always great fun. Like N-Space and Playgrounds of the Mind this is a mix of new and old short fiction, book excerpts and articles. Enjoyable reading for the Niven fan.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1093

[Keil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd already read much of this in other Niven books, so that was a bit disappointing, but I suppose not too surprising considering that this book is a compilation of shorts and excerpts of longer books. There were some good insights into collaborations between Larry Niven and several other authors and that was new and interesting.

[Zack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting if you're already a Niven fan and you are interested in where his ideas come from - the ramblings in this book are like Asimov introductions only even more ramblicious. The short stories themselves are definitely not his best work... whoever his usual editor is has clearly not been anywhere near these.

[Frederick Gault · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author really phoned this book in! Basically a few stories and then e-mail exchanges about the writing of the stories. It comes across as a book required under contract and produced at the last hour by whatever papers were currently at the top of the pile on the author's desk.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

See here on Suite 101 for a review.

[H. R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, but Niven has this persistent habit of pushing pre-published content across multiple books. So, the 'completist' reader of niven will find about half this volume in previous works.

[Jen H]

good for those who like to know what was going on whilst Niven was writing

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scatterbrain says it all some is good, some is dumb, some are parts of novels previously read I'll admit some I skipped

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

uneven, but largely a good read.