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Known Space (Publication Order) #tboks.6
The Jigsaw Man
In a future where immortality can be achieved through the organ transplants, death row criminals become donors to the injured and maimed ... as long as the accident is truly accidental. Hugo Award Nominee
Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1967
142 people want to read
About the author
Larry Niven
692 books3,330 followersLaurence 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 26, 2021
*Read as part of the Dangerous Visions collection.
A premise about criminals being executed for petty crimes because of how valuable their organs are. Didn’t age well.
A premise about criminals being executed for petty crimes because of how valuable their organs are. Didn’t age well.
March 13, 2019
A fantastic and scarily speculative look at the potential ethical problems around capital punishment, organ harvesting and the value of human bodies i.e. are we worth more than the value of our parts?
September 27, 2023
I've always been staunchly against the death penalty, but I've never considered the implications of the death penalty in relation to organ donation. Niven's protagonist, whose crime is ingeniously hidden until the end of the story, is caught up in questions not only of the death penalty, but of what happens to our own rights when we realize that we could potentially exchange them for a longer life. It works really well as an action story as well as a very intriguing thought piece about the ethics of utilitarianism.
March 17, 2022
This short story is a commentary mostly on politics, medical ethics and capital punishment. In other words, what happens when a politician can get more votes by killing off criminals and using their organs to save the lives of voters?
June 18, 2025
It held my attention but left me feeling meh.
September 27, 2025
a decent, quick read.
July 16, 2019
1) What are we willing to do as a society to gain access to life-saving/life-prolonging organs for ourselves?
2) Are we willing to use the death sentence and subsequently harvest organs from inmates on death row?
3) Where do we draw the line in terms of punishments befitting the crime?
These are some of the questions that this short sci-fi story asks. They are certainly worth thinking about.
2) Are we willing to use the death sentence and subsequently harvest organs from inmates on death row?
3) Where do we draw the line in terms of punishments befitting the crime?
These are some of the questions that this short sci-fi story asks. They are certainly worth thinking about.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews