There are countless Larry Niven courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
- Ringworld: A Novel (1985)
- A World Out Of Time (2015)
- Protector (Known Space) (1987)
- The Mote in God’s Eye (1991)
- Three Books of Known Space (1996)
- Man-Kzin Wars XV (15) (2019)
- Lucifer’s Hammer: A Novel (1985)
- The Magic Goes Away Collection: The Magic Goes Away, The Magic May Return, and More Magic (2005)
- The Ringworld Engineers (1985)
- Man-Kzin Wars XIII (2013)
- Constitution: Book 1 of the Legacy Fleet Trilogy (The Legacy Fleet Series) (Volume 1) (2015)
- Crashlander: A Novel (1994)
Ringworld: A Novel (1985)
Four travelers come to the ringworld. . . human and old; bored with having lived too fully for far too many years. Seeking a challenge, and all too capable of handling it. a trembling coward, a puppeteer with a built-in survival pattern of nonviolence. Except that this particular puppeteer is insane. human; a wide-eyed youngster with no allegiances, no experience, no abilities. And all the luck in the world. kzin; large, orange-furred, and carnivorous.
A World Out Of Time (2015)
After 200 years in cryosleep, Jaybee Corbell awakens to find that his mind has been downloaded to another body and he’s in servitude to a harsh future State. After his escape via a spaceship, he traverses such vast distances–with accompanying time dilations–that he returns to Earth 3 million years later to discover a world wholly alien to the one he’d left. A.E.
Protector (Known Space) (1987)
Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before . . .Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler.
The Mote in God’s Eye (1991)
Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others. The Mote In God’s Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind’s first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.
Three Books of Known Space (1996)
Kzanol was a thrint from a distant galaxy. He had been trapped on Earth in a time-stasis field for two billion years. Now he was on the loose, and telepath Larry Greenberg knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets . . . and the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth! Shrouded in lethal mists, the world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans. Life existed only on one plateau, unreachable except from space.
Man-Kzin Wars XV (15) (2019)
THE POPULAR MAN-KZIN WARS SERIES ROARS BACK INTO ACTION! New stories of the war between humanity and the catlike Kzin from Brad R. Torgersen, Brendan DuBois, Martin L. Shoemaker, and more!The predatory catlike warrior race known as the Kzin never had a hard time dealing with all those they encountered, conquering alien worlds with little effort.
Lucifer’s Hammer: A Novel (1985)
The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known. . . .
The Magic Goes Away Collection: The Magic Goes Away, The Magic May Return, and More Magic (2005)
Larry Niven created his popular “Magic Goes Away” universe in 1967, and it has been a source of delight and inspiration ever since. By asking the simple question, What if magic were a finite resource?, Niven brought to life a mesmerizing world of wonder and loss, of hope and despair. The success of his first story collection, The Magic Goes Away, birthed two sequel anthologies, The Magic May Return and More Magic.
The Ringworld Engineers (1985)
, It’s been twenty years since the quixotic and worldsweary Louis Wu discovered the Ringworld. Now he and Speaker-To-Animals are going back, captives of the Hindmost, a deposed puppeteer leader.With Louis’ help, the Hindmost intends to regain his status by bringing back such extraordinary treasures from the Ringworld that his fellow puppeteers will have to be impressed.But when they arrive, Louis discovers that the Ringworld is no longer stable . . .
Man-Kzin Wars XIII (2013)
The perennially best-selling series set in Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin universe continues with entry #13 including hard-hitting and thought-inducing tales from a host of talented contributors. The cat-like alien Kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, must learn to compromise with humans if they wish to survive and prosper once again as a species.Larry Niven’s bestselling Man-Kzin series continues!
Constitution: Book 1 of the Legacy Fleet Trilogy (The Legacy Fleet Series) (Volume 1) (2015)
The year is 2650 75 years ago, an alien fleet attacked Earth. Without warning. Without mercy. We were not prepared. Hundreds of millions perished. Dozens of cities burned. We nearly lost everything. Then, the aliens abruptly left. We rebuilt. We armed ourselves. We swore: never again. But the aliens never came back. Until now. With overwhelming force the aliens have returned, striking deep into our territory, sending Earth into a panic. Our new technology is useless.
Crashlander: A Novel (1994)
Crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer has long been one of the most popular characters in Known Space. Now, for the first time ever, Larry Niven brings together all the Beowulf stories—including a breand-new one—in one long tale of exploration and adventure! Beowulf Shaeffer uncovers one of the puppeteers’ greatest secrets. Beowulf Shaeffer learns something that scares the puppeteers into fleeing Known Space. Beowulf Shaeffer meets the love of his life and discovers a haunted planet.
Best Larry Niven Books Reviewed & Ranked
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some larry niven books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
There Will Be War Volume X
Author(s): Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven (eds.)
ID: 1703108, Publisher: Castalia House, Year: 2015, Size: 1 Mb, Format: mobi
The Guide to Larry Niven’s Ringworld
Author(s): Kevin Stein
ID: 2401783, Publisher: , Year: 2015, Size: 13 Mb, Format: epub
Ringworld
Author(s): Niven, Larry
ID: 2730052, Publisher: Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc., Year: 2015, Size: 530 Kb, Format: azw3
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are truly hot items according to The Wall Street Journal, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.