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World of Ptavvs
- Narrated by: Bradford Hastings
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
Nothing quite prepared telepath Larry Greenberg for mind-to-mind contact with an alien. In the interest of science, Larry tapped the mind of Kzanol - and that was his first mistake.
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 Larry knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets - and the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth!
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Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
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Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
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Marsbound
- By: Joe Haldeman
- Narrated by: Liza Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - they're going to Mars. Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against.
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Meh.
- By Wes Parker on 03-19-09
By: Joe Haldeman
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Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
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Braking Day
- By: Adam Oyebanji
- Narrated by: Ariyan Kassam
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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It's been over a century since three generation ships escaped an Earth dominated by artificial intelligence in pursuit of a life on a distant planet orbiting Tau Ceti. Now, it’s nearly Braking Day, when the ships will begin their long-awaited descent to their new home. Born on the lower decks of the Archimedes, Ravi Macleod is an engineer-in-training, set to be the first of his family to become an officer in the stratified hierarchy aboard the ship. While on a routine inspection, Ravi sees the impossible: a young woman floating, helmetless, out in space.
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Engaging and inventive sci-fi
- By Keith D. on 11-09-23
By: Adam Oyebanji
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Starfire
- By: B.V. Larson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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On June 30, 1908, an object fell from the sky, releasing more energy than a thousand Hiroshima bombs. A Siberian forest was flattened, but the strike left no significant crater. The anomaly came to be known as the Tunguska Event, and scientists have never agreed whether it was the largest meteor strike in recorded history - or something else. Alien artifacts have been uncovered since the 1908 event, and a new star drive is discovered.
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Het
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-09-17
By: B.V. Larson
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To Be Taught, If Fortunate
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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At the turn of the 22nd century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to journey to neighboring exoplanets long known to harbor life. A team of these explorers, Ariadne O’Neill and her three crewmates, are hard at work in a planetary system 15 light-years from Sol, on a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds.
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"Gay & Lesbian"?!? This is solid Sci-Fi
- By Jennifer on 09-16-19
By: Becky Chambers
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Gateway
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!
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A human-focused SF classic
- By Ryan on 12-05-13
By: Frederik Pohl
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2001
- A Space Odyssey
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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It has been 40 years since the publication of this classic science-fiction novel that changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man adventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.
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The Movie Makes More Sense Now
- By Douglas on 12-10-08
By: Arthur C. Clarke
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After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.
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Do you know how people get old?
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Fleet of Worlds
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Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at Human-Puppeteer (Citizen) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacks is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from.
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Hurrah!
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Footfall
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They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.
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Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at Their Best
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Ringworld
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Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
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Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
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The Burning City
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Set in the world of Larry Niven’s popular The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports listeners to an enchanted and ancient city bearing a provocative resemblance to our own modern society. There, Yangin-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of fire, alternately protects and destroys the city’s denizens. In Tep’s Town, nothing can burn indoors, and no fire can start - except when the Burning comes upon the city. At that time the people, possessed by Yangin-Atep, set their own town ablaze in a riotous orgy of destruction that often comes without warning
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Somehow just couldnt get into the book
- By Anant on 03-10-13
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Lucifer's Hammer
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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....
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Good story from front to back
- By DJM on 07-30-09
By: Larry Niven, and others
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A World Out of Time
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After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.
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Do you know how people get old?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-13-12
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Fleet of Worlds
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Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at Human-Puppeteer (Citizen) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacks is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from.
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Hurrah!
- By Bruce on 01-25-08
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Footfall
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They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.
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Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at Their Best
- By Flatlander on 06-24-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
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Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
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Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
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The Burning City
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the world of Larry Niven’s popular The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports listeners to an enchanted and ancient city bearing a provocative resemblance to our own modern society. There, Yangin-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of fire, alternately protects and destroys the city’s denizens. In Tep’s Town, nothing can burn indoors, and no fire can start - except when the Burning comes upon the city. At that time the people, possessed by Yangin-Atep, set their own town ablaze in a riotous orgy of destruction that often comes without warning
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Somehow just couldnt get into the book
- By Anant on 03-10-13
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Lucifer's Hammer
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
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- Length: 24 hrs and 32 mins
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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....
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Good story from front to back
- By DJM on 07-30-09
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The Mote in God's Eye
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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. No lesser an authority than Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".
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A great read!
- By J. Rhoderick on 02-12-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
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The Legacy of Heorot
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Steven Barnes
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling science fiction superstars Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle combine their talents with those of Steven Barnes in an extraordinary adventure of humankind’s first outpost in the farthest reaches of space. Light years from Earth, colonists land on a planet they name Avalon. It seems like a paradise—until native creatures savagely attack. It will take every bit of intelligence, courage, and military-style discipline to survive.
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Great read!
- By Thomas on 12-05-12
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Oath of Fealty
- By: Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren, Jeremy Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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the near future, Los Angeles is an all but uninhabitable war zone, wracked by crime, violence, pollution and poverty. But above the blighted city, a Utopia has arisen: Todos Santos, a thousand-foot high single-structured city, designed to used state-of-the-art technology to create a completely human-friendly environment, offering its dwellers everything they could want in exchange for their oath of allegiance and their constant surveillance.
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Fun political science fiction
- By Mo Brien on 03-06-11
By: Jerry Pournelle, and others
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The Draco Tavern
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When a tremendous spacecraft takes orbit around Earth's moon and begins sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport in Siberia. Their presence attracts many, including Rick Schumann, who establishes a tavern catering to all the various species of visiting aliens, a place he calls the Draco Tavern. From the mind of best-selling author Larry Niven come 27 tales and vignettes from this interstellar gathering place.
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A Great Listen
- By D. Arkless on 04-07-07
By: Larry Niven
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Inferno
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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After being thrown out of the window of his luxury apartment, science-fiction writer Allen Carpentier wakes to find himself at the gates of Hell. Feeling he's landed in a great opportunity for a book, he attempts to follow Dante's road map. Determined to meet Satan himself, Carpentier treks through the nine circles of Hell, led by Benito Mussolini, and encounters countless mental and physical tortures.
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Dante done in the 70's
- By R. Reed on 04-09-09
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Red Tide
- By: Larry Niven, Brad R. Torgersen, Mathew J. Harrington
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a theme that has fascinated the author throughout his career and even appears in his seminal work Ringworld, where the central character celebrates his birthday by instantly teleporting himself to different time zones, extending his “birthday.” The author also discusses the impact of such instantaneous transportation in his essay, “Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation.”
By: Larry Niven, and others
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The Seascape Tattoo
- By: Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Aros of Azteca and Neoloth-Pteor are the deadliest of enemies: swordsman and sorcerer, locked in mortal combat, who have tried to kill each other more times than either can count. But when the princess Neoloth loves is kidnapped, there is only one plan that offers any hope of rescue...and that requires passing off the barbarian Aros as a lost princeling and infiltrating the deadliest cabal of necromancers the world has ever seen. They cannot trust each other. They will betray or kill each other the first chance they get. But they're all each other has.
By: Larry Niven, and others
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The Goliath Stone
- By: Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Doctor Toby Glyer has effected miracle cures with the use of nanotechnology. But Glyer’s controversial nanites are more than just the latest technological advance, they are a new form of life - and they have more uses than just medical. Glyer’s nanites also have the potential to make everyone on Earth rich from the wealth of asteroids.
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Boring, unbelievable nano junk!
- By GH on 06-27-13
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Destiny's Road
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Richard Powers
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Wide and smooth, the Road was seared into planet Destiny’s rocky surface by the fusion drive of the powered landing craft, Cavorite. The Cavorite deserted the original interstellar colonists, stranding them without hope of contacting Earth. Now, descendants of those pioneers have many questions about the Road, but no settler who has gone down it has ever returned. For Jemmy Bloocher, a young farm boy, the questions burn too hot - and he sets out to uncover the many mysteries of Destiny’s Road.
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This is no Lucifer's Hammer
- By As happy as a monkey with two bananas in his hands on 07-21-14
By: Larry Niven
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Dream Park
- By: Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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A group of pretend adventurers suit up for a campaign called "The South Seas Treasure Game". As in the early role-playing games, there are dungeon masters, warriors, magicians, and thieves. The difference? At Dream Park, a futuristic fantasy theme park full of holographic attractions and the latest in VR technology, they play in an artificial enclosure that has been enhanced with special effects, holograms, actors, and a clever story line. The players get as close as possible to truly living their adventure.
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Role-playing to death. What is real? What is fake?
- By The Super-duper Amazing Silver Golem on 12-27-17
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Time Enough for Love
- The Lives of Lazarus Long
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Time Enough for Love is the capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein's famous Future History series. Lazarus Long is so in love with life that he simply refuses to die. Born in the early 1900s, he lives through multiple centuries, his love for time ultimately causing him to become his own ancestor. Time Enough for Loveis his lovingly detailed account of his journey through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Using the voice of Lazarus, Heinlein expounds his own philosophies, including his radical ideas on sexual freedom.
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Age changes perspective
- By Candis on 08-27-16
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Building Harlequin's Moon
- By: Larry Niven, Brenda Cooper
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The first interstellar ship, John Glenn, fled a solar system populated by rogue AIs and machine/human hybrids, threatened by too much nanotechnology, and rife with political dangers. The John Glenn’s crew intended to terraform the nearly pristine planet Ymir in hopes of creating a utopian society that will limit intelligent technology, but by some miscalculation they have landed in the wrong system.
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Excellent - but needed to be twice as long
- By DAVID on 10-11-12
By: Larry Niven, and others
What listeners say about World of Ptavvs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daniela
- 03-24-23
Larry Niven is amazing
I marathoned this book in a day and a half. I find the aliens that he writes to be fascinating. just like Babel 17, the mind and thought processes play a unique role ik the story.
My only problem is that Niven thought Dolphins had a moral code. I am sorry to say I read that and I choked on my tea because now we know Dolphins are monsters.
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- Caradwen Braskat
- 12-13-20
loved it
Loved it! Larry Niven's work is excellent. The characters are well thought out & relatable giving them almost addictive readability, and the performance was excellently done.
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- Eric
- 12-11-20
A decent listen
the narrator made the best out of a difficult book to listen to (vs reading)
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- JohnR
- 04-10-22
1963? could have been written lat week!
Great story! Excellent performance. A little hard to follow at first. Nice development of characters early on. Listened and smiled as our hero (s) made their way towards a wonderful end. Bravo!!
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 03-07-21
We're all just Ptavvs on this bus
Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs is one of his earliest offerings set in his known universe. An alien artifact dug up on Earth is hypothesized to contain an alien in a stasis field which humanity has recently discovered. A telepath volunteers to enter the stasis field, but emerges with alien memories and an uncertain identity. The alien has been in stasis for 1,5 billion years after a space disaster. The alien is also a telepath and his race controlled the galaxy through mind control (Ptavvs is the term for slave, which is how the alien views Earth), but his thought amplifying equipment was sent to a moon of Neptune which is now the planetoid Pluto. The human/alien entity and the alien both steal spaceships in a race to the device. Meanwhile the asteroid belt contingent doesn't know what to believe and threatens to just blow everyone up.
For a relatively short tale, Niven throws in everything, but the kitchen sink. Stasis fields are almost treated as a throwaway. Telepathy is advanced with ongoing communications with dolphins. Solar system expansion is commonplace with an active economic exploitation of the asteroid belt that has resulted in a Cold war sort of détente between the belters and Earth. Then there's the interesting suggestion that Pluto is a former moon of Neptune. While the existence of a previous intelligent alien race running the galaxy 1.5 billion years ago is not novel, Niven has Earth used for food production which after their overthrow and dissolution of their galactic empire, life as we know it developed.
The narration is well done with good character distinction and reasonable pacing.
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- Daniel K
- 04-12-21
A little confusing at times.
But overall it's a good story and the narrator is really great. I am glad I read Neutron Star first or else I think I weighs have been completely lost.
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- Morgan
- 04-06-21
Unique Premise, Slow Execution.
Larry Niven puts forward a very unique premise here, but unfortunately that is about all he puts forward.
While not bad, the book is slow and is only really interesting when playing around with its handful of, admittedly, unique concepts. Since it is so short it is definitely worth a listen if you are a Niven fan, or just need a casual Sci Fi book to burn through, but this really isn’t his best work.
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- JC
- 04-01-22
missing something...
loved it, sorta but seemed to be missing something. I love Larry Niven and the series of ring world, but something about this. like missing chapters or something??
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- Cindy Huenke
- 05-01-23
Well read
Been a fan of Niven since high school. I’ll have to listen to more. The story is very well narrated.
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- Lady Liberty
- 04-10-23
Where it all began
I read the original as a short story in Worlds of Tomorrow magazine in 1965. Don’t remember if I ever read this novelization, but the story hooked me on Niven and was the first of his many Tales of Known Space, of which Ringworld is the best known. Amazing how well it survives the advances of science and social attitudes over nearly 60 years; you have to overlook the pervasive use of tobacco and the continued existence of phone booths! There are women in professional roles but males, as in many stories of that era, are definitely the prominent actors. Nevertheless still a great story and essential reading for any Niven fan.
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