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From: davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: What should be your FIRST sf book ???
Message-ID: <984@teklds.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Sep-85 13:46:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: teklds.984
Posted: Thu Sep  5 13:46:31 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Sep-85 04:56:42 EDT
References: <3502@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> <16320@watmath.UUCP>
Reply-To: davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine)
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 15
Summary: The Mote in God's Eye

In the subgenre of HARD SF, I'd recommend that the first book to give
to a non-SF reader is "The Mote in God's Eye."  It was specifically
written by Niven and Pournelle to be understandable without an SF
background, to increase its public acceptance, and I believe it was one
of the first SF books to make the New York Times' best-seller list.  I
think it also won several SF awards (sorry, I don't have my reference
works handy).  "Mote" has some of the most well-developed and
believable aliens I know of, examines the impact of technolgy on
societies, delves into the "joy of discovery" that is a major theme of
hard SF, and is considered by many to be a classic of the field.

It also has the advantage of not being part of a trilogy.

David D. Levine  (...decvax!tektronix!teklds!davidl)          [UUCP]
		 (teklds!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay.csnet)  [ARPA]