Reddit mentions of The Mote in God's Eye

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413465938&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye

The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. One of the greatest First Contact books ever. Hugo and Nebula nominee.

"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."

First books that come to mind:

• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
  
• Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts
  
• Excession by Iain M. Banks (pushing the theme a bit but it deals with how humans and "Minds" deal with a more advanced culture than their own)

Okay so I think this might meet most of your criteria but it is two books that totals about 800 pages (I think - I'd have to run down to my bookshelf and check but I'm lazy). So it's a short read but I've read both books 3 times over and I always enjoy it. So here they are:

Book 1: The Mote in God's Eye

Book 2: The Gripping Hand

I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" to that list (along with it's sequel.)

Edit: Also Hamilton's other space opera, the "Night's Dawn" trilogy.

And of course the follow-up trilogy to Pandora's Star, The Void series, but I consider that part of the same story as Pandora's Star.

Another different take: http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926. It's a first-contact book with a military side, but with a twist.

The Mote in God's Eye also features a solar sail ship powered by giant lasers.

https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


The concept is called a photonic laser thruster by scientists and engineers I'd you want to look up more about systems from a real world point of view.

The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.

Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.

The Mote In God's Eye is one of my favourite sci-fi, first contact, deep space war novels.

May i add suggest a mote in gods eye
https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=nodl_

there's also "The Mote in God's Eye "
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300456314&sr=1-5

You've likely read most of these, but here are a few suggestions:

• The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis. Underappreciated works by Lewis - in many ways Narnia for adults. These books are a work of supposition. What if there is intelligent life on other planets that have not fallen into sin? What would that look like?
  
• Watership Down - Richard Adams. This is a book about rabbits. Not anthropomorphized rabbits, but rabbit rabbits with their own language and mythology, who care about and experience the things rabbits experience. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it is utterly captivating.
  
• Dune - Frank Herbert. A captivating epic in a richly detailed universe. Themes of politics, religion, and technology iterweave in a fascinating tale.
  
• Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide - Orson Scott Card. The tale of a child trained to be the commander of earth's defenses against alien bugs. The sequels feature the same character but in an utterly different tale. The books are very different but both one of my favorites. The recent movie didn't do it justice.
  
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein is a genius, but his books often disappoint me halfway through. This one doesn't. My favorite of his works.
  
• The Mote In God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. After colonizing the hundreds of stars, mankind finally makes contact with an intelligent alien race for the first time. They are utterly foreign and seemingly benign, but with a dangerous secret.
  
  I can recommend others if you've already hit all of those already.

The Mote in God's Eye

If we were ever to make contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence, I would consider this book required reading for those who had to talk with the aliens. It is a very thought provoking and original take on first contact.

Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle is fantastic.

From Heinlein himself, "Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read."

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

The Mote in God's Eye has a solar sail ship, at least for a little while :) But it's a great alien world.

back to the beginning

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Current Selection#####

• Echopraxia by Peter Watts [Echopraxia]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
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  Past Selections#####
  

  
  

  2014######
  

  
  

• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [Songs]. Began August 6th.
  
  
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson [2312]. Began July 7th.
  
  
• The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard [crystal]. Began June 4th.
  
  
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• Machine Man by Max Barry [Machine]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2013######
  

  
  

• House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds [suns]. Began December 5th.
  
  
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  2012######
  

  
  

• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke [childhood]. Began December 1st.
  
  
• Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (aka Unto Leviathan) [fools]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
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• Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges [labyrinths]. Began August 4th.
  
  
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [martian]. Began July 2nd.
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [mote]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky [picnic]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [Destination]. Began April 2nd.
  
  
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  2011######
  

  
  

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [lord]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Zones of Thought Trilogy by Vernor Vinge [zones], [fire], [deepness], [children]. Began October 28th.
  
  
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami [Wonderland]. Began October 3rd.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [rp1]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross [Rule 34]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
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• Embassytown by China Miéville [Embassytown]. Began June 1st.
  
  
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• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. [canticle]. Began March 1st.
  
  
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest [inverted world]. Began February 1st.
  
  
• The City & the City by China Miéville [the city]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2010######
  

  
  

• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks [surface]. Began December 3rd.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [cloud atlas]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson [anathem]. Began October 1st.
  
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts [blindsight]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [windup]. Began August 1st.
  
  
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams [MoPI]. Began July 15th.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Excellent book with a very well rounded universe. If you enjoy it there are several other books written in that universe.

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

I'll recommend three!

An exploration of how biology affects culture, framed in a hard science first contact story:
The Mote in God's Eye


In the near future scientists discover a dead astronaut on the moon... who died 50,000 years ago.
Inherit the Stars


A sci-fi classic with great characters along the way. The over-crowded Earth is heavily reliant on the food created by a prison colony on the moon, which decides to declare its independence, with the help of the first A.I.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

> ('remove the log from your own eye before you bother with the splinter in your brother's eye')

As a complete aside, The Mote in God's Eye, is a really good book.

The book is The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I'm not very far into it, but I've also already seen a character named Jock (as in Jock Fireblast).

David Brin's Uplift series. Some invasion novels, a lot of first contact/conflict.

Also, The Mote in God's Eye, and The Legacy of Heorot. More first contact than first invasion, but they have the same effect.

Hard science fiction I liked are:

Old, and famous authors:
The Mote in God's Eye [series] (Niven, Pournelle)
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


New, and unknown authors:
Allopoly: The Cycle of Civilization (Hadges)
http://allopoly.com

• Ursula K Le Guin's Hainish Universe books: Worlds of Exile and Illusion, The Word for World is Forest, and The Left Hand of Darkness
  
• Iain M Banks' Culture Series
  
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
  
• Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky
  
• Charles Stross' Singularity books
  
• Robert A Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel
  
• Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward and Spares
  
• Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon
  
• William Gibson's Neuromancer
  
• Larry Niven's Ringworld and The Mote in God's Eye
  
• Frank Herbert's Dune series
  
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War series

The Mote in God's Eye
Probably my favorite hard science fiction novel.

That book reminded me of [The Mote in God's Eye] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Mote-Gods-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382107573&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Worth checking out.

Here is a list of some of my favorites so far:

• Ender's Game
  
  
• Dune
  
  
• Foundation
  
  
• Snow Crash
  
  
• Ringworld
  
  
• Anathem
  
  
• The Forever War
  
  
• The Word for World is Forest
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye
  
  
• A Fire Upon the Deep
  
  
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
  

I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.

you might enjoy the book The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Among other things, it addresses the issue as What's good for the species vs. what's good for the individual.

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