Some good ideas. And I feel wretched at giving it such low review stars as I really liked Ringworld and some of his other work. He says himself in the introduction that two of the stories are so bad they should have been left out - and he is correct but blinkered if he thinks that doesn't apply to quite a few more of the tales.

Also - writing in the 60s and 70s he seems both blissfully unaware of any human rights movements at all, and yet patting himself on the back for tackling a society where some people are harvested for their organs for the benefit of other people to live a long life. There is one homophobic tale to be totally ashamed of writing, let alone including in a collection. And the only women I remember being mentioned are absent - there is a request from Mars for some women to be sent to the colony so the men can have sex - and a couple of women who are at home bringing up the children. At least that also meant that there were no sex scenes...... ( )

Some good ideas. And I feel wretched at giving it such low review stars as I really liked Ringworld and some of his other work. He says himself in the introduction that two of the stories are so bad they should have been left out - and he is correct but blinkered if he thinks that doesn't apply to quite a few more of the tales.

Also - writing in the 60s and 70s he seems both blissfully unaware of any human rights movements at all, and yet patting himself on the back for tackling a society where some people are harvested for their organs for the benefit of other people to live a long life. There is one homophobic tale to be totally ashamed of writing, let alone including in a collection. And the only women I remember being mentioned are absent - there is a request from Mars for some women to be sent to the colony so the men can have sex - and a couple of women who are at home bringing up the children. At least that also meant that there were no sex scenes...... ( )

Indeholder "Timeline for Known Space", "Introduction: My Universe and Welcome to It!", "The Coldest Place", "Becalmed in Hell", "Wait it Out", "Eye of an Octopus", "How the Heroes Die", "The Jigsaw Man", "At the Bottom of a Hole", "Intent to Deceive", "Cloak of Anarchy", "The Warriors", "The Borderland of Sol", "There is a Tide", "Safe at Any Speed", "Afterthoughts", "Bibliography: The Worlds of Larry Niven", "About the Cover".

"Timeline for Known Space" handler om en tidslinie, hvor de forskellige historier er plottet ind fra 1975 til ca år 3100.
"Introduction: My Universe and Welcome to It!" handler om at man her får facitlisten og historierne i kronologisk rækkefølge. Rumsonderne har bragt ny viden og historierne matcher ikke altid. Pyt! For alternativet er at bruge tiden på at omskrive historierne hele tiden.
"The Coldest Place" handler om Howie og Eric, der leder efter liv på Merkur og måske finder det eller måske er det bare Helium II. (Desværre er historien forældet, for Merkur er anderledes end Niven gættede på)
"Becalmed in Hell" handler om ???
"Wait it out" handler om en rejse til Pluto i 1989, hvor Pluto er i perihelion. Overfladen er is, så landingsfartøjet smelter det lidt og fryser så fast. De to, der landede, er derfor dødsens og den ene tager sin rumdragt af og fryser i løbet af sekunder ved de 50 grader Kelvin. Faktisk bliver han superledende, så han fortsætter med at tænke selv om kroppen er bundfrosset.
"Eye of an Octopus" handler om ???
"How the Heroes Die" handler om ???
"The Jigsaw Man" handler om Warren Lewis Knowles, der bliver dømt til døden ved ophugning til organbanken, fordi han er kørt over for rødt lys flere gange.
"At the Bottom of a Hole" handler om ???
"Intent to Deceive" handler om ???
"Cloak of Anarchy" handler om ???
"The Warriors" handler om ???
"The Borderland of Sol" handler om ???
"There is a Tide" handler om Louis Gridley Wu på jagt efter en stasis box. I stedet finder han og en alien en klump neutronium med en farligt stor tyngdekraft.
"Safe at Any Speed" handler om Teela Brown og hendes slags og deres efterkommere. Folk der faktisk har et gen for at være heldige. Så dette er beretningen om en mand, der sidder i sin bil og så bliver bilen slugt af en kæmpefugl, en Roc. Bilen kan ikke længere se vejen og forulykker, hvilket dræber Roc'en og et års tid senere er Roc'ens lig tilstrækkeligt nedbrudt til at han kan komme ud af bilen. Uskadt og rimelig underholdt og ernæret af bilens forsyninger i et år, så han giver herved bilfirmaet sine varmeste anbefalinger.
"Afterthoughts" handler om at det var sjovt at få brikker til at passe sammen. Træer, der bygger en stamme op som en fastbrændselsraket, fx. Og hvis nogen vil have flere historier i Known Space, så skriv dem selv.
"Bibliography: The Worlds of Larry Niven" handler om en komplet oversigt over bøger og historier af Larry Niven.
"About the Cover" handler om at tegneren har fået hjælp fra specielt James L. Burrows til at placere Larry Nivens steder på en tegning over galaksen, HR 753, GRM 34, HR 5832, HR 7703, ρ ERI, τ CETI, Plateau, KRG 60, 61 CYG, 82 ERI, L726, ε INDI, 40 ERI, ε ERIDANI, β HYD, Home, Ross 154, 70 OPH, Kapteyn's, Barnard's, ROSS 614, Sirius, Jinx, Alpha Centauri, Wunderland, L5 1665 Down, Procyon, We Made It.

Glimrende noveller ( )

I enjoyed this anthology of Known Space stories. I especially liked the stories "Wait it out," (set on Pluto), "At the Bottom of a Hole," (Muller discovers the truth behind the failure of a human settlement on Mars) and "The Borderland of Sol" (Julius Forward has a very dangerous weapon). I also like the timeline at the beginning of the book which sets the stories in context and the bibliography at the end.

Readers who like Niven's work may like Shaun Farrell's October 2007 interview with Larry Niven at the Conjecture convention. It aired on Farrell's podcast Adventures in SciFi Publishing:
http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2007/10/aisfp-36/ ( )

A very good book for those who like short stories. Each tale also provides a little bit of insight into the background of Known Space, especially great if you have already read some or all of the Ringworld series. ( )