Customer Reviews

Playgrounds of the Mind

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a collection of his works, this is by definition typical Niven. His work is often an intellectual exploration of the practical implications of playing with some stock science-fiction concepts. Sometimes these are technological innovations, sometimes they are quirky but realistic aspects of physics. Always they are presented in intelligent and engaging ways, and always with a sense of fun.

It's amazing how well this style crosses over into the few works of fantasy he has created, some of which are included here. Again, we see the meticulous but effortless presentation of a very firm set of rules by which magic is allowed to operate, and then he has a ball exploring the dynamics of the system he has put in place.

There are no pretentious profundities in Niven's work. His writing concentrates on what he loves the most - the intellectual game of playing with an idea. As with some other good science fiction, this implies that characters sometimes take a back seat. This is particularly the case in his older and shorter works, obviously, and this collection perforce contains a preponderance of those.

An intelligent author who clearly loves science and astrophysics, and is educated enough to use them to his advantage in surprising but entirely believable ways.

Larry Niven is one of the most inventive Scifi writers ever to live. His work is always brimming with ideas, from Ringworld --a million mile wide habitable ring around a star (a poor man's Dyson sphere) to Moties, a physiologically asymmetrical species made up of biological castes who each represent an aspect of intelligence (communicators, tool-users, decision-makers) or society. It is difficult if not impossible to find authors with more ingenious premises.

Unfortunately, the narrative matrix these gems are embedded in, while often very good, is too-frequently merely average scifi. Plotlines and characters are often clunky, and clearly there simply to provide a setting for his brilliant ideas. Ideas that fit twenty pages are stretched to two hundred, or at best, patched together with other equally bright ideas that are not a perfect fit.

The solution? A book of short stories and clips like Playgrounds of the Mind. This is a collection of the jewels, cut and polished. The selections are short very sweet. Long narratives, instead of being sacrificed for the purity of the premise, are dispensed with entirely. The ideas shine out on their own.

Other recommendations: N-Space (another book of shorts), The Mote in God's Eye (with Pournelle; probably his best novel), Inferno (with Pournelle; personal favorite, but that's just me).

Larry Niven's collection of book excerpts, short stories and essays on science and fiction is a continuation of his earlier collection, N-Space. Niven is known for his Big Ideas and for dialog and characters that don't stand in their way. Few are better at inventing convincingly-alien alien species. But individuals come across as "a credit to their species" rather than as complex personalities. This book mixes representative Niven fiction and his perspectives on writing it.

My four favorites from the forty-nine chapters are:

"The Soft Weapon" is an excellent single-story sample of Niven's fiction. It explains several actual scientific principles, features exotic alien technology, and centers around solving a problem. Everyone behaves true-to-type: The Puppeteers value caution and cowardice, the Kzinti value honor and physical courage, and the humans value "monkey curiosity" and clever solutions. Guess who comes out ahead?

"The Dreadful White Page" is a short short story that lays out Niven's perspective on writer's block. It makes its point.

"The Green Marauder" is a science fiction bar story set in the Draco Tavern. Typical to such stories, the seen-it-all-before human bartender makes casual conversation with an alien and picks up a startling insight.

"Works in Progress" excerpts and discusses The Mote in God's Eye and Fallen Angels, which Niven is working on while writing this book. Not all of his predictions about how they will turn out prove to be accurate.

This book is essential reading for his fans, worth sampling by readers of space opera, and... is not to be mistaken for a how-to guide for would-be writers. The fiction is very good, the nonfiction varies in quality, and the book excerpts will frustrate anyone who has not read the respective books. Keep a pile of them nearby while reading. Satisfied readers may also enjoy Isaac Asimov's Opus 100 and Stephen King's Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction On The Craft Of Writing, which take a similar "author tells his stories and then explains them to you" approach.

A bit of a hodge-podge collection. To go along with some decent stories, Niven has whacked in a bunch of book excerpts. Good advertising, perhaps, but he also does write an intro about the book to tell how it came to be and seems to be picking pieces to illustrate what he is saying.

However, luckily for this book's rating there is more here than this. There are articles about things like Mega-Dyson spheres, on reviewers, and other pieces like that that improve the score. Even an Irish coffee recipe for a large batch, of all things.

Playgrounds of the Mind : A Teardrop Falls - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from Inferno [short story] - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Playgrounds of the Mind : Rammer - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Becalmed in Hell - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Wait It Out - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : A Relic of Empire - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from Lucifer's Hammer [short story] - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Soft Weapon - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Borderland of Sol - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from The Ringworld Engineers [short story] - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : What Good Is a Glass Dagger? - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from The Magic Goes Away [short story] - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Defenseless Dead - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from The Patchwork Girl [short story] - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Leviathan! - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from Oath of Fealty [short story] - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Playgrounds of the Mind : Unfinished Story - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Cautionary Tales - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Dreadful White Page - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Retrospective - Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Green Marauder - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Assimilating Our Culture That's What They're Doing! - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : War Movie - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : Limits - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from The Legacy of Heorot [short story] - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Portrait of Daryanree the King - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Wishing Game - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The Lion in His Attic - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : from Footfall [short story] - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Playgrounds of the Mind : from The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye - Larry Niven
Playgrounds of the Mind : The California Voodoo Game - Larry Niven

Berserker fortress upload takeover return revenge.

3.5 out of 5

Hellish to hold.

3 out of 5

Corpsicle pilot's increase Tau tour.

3.5 out of 5

Ship brain Venus trip.

2.5 out of 5

Corpsicle decision.

3 out of 5

Bearding a puppeteer pirate.

3.5 out of 5

Hot fudge sundae crash calculations.

3 out of 5

Ancient alien stuff with many settings could blow up.

3.5 out of 5

Indestructible interstellar ship interference.

3.5 out of 5

Wirehead story.

2.5 out of 5

The old Warlock still has the mana experimentation thing going on. A werewolf wants in, and he has a problem with a snail dragon as well.

So he goes for a low-tech sneaky solution, with a bit of subterfuge, as well as a bit of magical innovation.

3.5 out of 5

If white-haired, run.

3 out of 5

Investigation of crimes surrounding the long frozen dead and their money and parts.

3.5 out of 5

Procreation and crime discussion.

3 out of 5

Appearances in the record should not be taken as gospel for massive mythical monsters.

3 out of 5

Dodgy escape stuff.

2.5 out of 5

Maxwell the Demon can do an energy thing.

3 out of 5

Immortality search may be of not much interest.

3 out of 5

Dream block.

3 out of 5

Scary horror ride.

3.5 out of 5

Old tourist fancies a drink.

3 out of 5

If you don't sell the scientific recipe for long pig, it will be pirated anyway. Pretty relevant, really.

3.5 out of 5

Pacificism ain't entertainment.

3.5 out of 5

Casual immortality cutoff.

3.5 out of 5

Mama kill.

3 out of 5

Mana ghost.

3 out of 5

Magic stopper.

3 out of 5

Weres dinner.

3 out of 5

Herdmaster question.

3 out of 5

Sailing story.

3 out of 5

Polar penguin puzzle.

3 out of 5

3.5 out of 5

Niven is one of the best known and most successful hand-science sf authors of the 1970s and `80s, especially in his several collaborations with Jerry Pournelle. This is the second selected collection (sequel to _N-Space_) of his short works, essays, and excerpts from novels, and it's a useful introduction to the whole body of his work, from the "Known Space" series and the Draco Tavern tales to the semi-funny time travel stories featuring the reluctant Svetz and the mysteries of Gil "the ARM" Hamilton. I've read all of these before, though some not for many years, and most are enjoyable. I could have done without the novel excerpts, though; if you haven't already read the whole book, you'll have no idea what's going on.

As with any collection of material both new and previously released the reader's satisfaction with this book will vary depending on their experience with the writer. For those not experienced with Niven this book in addition to N-Space will put you into the right frame of mind to explore the rest of Niven's Known Space.

In addition to Known Space, stories set in other Niven arenas such as the worlds of the Draco Tavern and The Magic Goes Away are included. I find these are some of Niven's best pieces of writing and they continue in good stead here. I did not realize until recently that Niven and Pournelle's The Burning City (and sequels) is set in the world of The Magic Goes Away.

I also enjoy Niven's anecdotes and tidbits about conventioning and collaborating with Pournelle and Barnes. I'm not a big drinker so his Irish coffee recipe doesn't do anything for me, but my wife will enjoy having something new to try out when we entertain.

Outside the norm, Niven's Green Lantern bible is an interesting read for a fan of the comic and another good reason to pick this up.

Though I skipped over a fair amount of the material in Playgrounds, having read it already in other books, I still find this a worthwhile addition to my Niven collection.

There is not much to say here that I have not already said in my review of the paperback edition of "N-Space". Especially since "N-Space" and "Playgrounds Of The Mind" really are the first and second part of one, huge collection, I highly recommend that you pick up "N-Space" first, or better yet, buy both books, but be sure to read "N-Space" first.

Most people who are reading this probably read N-Space and want to know if it's more of the same (which can be good or bad depending on what you thought of the last book) . . . basically it is more of the same, though the book "feels" different, don't ask me why. It's still the same mix of already seen short stories, rare short stories, excerpts from both longer works and works in progress and a bunch of essays on various topics. So a reader's reaction to it probably will be fairly personal depending on how well read one is with Niven. I've read a good majority of his novels and short story collections so the key point for me was the essays and the introductions to the stories themselves. Don't get me wrong, Niven is probably best with the short story and just about all of the stories here are worth reading again (there's also a bunch of stories set within the "Magic Goes Away" setting, all of which are great fun) . . . the excerpts aren't that interesting since most of them don't really give a good impression of the book but the notes about the writing of the novels make it more worthwhile. Niven is a lively writer when it comes to essays and the like, he often comes across as best fun and rather smug at the same time, like he's proud of himself and doesn't mind letting you know that. However, I can't blame him, if I was as successful as he has been in the SF field I'd probably toot my own horn more than could be considered healthy. He can afford it. Basically new readers will like this and the preceeding volume as a taste of what Niven can do, getting a glimpse of a lot of the high points that are lurking in his books (admittedly sometimes you have to look hard) while older readers can enjoy some longtime favorites and amuse ourselves with the many anecdotes and asides. A worthy purchase for any category of Niven fandom.

Larry Niven's PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND is the second volume of various essays, short-stories, and various anecdotes from his 40 years in science-fiction circles. The first was N-SPACE.

Some of the material in PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND is very interesting, such as his essay "Bigger than Worlds", in which he sketches out a number of interesting ideas for large-scale habitats, including his now famous Ringworld. His recipe for Irish coffee is sure to delight fans of the liquor.

Nonetheless, the bulk of the selections in PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND do not make the book worth getting. Niven's non-Known Space material is infamously badly written. Many of the anecdotes about science-fiction conventions are dull, and will not entertain anyone who thinks the idea of a science-fiction gathering is somewhat silly. Furthermore, a great deal of the book consists of material available elsewhere. Chances are that, if you like Niven enough to buy PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND, you've already got all the Known Space books. And not only is the Known Space material available elsewhere, but what's in PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND is only the duds of the KS series, such as "The Soft Weapon" and "The Borderland of Sol".

I'd recommend PLAYGROUNDS OF THE MIND only to those who have already read the majority of Niven's works and honestly enjoy his non-Known Space works.

This collection of Larry Niven's work is a good sampler and shows both what makes Niven good and what keeps him from being great.

Niven is a hard science fiction writer, interested in the possibilities of advanced technologies. Although he doesn't always adhere to the laws of physics (his Known Space works rely on hyperspatial travel), he does adhere to as much science as possible. His primary focus is on human-alien interactions and "interesting" worlds, with probably none more well-known than his Ringworld. Even in the featured fantasy stories, there is something of a scientific underpinning to his works.

Niven's ideas are often clever and he is a generally proficient writer, which makes his works overall good. On the other hand, he is not a "great" writer. I can't point to many specific examples, but there is something that is stylistically missing that prevents his work from getting to that higher level. Actually, my main gripe with his style seems to be his descriptive abilities; the concepts he tries to convey are sometimes described unclearly, leaving the reader with only a vague picture of what Niven is trying to show. In a hard science fiction writer - who relies on these scientific concepts as his bread-and-butter - this is a significant flaw. Fortunately, it doesn't happen enough to truly mar his overall work.

So even if Niven (and this collection) has its imperfections, it is generally good and a fun read. For Niven fans, or just those who want to see what type of writer he is, this is a recommended read.