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Protector
 
 

Protector (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "He sat before an eight-foot circle of clear twing, looking endlessly out on a view that was less than exciting..." (more)
Key Phrases: thalium oxide, trailing pod, gravity polarizer, Nick Sohl, Flying Dutchman, Roy Truesdale (more...)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)

Price: $6.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  Hardcover, Import -- -- --
  Paperback, Import, December 31, 1991 -- -- $4.73
  Mass Market Paperback, September 11, 1987 $6.99 $3.15 $1.81
  MP3 CD, MP3 Audio $18.96 $15.72 $9.99
  Audio, Download Offsite Link $13.10 or less with new Audible membership

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Protector + The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld) + Ringworld
Price For All Three: $22.97

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  • This item: Protector by Larry Niven

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before...

Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first...

He was never seen again -- at least not by those alive at the time.



From the Inside Flap

Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before...

Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first...

He was never seen again -- at least not by those alive at the time.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Del Rey (September 12, 1987)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345353129
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345353122
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #224,763 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #35 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( N ) > Niven, Larry

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Larry Niven
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Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton
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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews
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 (27)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The wild ideas make this novel worthwhile, April 2, 2001
By "colinbi" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
Even in the world of hard science-fiction authors, Larry Niven is a bit peculiar. His ideas, while always grounded in the physical sciences and defensible, are frequently beyond any kind of normal, logical leap. Niven's longtime collaborator Jerry Pournelle ("The Mote in God's Eye", among others) has been quoted as saying that he writes with Niven because Niven "is the crazy one."

"Ringworld" is Niven's most enduring work, but "Protector" is, in some ways, a better example of his talent for amazing logical leaps. Niven has described the premise this way: "Every symptom of aging in man is an aborted version of something designed to make us stronger. In particular, we lose intelligence with age because we were supposed to grow more brain tissue, when the thymus gland dissolves around age 42-45."

In "Protector," this thesis is demonstrated by the appearance of the first alien species to contact humanity: the Pak. We learn that Earth was a failed Pak colony; homo habilis is the Pak breeder stage. At about middle age, homo habilis was supposed to eat a certain plant that would trigger the change to the sexless, armored, highly intelligent protectors. Pak protectors have other notable traits as well, some of which may come as a surprise to those used to more traditional tales of immortality.

This is an early Niven story, and plotting was not his strong point until relatively recently. Mainly the plot is a thinly-veiled excuse to learn more about the Pak. Of the characters, only centegenarian Lucas Garner and belter Jack Brennan seem to be more than placeholders. The ideas in the novel, however, make up for many of the more obvious flaws.

I'm not qualified to comment on the scientific plausibility of Niven's ideas. I will note that some linguists have ridiculed Niven's use of "Pak" and "Phssthpok" as words invented by a species with a hard beak for a mouth, and no lips. More recent fossil discoveries have suggested that our evolutionary heritage may be far more complex than was known in 1973, but Niven can hardly be blamed for not anticipating new scientific discoveries in the interim.

Other reviewers have noted that this novel was later referenced heavily by Niven's "Ringworld" novels, particularly "Ringworld Engineers" and "Ringworld Throne." You don't need to read this one to enjoy the Ringworld novels, but it's definitely more fun that way.

For Niven fans, I recommend this book without hesitation. For those who haven't yet met Larry Niven, pick up "Ringworld" first.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A crucial book to fully understand Ringworld, April 23, 2000
By Michael Delaware (Battle Creek, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
This is a crucial book to read to gain the full picture of what is involved in the Ringworld novels. The Pak Protectors are quite a race. They are both complicated in origin, but simple in purpose. This book was very interesting, as it describes the evolution of the protectors more than the Ringworld novels do. Larry Niven is a genius at the technical side of Science Fiction, and this novel was facinating and filled with action. I enjoyed it from many angles.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Protector One of the Keys to Known Space, December 11, 2004
By M. B. RENTZLER (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Often overlooked in comparission to the Ringworld series of books is Protector. And this is a shame as it is one of the keys to Larry Niven's wonderland known as Known Space.

The Pak race has a three stage life cycle. Childhood (self explanitory); breeder (adulthood) and with the Tree Of Life Root becomes the sexless (both in deed and form) ultra smart Protector.

Phssthpok is a childless (meaning he will die soon) Protector who has traveled from the galaxy's core to save a lost colony of Pak Breeder whose Protectors have died out. What is this lost colony? Well it is the third planet from a medium yellow star. Phssthpok sets into motion a set of events that will change all of Known Space.

You can read other novels of Known Space without ever reading Protector but reading it makes the expierence all the more richer.

Would you trade away some of your humanity to become faster, stronger, smarter and nearly immortal? This is one of the things you will ponder as you read this novel.

A very enjoyable read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars My all-time favorite Science Fiction Story. THE "sci fi" of my life
"Goodbye and Good Luck. I Love You."
These, are the final words of the novel, "Protector".

-unless you have read it you can have -NO CONCEPT- of what leads to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by L Steven Richards

1.0 out of 5 stars Protector: Library Edition (Audiobook)
The Protector book is a good book to read, but not listen too. This audiobook implementation of Larry Niven's book exceeds a threshold of spits, clicks, and tits, that any non-ARM... Read more
Published 1 month ago by jrregan

4.0 out of 5 stars decent weekend book
As "Memarie Lane" would say, this is a 1 day book. only a couple hundred pages, but i wanted to get a taste of this guy before i got into the whole "Ringworld" mess... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jason R. Glueck

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps understand Ringworld
This book, for me, was critical to better understanding the Ringworld as a whole and provided insight into non-human psychology of the Protector stage of the Pak. Read more
Published 11 months ago by D. Baer

4.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE YOU
. . . is the last sentence of this novel, and leaves us with just the right swirl of emotion and wonder gyrating in our minds as we close the book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Charles M. Britzman

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent fiction... great nonfiction
It's a decent SF potboiler, but I personally found it the best book about parenting I've ever read. Undergo a magical transformation that gives you amazing powers you never knew... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Stephen J. Theodore

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Sci-Fi with an anthropological twist that is entertaining.
Protector


I went into this book thinking that it would be the story of a really old alien who came to earth and found something in us worth saving. Read more
Published on November 7, 2007 by Dominic Ebacher

3.0 out of 5 stars Juvenile, but good
If you like epic SciFi with positive endings and colorful characters, which I do, this is a good book. Read more
Published on September 23, 2007 by Tony

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader
The Pak protectors have both a strange physiology and psychology. They mature from the breeder stage to the very intelligent protector stage, and develop a serious protective... Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Blue Tyson

5.0 out of 5 stars Good things DO come in small packages...
"Protector" by Larry Niven is a very short book of around 215 pages, but it is jam packed full of intriguing futuristic technologies, plenty of space-operatic drama and a very... Read more
Published on June 5, 2007 by Lucretius

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