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Summary: The man who woke up in tommorrow
Review: I really enjoyed this Niven's classic. It had a very simple story, but was filled with adventure and creativity to keep my interest. I found it much simpler to to read than some of Niven's later works, but quite a pleasurable read. I would suggest this book highly as an introduction to the writings of Larry Niven to anyone choosing to read his stories for the first time.
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Summary: Yet Another Sci-Fi Masterpice
Review: If you like other Niven novles, or some good science fiction, then you should definately enjoy this book. It comes complete with ideas typical of Niven, transportation "phone booths", seeder ram ships and more. A story of rebellion, survival, and some just wierd stuff. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
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Summary: What a great story!
Review: In "A World Out of Time," Larry Niven spins a tale about Jaybee Corbell, a man from our time (well, the early seventies,) who has himself cryogenically frozen to await a cure for cancer. Hundreds of years later, he groggily returns to consciousness in the body of another man! Eventually he learns that his personality and memories have been distilled into a sort of RNA serum, which can be injected into whomever the omnipotent State of the future decides to inject them into. Corbell's new body is the body of a criminal, whose crime was so awful the State gave him the penalty of having his personality wiped, and replaced with Corbell's. The new Corbell finds he is not destined to fit into this new society, but instead has been chosen to pilot a Bussard Ramjet (one of Niven's favorite devices) to scout for new planets for humanity to go to. Rebelliously, Corbell steals the starship, and pilots it to the galactic core, just to go sightseeing. In the meantime, his hated personal teacher from his days in the care of the ... (oops, I meant the State) has reprogrammed the shipboard computer by radio to take on his own irritating personality. This is the only "person" poor Corbell can talk to... Eventually, they make it back to Earth, or somewhere that looks like Earth, although it is now orbitting Jupiter. There follows a quest for immortality through the ruined city-states of futuristic Antarctica, which has long since become tropical, while Corbell is stalked by the psycho-babe Mirelly-Lyra Zeelashisthar. All the while, he must deal with the bizarre sociology of societies of immortal Girls and Boys, who are simply children who were the beneficiaries of immortality drugs which would only work on people who had not yet reached puberty.Basically, this is a pretty freaky story. Like a couple of other reviewers here, I first read "A World Out of Time" years ago, in about 5th grade or so. Every time I've re-read it, I get more out of it. Larry Niven is incapable of dawdling about with little ideas, or physically limited engineering projects. Everything he writes about, particularly in this book, is on a macro-macro-macro scale. It's all quite inordinately neato. And ladies, be ready to cheer for Mirelly-Lyra Zeelashisthar -- talk about a powerful, fearsome female character. WOW. There is a very subtle, very faint suggestion that the whole book may possibly be a dream, or that some other odd thing is going on. Corbell's wife in his normal life has a name very similar to Mirelly-Lyra's name, and Mirelly-Lyra's long-dead lover's name was quite similar to Corbell's. Something seemed odd about this, to me. This book will keep your brain popping with new ideas for months, maybe even years. Definitely two thumbs up.
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Summary: Jaybee Corbell, a corpsicle, wakes up in the far future.
Review: Jaybee Corbell, dieing of cancer, gambles with his remaining life and has himself frozen. The gamble pays off, but not as he had expected. The future in which he finds himself own him nothing, and expects plenty. In a borrowed body, and a Bussard Ramjet spaceship, he finds himself on a trip even further into the future. An exciting book that I concider to be one of Niven's best
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Summary: I Eleventh the Motion
Review: Just thought I should add to the pile of superlative reviews of this book. It is one of about half a dozen I have reread frequently over the years. A World Out of Time is a relatively short work, under 250 pages. That, and the easy, crystalline quality of the prose make it a very quick read, the kind of book one can read in a single sitting. Perhaps this is the main reason it's not generally regarded as one of his major works. It's a drastic oversight. "Ringworld" may be generally recognized as Niven's Magnum Opus; but AWOoT is perhaps his greatest yarn. Storytelling -- in any genre -- just doesn't get any better than this. The number of exciting scientific concepts per page is as high as any of Niven's work, but the character development -- which manages to drive the action even amidst the conceptual pyrotechnics -- is the highlight of the work. Treat yourself to this book!
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Summary: Very detailed account of starship pilot's exploits!
Review: Larry Niven has created a view of the future that encompasses much of our hopes and dreams. But, they are dashed on the rocks and turned into an adventure of huge proportions. This book could easily become a movie, if only someone had the vision. I would love if it were on audio cassette, as well.
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Summary: One of Niven's best works, I cannot say enough!
Review: Larry Niven has written the BEST science fiction for years. A World Out Of Time has become/is becoming a classic of science fiction. A most enjoyable book, that I've read a dozen times. Even if the names get a little tedious, it is a mind-bending adventure the likes of which only Larry could come up with. Enjoy..
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Summary: Too unfocused for a good novel... For true Niven fans only!
Review: Let me preface this review by saying that I am a very big fan of Larry Niven. The Mote in God's Eye is my favorite book of all time, and I also have fond memories of Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, and the Legacy of Heorot. There are several problems with this book. The first is the abundance of shallow content. This book is chock full of interesting ideas, but none are explored to a great extent, and the book is very short besides. JB Corbell's life in a new body could have made a fine novel, as could the rise of The State, the State's War with the colonies, or the New Earth. Any of these topics would have made a fine book on their own, but thrown together hastily in the course of 250 pages, they make for a disjointed and shallow novel. Secondly is the writing style. Fans of Niven know he is not at all a good writer as far as paragraph structure, etc, but he is usually able to redeem himself with astounding ideas. This book presents no new concepts that I found very intersting, compared to say the Moties or the Grendels of Heorot. The future Earth Larry depicts would be suitable for perhaps 50,000 years in the future, but saying that humans have changed so little physically in 3 million years is just silly. Three million years ago from the present, our ancestors were just learning to use tools and walk upright. Heck, 50,000 years ago they hadnt made it much past that point. As with many of Larry's books, this one gets bogged down in pages and pages of sex between the characters. A paragraph or two could serve to spice up the novel, but Niven here gets much too carried away with his descriptions, and it becomes tedious to read very quickly. Finally, this book was edited VERY poorly. There are dozens of internal inconsitencies. For instance, something like "3 Boys joined the group", and then on the next page, "The 4 boys that had joined the group suddenly left", and things like that. I am an obsessively careful reader, and things like that vex me to no end. This book presents some interesting ideas and is fantastic in its scope, but ultimately comes up short. People new to Niven should steer clear of this book, and pick up Ringworld or The Mote in God's eye, two fine novels that put this one to shame.
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Summary: Too unfocused for a good novel... For true Niven fans only!
Review: Let me preface this review by saying that I am a very big fan of Larry Niven. The Mote in God's Eye is my favorite book of all time, and I also have fond memories of Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, and the Legacy of Heorot. There are several problems with this book. The first is the abundance of shallow content. This book is chock full of interesting ideas, but none are explored to a great extent, and the book is very short besides. JB Corbell's life in a new body could have made a fine novel, as could the rise of The State, the State's War with the colonies, or the New Earth. Any of these topics would have made a fine book on their own, but thrown together hastily in the course of 250 pages, they make for a disjointed and shallow novel. Secondly is the writing style. Fans of Niven know he is not at all a good writer as far as paragraph structure, etc, but he is usually able to redeem himself with astounding ideas. This book presents no new concepts that I found very intersting, compared to say the Moties or the Grendels of Heorot. The future Earth Larry depicts would be suitable for perhaps 50,000 years in the future, but saying that humans have changed so little physically in 3 million years is just silly. Three million years ago from the present, our ancestors were just learning to use tools and walk upright. Heck, 50,000 years ago they hadnt made it much past that point. As with many of Larry's books, this one gets bogged down in pages and pages of sex between the characters. A paragraph or two could serve to spice up the novel, but Niven here gets much too carried away with his descriptions, and it becomes tedious to read very quickly. Finally, this book was edited VERY poorly. There are dozens of internal inconsitencies. For instance, something like "3 Boys joined the group", and then on the next page, "The 4 boys that had joined the group suddenly left", and things like that. I am an obsessively careful reader, and things like that vex me to no end. This book presents some interesting ideas and is fantastic in its scope, but ultimately comes up short. People new to Niven should steer clear of this book, and pick up Ringworld or The Mote in God's eye, two fine novels that put this one to shame.
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Summary: Never really gripped me
Review: Niven is great, one of my favorite authors, but this one never really gripped me. It is mighty slow going at the beginning, then picks up in the last third to finish strongly.
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