Title: Ringworld
Author: Larry Niven
ISBN: 0-7221-6406-8
Publishers: Sphere (UK), Ballantine (US)
Year: 1970
OPUS #: 58
Universe: Known Space
In Print?: Yes.
Awards Won

Nebula Award 1970 (Best Novel), Hugo Award 1971 (Best Novel), Locus Award 1970 (Best Novel), and the Australian Ditmar 1972 (Best Novel)

Louis Wu, a Kzinti diplomat Speaker-to-Animals and the genetically lucky human Teela Brown are recruited by a member of a long-lost race to investigate an immense artifact outside Known Space: the Ringworld.

The Ringworld is an enormous artificial world built in the shape of a ring, with gravity generated by the ring's spin. During their investigations of the structure, in which they are aided by the Puppeteer Nessus [unrelated to the web manager, although she tries to bluff us sometimes], they are shot at by the Ringworld meteor defence, crashland on the immensely strong Ringworld floor, are captured by automatic police machinery and attacked by natives.

Finally they escape with the help of a thousand-year old ship's prostitute and a piece of very thin wire.

Sounds improbable? Perhaps, but it's a very good read and swept the boards in Science Fiction Awards in the early seventies when it was first published.

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