Featured Articles

Articles written by Larry Niven's Fans

Stone Suspension Bridges and Dim Suns

Obvious Errors in Science Fiction (and how to avoid them)

Andy Love's Balticon presentation about common scientific errors made by science fiction authors.

Energy Dissipation

It's all downhill but sometimes by interesting routes

Andy Love's Balticon talk about what really happens to energy, and how it is handled correctly (and incorrectly) in science fiction.

All Models are False -- but some are useful

Andy Love talks about how creating models allows scientists (and others) to solve problems by applying previous solutions to new situations, and how attempts to use models sometimes result in error.

May the Forces Be With You

May the Forces Be With You: Gravity and the Centrifugal Force

Andy Love talks about how the centrifugal force applies to many situations, and how that force relates to gravity.

Inertial Navigation On Earth and Beyond

Andy Love talks about how inertial navigation works on (and near) the surface of the Earth and how it would work on other planets, and in weirder places.

Ringworld Essay

Essay by Andrew Love Jr. concerning the themes in the novel Ringworld...

Building a Modern Hell

Essay by Mary Pat Campbell relating Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Inferno with Dante's Inferno...

The Last Days of Philip K. Dick

The story of science fiction author Ray Nelson's last converstaion with Philip K. Dick. Includes mention of Larry Niven...

Ringworld Psalm

Ringworld Psalm by Man-Kzin War series author Matthew Joseph Harrington.

Left Jokes

This arose from a discussion about what would happen if two ships in Known Space were on a collision course and one had to turn away to the left. Could you define left? Here's what the list members came up with in line with the views of various Known Space species.

The Physics in Science Fiction

A "slides and notes" version of a talk, written and presented to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Physics Students by Andrew E. Love Jr, a long-standing subscriber, and frequent contributor, to the Larry Niven mail list.

Megastructures Article by Ross Smith.

Megastructures Article by Ross Smith.

Teaching Physics With Niven

The following is a "slides and notes" version of a talk, written by Andrew E. Love Jr, a long-standing subscriber, and frequent contributor, to the Larry Niven mail list, and presented by him as part of the 2007 Balticon science program

Essay From -- Science Fiction Writers

By Richard Finhold and John Carron Larry Niven's writing. From Science Fiction Writers: critical studies of the major authors from the early 19th century to the present day. edited by E.F. Bleiler.

Ringworld Modal Analysis

A modal analysis of The Ringworld, by Peter Taylor, a long-time member of the Larry Niven mail list and a real NASA scientist.