Not to mention FTL. But at least these have some basis in matter and energy, and doesn't require the Universe to be able to check ahead for all possible outcomes like a Chess-playing computer.
[BS mode]It doesn't need to check ahead; all possible outcomes happen. There just happens to be a branch that includes the luck gene.[/BS mode] I leave it up to the god of Impossible Physics whether there are branches for Scrith, Quantum Hyperdrives, General Products hulls, Slaver stasis fields, tasps, stepping discs, transfer booths, and so on.
I'm torn between wanting to see a Ringworld movie in IMAX, and a weekly series on my HD screen. The Ringworld is so frappin' HUGE that you'd have infinite possibilities for at least a 5-year story arc. I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Teela Brown, and Niven is quoted as saying, "Stories about infinitely lucky people tend to be dull." Yah, sure, if their luck is infinitely good! I don't think Larry ever watched Strange Luck the short time it was on: The protagonist suffered from wild extremes of both good and bad luck, and it was one of the most wonderful shows I've ever seen.
Ringworld: The first part of the book was very good - it established the known space, was full of interesting ideeas (culminating in the ringworld itself). The rest of the book was of much lesser quality - the species and cultures explored on the ringworld were unimaginative, too antropomorphised, uninteresting. The subsequent books of the series followed and amplified this trend, the new developments regarding the ringworld being uninspired or recycled from the frst book. They were mediocre.
Ringworld is very much a perfect example of the typical Larry Niven novel: - A great mind-bending SF idea - Uninteresting characters - Sex added in Ringworld and The Ingeral Trees / The Smoke Ring are my favorite of his creations... Amazing ideas, although not perhaps scientifically accurate. But fun nonetheless!
I liked the books (good, but not great), but my biggest beef was his version of a made-up obscenity: tanj. Short for "There Ain't No Justice", it just doesn't flow off the tongue very well at all.
^It works better phonetically as "Tanjit!" I think Niven was trying to emulate Heinlein's "TANSTAAFL," which is even more awkward as a cuss word.
I was thinking more of the ease of pronouncing the J when it was followed by another syllable. Saying "Tanj!" in isolation is awkward; the J sound just sort of dangles there at the end and stretches it out past the point of being a true monosyllable. But "Tanj it!" comes out like "Tan-jit," absorbing the J into the second syllable and removing the awkwardness.