Although it often ends up on best-of-time lists, somehow the 1974 science fiction novel A Piece of God's Eye doesn't seem to really get read.
Written by Joshua Tyler
Although it usually ends up on the best of all time lists, in some ways, the 1974 science fiction novel. You are a speck in God's eye it doesn't seem to read at all. It deserves to be mentioned along with the work of the great masters, and, in fact, it is the greatest work of two such writers. A collaboration between legends Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
It's probably the title that keeps most sci-fi devotees away from it. You are a speck in God's eye it sounds like a joke or some kind of bad pun. Read the book and it makes sense, but sitting there and staring at the cover, it looks more like someone's bad attempt at a Terry Pratchet parody than serious science fiction.
Serious is what it is. In fact, it may be one of the best books ever written. At the very least, it does something that no other work of science fiction has ever done: It fixes aliens.
Two Kinds of Aliens in Science Fiction
Usually, in any sci-fi format, life from other planets is portrayed in one of two ways. The first type is the beast. Ridley Scott's Alien he does that better than most, introducing a completely unknown creature that lusts after human blood.
The second type is the intelligent alien. Intelligent aliens are always presented as if they are far from humanity. They may look different to us, but they are rarely very different. They may think differently from us, but they are not very different.
Usually, the author who creates an unknown creature bases it on a particular thread of human culture. Avatar's Na'vi, for example, may be blue, but we see their visions and, to some extent, understand them as a variation of Native American culture. Klingons may be violent and warlike, but they build their lives on concepts we understand, like honor. It is rare for intelligent life from another planet to be presented in any other way, and when we meet an alien who seems to think differently, we are sure to find out that everything was wrong.
The Third Kind of Alien as Represented by the Loom in God's Eye
Mote is something few other science fiction texts do well, presenting a completely alien, fully intelligent life form. Rather than basing these creatures on the existing environment of human life, Pournelle and Niven created a completely alien creature with an unusual life cycle and a completely alien lifestyle. From that the two authors have revealed how such a creature would think. As any real alien creature would, the Moties think in ways we can't even begin to understand.
Fear not potential reader, this is not some strange exploration of an unknown culture. Pournelle and Niven have taken this beautiful plot and injected it into a well-told story.
In the distant future, man has conquered the galaxy but failed to meet any intelligent life. Thousands of years later, long after humanity has spread across the galaxy, we make contact for the first time.
You are a speck in God's eye first contact charts, and when it happened, humanity made the same mistake that James Cameron did A photo by giving non-human beings human ways of thinking. That mistake puts all of humanity at risk and results in one of the most compelling science fiction stories ever told.
There is another sequel, which is also called Holding Hand, and it is everything is going well Mote. Above all, Pournelle and Niven's work is original. More than thirty years after it was written, even in an era full of recycled ideas, it has never been duplicated. If you like science fiction or if you like realism, do yourself a favor and get your copy You are a speck in God's eye.
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