Ringworld by Larry Niven is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, considered a classic of Science Fiction, a genre I am not so keen on, and I must say that I have been somewhat relieved to find this book only 2349th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, admittedly, the algorithm there changes the places, so we could see this climbing a thousand or more places – hundreds of books from there are reviewed on my blog, and the ritual is I put the link here

 

Ringworld by Larry Niven is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, considered a classic of Science Fiction, a genre I am not so keen on, and I must say that I have been somewhat relieved to find this book only 2349^th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, admittedly, the algorithm there changes the places, so we could see this climbing a thousand or more places – hundreds of books from there are reviewed on my blog, and the ritual is I put the link here

 

 

7 out of 10

 

There is so much to like in Ringworld, whish sends us to 2850 – as if there is a chance in hell for humanity to reach that far, seeing as Kakistocracy is the name of the game and Confidence Man https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html is the leader of the free world

 

Louis Wu is the hero – at least this is what he seemed to me, but let me make this ‘review’ short and say that I was not thrilled, but this has to be a mea culpa, the way I read these days is I have somebody do it for me, aka audiobook is mostly the medium, and if the narrative catches my attention, fine, if not, well then

-          Sayonara

 

Louis Wu is, wait for it…200 years old, and not just that, but he will have a young female human as lover, as they embark on this mission – there is a kind of conspiracy theory in there, as mentioned, somebody was reading, I was out of this Ringworld, but then, towards the end, I seem to hear that there had a been a plan

Teela Brown and Louis Wu are together because the former needs to get to the Ringworld, that is the medium where she would ‘fall in love’ with somebody else, because this new couple would then procreate – again, it is just a bunch of nonsense, most likely, I did not get it, but I made it up in my head surely

 

-          The fool does not get it, but he makes it up

 

That was a proverb, sort of, but then Noica https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/06/povestiri-despre-om-de-constantin-noica.html our Magister Ludi said that proverbs are silly, and he is right, take the ‘appearances deceive’ and then read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, or just use common sense and see that that is absurd

By the way, there are some things we could do to live to 100 (the future will take care of the other 100, unless we get to Armageddon) such as keep busy, stop eating when you are eighty percent full, use less meat, keep a social network, strong ties to family and friends is what the happiest people in the world have in common

 

Reconnect with nature, exercise, live in the moment – read Flow to get more on that – and you find those rules in Ikigai https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/06/kigai-by-hector-garcia-and-francesc.html which is about what the Japanese living on Okinawa do to live so long, they have one of the highest longevity figures, if not the record

I will interrupt to ask if you know how can I insert a photo in my review, so that it shows on Goodreads, I see it on my blog, but not on the ‘readers’ site’, this will work as a test also, because nobody will answer this question, even if they knew the answer, because…they do not read this far, if at all, and what is worse

 

-          They shouldn’t

 

I have seen over the past weeks some Science fiction films, and a few were good, one is Companion, where a robot is…well, the companion, then the first in the new series of Black Mirror, where they do something to the brain, but then they have to keep paying for more coverage and various vital functions and access…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’