Preview
  • A Gift from Earth

  • By: Larry Niven
  • Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
  • Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (363 ratings)

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A Gift from Earth

By: Larry Niven
Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
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Publisher's summary

The world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans - it was shrouded in lethal mists. Life existed only on one plateau, unreachable except from space. But the disastrous decision to colonize the planet could not be reversed. So the settlers survived somehow - under a ruthless dictatorship. Mount Lookitthat was rebellion-proof. Then fate dealt the colonists a wild card named Matthew Keller, who had a talent that neither he nor anybody else knew about. At last the colonists had a glimmer of hope!

©2019 Larry Niven (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
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What listeners say about A Gift from Earth

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Old but interesting

This book poses promises that I have considered before. It makes you think which is something I enjoy in a book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A little dated

The story seemed a bit dated till you remember it was written in 1968. Amazing!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Human story in sci-fi setting

I always enjoyed this one, good pace and realistic characters. Not to weighty and fires the imagination. Story always stuck with me from childhood.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The amazing PSI power that Matt K has.

I love the sense of history this book has. It is one of L Niven's great story.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Gift from Finagle

Decent narration, and a classic entry from Niven's Known Space universe. The only real weakness is the epilogue which has nothing to do with this story and only serves to provide some information relevant to Known Space overall.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

entertaining concepts

Have reviewed many works,but never really commented much. This one was entertaining at best. "lookatthat" mountain and "we made it" ? come on, let's at least try to put our mind in the character of a space traveler when writing a space novel. like I said, entertaining at best.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not one of his best

Read this 30 years ago. On revisit it doesn’t age well. Or maybe I haven’t. The reader does an admirable job trying to improve the story line.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Organ Donor?

The audiobook does a great job with Larry Niven's second novel (1968). When I first read the book many years ago it was my least favorite of Niven's amazing early novels, but I really enjoyed the audiobook. The setting is the colony on a planet orbiting the nearby star Tau Ceti. The colony, settled 300 years earlier, has become a world of Have's and Have-not’s where society is broken up into the privileged descendants of the original spaceship Crew and the subservient Colonists. The story really takes off when Matt Keller (colonist) finds himself running for his life following a police raid on a party hosted by his friends. The punishment for most crimes on the colony is to be condemned to the organ banks, but a robot spaceship from Earth has arrived carrying a cargo with the potential to change everything. The narrator does a really good job playing all the characters.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not Niven's greatest work, but quite good

this is far from Niven's best book, but it is quite good. the reading actually makes it better.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not his best work but entertaining

not his strongest work but all in all not a bad story . I was entertained not engrossed but entertained.

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