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In many stories the aliens aren't really alien at all. The classic example of this is Star Trek with aliens that are entirely human except for a bump on their nose, but it goes beyond their appearance. They act human, live like humans and think like humans, and while it is impossible for humans to create thoughts that are completely different from them the aliens in "The Mote In God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, are truly exceptional. They not only don't look like humans but they largely don't think like humans.

In fact much of the plot of this book comes from the differences of the Moties and the humans. Though humans are a near galactic civilization by this time they have met an alien race. This race is trapped inside of their star system because the single point in the system that allows for a jump to another star system leads to a point that their ships cannot survive in.

One of the odd things about the species of Moties is that they change genders throughout their life. What makes this worse is that once female they must become pregnant or die. This causes a permanent and unavoidable population boom forever. This has caused the Moties civilization to rise and collapse that has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years, and the recognition of being able to escape their own solar system gives them hope for the future.

The difficulty is that the humans rightfully recognize that if the Moties escape that solar system they will overwhelm human society. The warriors of the Moties are better than human warriors, their engineers better than humans and their population growing faster. Because of this they face truly interesting moral choices. What is worse the escape from the solar system is not truly the solution that it appears. Even the moties recognize that by leaving the system they will only delay their collapse as they would fill the galaxy eventually just as they have their own solar system.

The book doesn't end with a miracle solution like much science fiction this ends on a dark note. Humanity will search for a cure but if they don't discover one they are likely to return to the Moties civilization after its next collapse and destroy it.

One of the best science fiction novels of all time "The Mote in God's Eye" is a fun and smart book and though it doesn't have the happy ending that many expect but it is the ending that makes sense and the exploration of this new race is fantastic.

Learn more about this author, Elton Gahr.
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