Lucifers hammer by larry niven

This Study Guide consists of approximately 44 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Lucifer's Hammer. Get Lucifer's Hammer from Amazon. View the Study Pack. View the Lesson Plans. Plot Summary. Prologue through June; Three. Hot Fudge Tuesdae: Three. Free Quiz.

Topics for Discussion. Print Word PDF. This section contains words approx. From this premise they were able to accelerate the downward spiral of civilization into haves and have-nots in a very short amount of time. The side parody off the classic characters and formulas of the 's disaster movie formula is also worth a chuckle at many points throughout the book.

The enlightened science behind how humans would lucifer hammer by larry niven the raw energy of a comet impact is very well done. The sequences where characters perceive flashes out of the side of their vision when Hammerfall occurs seem in-line with how it would happen. It is masterful to watch the authors scientifically destroy civilization by applying the actual values of the kinetic energy of a series of comet impacts to realistic destruction scenarios.

The thought given to basic things like instant volcano eruption occurring due to the kinetic energy transfer are eye-opening and worthy of more looks at research being done on the topic to determine what happened to Earth in the geologic past. An enterprising student could write a Ph. I have to leave that to the authors, the 's, the modern sensibility of the reader, and the person writing their.

Thesis on the topic. In fact if you read Lucifer's Hammer up until the sorry, spoilers! Niven and Pournelle are old school masters of science fiction. They have many other works which are far superior and less controversial than Lucifer's Hammer. Please don't throw out the baby that is 'The Mote in God's Eye' because of the dirty bath water created by a portion of 'Lucifer's Hammer'.

Having just finished Lucifer's Hammer, I must say it is one of the best books of its type I have ever read - and I've been reading Sci Fi for at least 60 years, including such similar books as the Dust and Silo series, The Passage and The Twelve, and the Hunger Games series. While the book forces us to believe in a comet strike easier than the vampires of The Passageit develops in a most believable way.

The characters are credible and reasonably well developed this isn't Shakespeare and some are easy to like and admire contrast this with Gone Girl. How individuals and groups react to and try to cope with such a profound destruction of all we know was very well thought through and very credible. The fact that the authors relied on real science of the 70's and real places also made the book one the reader could relate to.

I also now know where Springville, CA is, as well as topography surrounding it, and could actually follow the story on a Google map. Some have complained that the book was slow to develop. This is true when compared to the rest of the book, which is very fasted paced, and needed to understand the characters as people. The book was written in the 70's and it shows - concern over "global cooling" and the descriptions of race relations my teenage grand daughter had never heard the word "honkey".

This dated, although did not detract from, the book. Still others complained of "racism". No, all Blacks were not treated as heroes - neither were all whites. There were some Black good guys an astronaut and his family, the Mayor of LA, some cops and some Black not so good guys a street thug and his gang - the leader of which was described as "brilliant" and a "natural leader", and a military deserter and leader of the antagonist army.

To walk away from this book and see racism is difficult to fathom - unless you go through life looking for such.

Lucifers hammer by larry niven: The beginning of a

At any rate, if you like this type of book and have not read it, it is a must. See more reviews. Top reviews from other countries. Translate all reviews to English. Great story by 2 of the best authors in the Scifi genre. An exceptional end of the world as you know it book. E um livro feito antes do ano A literatura de fim de mundo tinha muitos expoentes nessa epoca.

Um livro muito bem feito mantendo o suspense o tempo todo zunino. Report Translate review to English. This is a well structured, must-read of apocalypse novels. It may start slowly, close to confusion, but don't forget: the writers are masters in this genre. This is one of the best science fiction novels I know -- it excels particularly because its presentation does not need to revel in fictional science.

It is a well-invented, detailed and fascinating story of what might happen, and how people react, if the earth is hit by a comet. The novel is all the more remarkable as it was written a few years before the two Alvarez had linked the huge Chicxulub meteor impact crater with the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations.

Back to top. Get to Know Us. Make Money with Us. Amazon Payment Products. Not to mention a pretty negative view on Human nature in general. Talk about dark. And I've been a cop for the past nineteen years! Not everyone is that horrible or that quick to give into savagery. Yes there was what happened in New Orleans after Katrina, but that behavior wasn't so common in other areas hit by Katrina.

In Jan we were living in Upper State New York when a massive ice storm rolled in; leaving millions without heat, phones or electricity for weeks - in January. It was pretty bad, but we all kept our heads and worked together. We did not become monsters in the first few minutes. The book fails badly in this respect and it effects the rest of the story after Hammerfall.

I consider myself to be a moderate conservative well that's what my wife says I am and I try hard not always successful I should add to have a live and let live attitude. Now they seem to be rather archaic and downright reactionary. I am aware that the novel was written in the mid-seventies and aspects of it were in reaction to the changes that had swept through the United States in the previous fifteen years.

I also try not to condemn novels written in the past. After all they are a reflection of their time - not the present. But Niven and Pournelle are still alive and they haven't really changed. Needless to say I'm not happy about having a fond memory of my youth disturbed. Well I guess that's the word for reading a novel about the end of modern civilization.

Sometimes I wish that we didn't change and could just hold onto those things we remember so fondly. Oh well. Onto the next book. Re-Review Well there I carefully read it from front to back. First time since First the positive aspects. The book is still a very skillful large scale epic disaster novel. The middle part where the comet hits and the characters struggle to make it through the first few days is probably the best put-together, but even the first third, where we meet all the characters and go through the build-up worked.

The last third gives us a battle between our community of civilized lucifer hammer by larry niven and the evil army of cannibals. It's interesting to compare "Lucifer's Hammer" to "The Stand" when talking about the last third. Pournelle and Niven give the readers what King did not. A big violent battle between the two communities. So on one level it's still a very readable and engrossing book, but there is no getting away from the political and social ideas that have caused such a fuss.

Anyone familiar with my reviews are aware that I'm always the first to point out that judging a book written many decades ago by contemporary standards is unrealistic. However "Lucifer's Hammer" isn't that old of a novel and the political aspects get in the way at times. Pournelle has always been something of a provocateur and he had a grand time with this one I need to include Niven here as wellbut it gets in the way.

Lucifers hammer by larry niven: Lucifer's Hammer is a science

I do not subscribe to mindless, knee-jerk, PC Think, but I found myself raising my eyebrow more than once. I couldn't help it. Also some of the writing is a little lazy in that the political views espoused by the authors face no real challenge from those folks on the other side. The "other side" is portrayed in simple terms and that's lazy.

The real world doesn't have easy to see lines and often the "other side" has some good points. They aren't idiots just because you don't agree. In the end I will increase my rating to 2. Yep, still a five star read for me. It's everything a post-apocalyptic book should be, including very realistic.

Lucifers hammer by larry niven: It is a well-invented, detailed

I've been reading this book for 25 years and I've probably read it 20 times and I'll read it 20 more. Kenneth McKinley. Author 2 books followers. This page brick is a beefy tome with many slow-burn threads that play out, interweave with each other multiple times. A comet discovered by amateur astronomy enthusiasts is headed this way in what promises to be a close fly-by of earth and one heck of a display in the sky.

As it gets closer, the scientists calculations show that the near-miss is going to be more and more narrow. Watching a vibrant and diverse society wiped out on a global scale and the few stragglers left try to pick up the pieces when all the odds are against them slowly ratchets up the level of dread, despair, and hopelessness of this new world.

As a reader, I continuously questioned what I would do if I were put in the same situations. How would I react to amount of death and destruction, the lack of basic supplies, and the inability to improve my situation past that of the Middle Ages. None of that bothered me. Who is this person again? Very interesting read. The idea of a comet strike is a scary one, for sure, and even though this may be a little dated, the outcomes still seem pertinent.

While I liked the story overall, I never did really connect with the characters. Little Timmy. I have read about this book for years and have always been meaning to get around to it. My book club picked it as the recent read and I am so lucifer hammer by larry niven they did. Of course I knew with two grandmasters of SiFi writing it I was prepared to be amazed and I wasn't disappointed.

Excellent read with great characters, excellent story and the perfect amount of science in it to make the story believable. You won't be sorry if you grab this up and give it a read. Very recommended. Author 7 books 2, followers. It also examined some hard truths about how much we take for granted. The end was fantastic: "Give my children the lightening.

Yes that's a bit of a spoiler, but you'll need to read the book to find out just how much is held in that small sentence. If you haven't, I highly suggest you do. I don't think this is the correct audio edition. Well done. Oleksandr Zholud. The book was first published in and was nominated for Hugo, but lost to Gateway by Frederik Pohl.

Originally the comet was named Hamner-Brown Comet by the names of the discoverers, but Hammer sounds so much better! The first roughly third of the novel introduces a horde of characters, quite unusual for the SFF at the times of writing, 41 persons listed as Dramatis Personae as there are few missing! They are different people of different status and profession, from Tim Hamner, a wealthy hobbyist astronomer, who co-discovered the comet to a journalist team that covers the story, to a professional criminal, a sex maniac, a solder, a postman, a congressman, scientists, astronauts and many more.

It should be noted that the majority of actors are white men, while women are more in the role of a trophy wife or secretary and majority of black people are with criminals or movements like Black Panthers. It is fascinating how times change! As the comet hits both land and sea, the global catastrophe starts, described in painstakingly small details.

The authors definitely made their research and part of it maybe seen in epigraphs before each chapter, taken from such books as How the World Will End and The Coming Dark Age. Michelle Morrell. Lucifer's Hammer isn't just a book about a comet. Lucifer's Hammer is a full-on s disaster film, full of polyester flared slacks and unfortunate hair.

All the peril and pathos of an epic apocalyptic masterpiece, set around the Hollywood normal lives of strangely familiar characters dramatically ripped asunder and the epic levels they go to for survival. It's a big book in more than page numbers. What I liked: It's smart. There is a lot of science peppered throughout, real facts and knowledge written well, so it felt like part of the story while still teaching me quite a bit.

This really felt like the granddaddy of the specific genre "long, epic disaster porn. The fellow that saved the books! I had heard about this scene before and never realized it was from this. Note to self: always keep an ample supply of large ziplocks on hand, just in case. And start curating better reference materials! What I didn't like: The casual racism, sexism, classism, other-ism.

Over and over, coloring everything. And especially racism. It's important to remember how things were, and feel superior that we're evolving, but daaaamn, not something I will pretend to enjoy reading. It puts a sadness on my soul to think this is the era I was born into. I'm going to hope it was written to be overwrought, as much the book was.

Still, I'd get annoyed and put it aside, but every time I went back. Down at the bottom of it all, this is rollicking good disaster story, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. Kat Hooper. And the American and Russian astronauts who are chosen to study the comet are proud to be chosen for such an important international mission. All the experts said there was no way the Hamner comet would hit the Earth.

But there are always plenty of people who are ready to panic — the type who start hoarding guns, ammo, and canned food. When the comet does hit the earth, all those weirdos and the normal folks who are left must figure out how to survive on a destroyed planet. Faced with the stress of just trying to stay alive, will they become selfish and greedy, or will they work together to try to recreate their lost civilization?

And there are others. Though none of these characters are particularly interesting or likable, Niven and Pournelle do a good job showing us how the possibility that the world is ending affects each of them in different ways. Once the comet finally hit, I was riveted. The action never let up. Natural disasters, the threat of world war, the fast decay of civilization — it all seemed so frighteningly possible.

The authors do, however, make a good case for situational ethics, especially when dealing with such issues as biological warfare and slavery. The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known…. Destruction of California aside, this was a really good book. Tim Hamner discovers a comet, which upon further investigation will be moving through Earths solar system in the immediate near future.

Chances of it hitting are a million to one…nope, better make thatto one. Slight miscalculation, 10, to one. Wrong again! Oh, drat! It hit in 6 places! The first third of the book establishes the characters and how people react to the news of impending doom. And there are a LOT of characters. Some don't believe it, some go all out in their lucifers hammer by larry niven, some wait till the very last day.

The second third of the book deals with impact and the days immediately after impact: how huge tsunamis wipe out any coastal area, cities and islands; the force of impact drives sea floor mud and ocean water far into the atmosphere and rains down upon the land causing huge flood events; mega-hurricanes are spawned affecting weather patterns over tremendous areas; earthquakes shake the continents and Russia and China launch nuclear weapons at each other.

It looks at how people respond both individually and as small groups. It gets a bit gruesome, but I like that look at reality. The third part of the book speculates what people would do to survive, how would they react to this new state of survival and I have to say the authors did a pretty good job on touching on a bit of every part of humanity, the good, the bad and the very ugly.

But I do have a few complaints, mostly with the third part of the book. Wikidata item. Dewey Decimal. Plot summary [ edit ]. Literary significance and reception [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Curtis, Claire ISBN Worlds Without End. Retrieved Comic Vine. Library Journal. ISSN Ben September—October The Space Gamer Metagaming :