Review: A Hole In Space
I first read this collection of Larry Niven’s short stories sometime in the early 80’s. I’ve always enjoyed Niven’s short work. It’s direct, speculative and interesting, everything I look for in SF.
This collection includes several of his stories where he extrapolated the societal changes that cheap ubiquitous teleportation would bring. It is fun to see how many of those speculations held even though communication more than transportation won the race. Flash crowds are now communication artifacts, but were put forward by Niven in his teleportation stories.
The other thing I noticed was the strong sense of 1970’s California that pervades the stories. Several times I understood a place reference or an attitude reference I’d missed before, because I’ve lived in California for a while. While the gender politics is enlightened for the times, the biases of the times are also present.
Overall these are entertaining, thought provoking stories. Recommended.