I generally like Niven's books, but am not an rabid fan. The format seemed more like advertising for the books from which the excerpts were taken, or catering to his fanclub. The excerpts didn't work for me as they were, necessarily, incomplete and not a well-rounded story. Some stories, like Chicxulub, were great and I would have missed them if I hadn't tried this book. Most books of previously published work would reference original publication, & I missed that as I was curious about the time frame of this collection. 'Travelers' in particular was quite a presentiment of (current) Covid situation. ( )

This collection is heavy on excerpts from Niven's most recent novels--I've read most of them, so maybe I'm biased but such excerpts don't seem worth reprinting in a collection like this. The short stories and non-fiction, on the other hand, were great. I have always liked the short intros Niven writes and I enjoyed all of them in this collection. ( )