Ringworld by Larry Niven:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Spectacular novel; some of the best written and best imagined sf you can read. Those who love science will enjoy the technology and space science; everyone will like the great characters and daring scope. Some of the best drawn alien characters in sf are to be found in this book; who says you can't imagine an alien viewpoint? This novel won both the Hugo and Nebula for 1971. Select an invention:

Airmaker - breathe it
A device that creates a specific breathable mix directly from the atmosphere.

Crash Balloons
Inflatable bags that would both cushion and hold a flycycle driver in the event of a crash.

Electromagnetic Cannon
A set of devices on the Ringworld used to land spacecraft safely on the fast-moving rim.

Flashlight Laser
Small cylindrical device that generates a green beam of variable intensity and focal length; can illuminate or cut.

Floating Castle
A vast building floating freely above the land surface of Ringworld.

Flycycle - if a Harley could fly
Combination flying motorcycle, kitchen and autodoc.

Food Brick - tasty cubes
Appropriate manufactured food for any species.

Holo
Abbreviation of "hologram".

Kemplerer (Klemperer) Rosette - planets without a sun
Planets without a sun; they orbit a central point.

Light-Sword - not an epee
A laser tuned for use as a cutting tool.

Osmosis Generator (Cziltang Brone) - the air lock
A device that can render a solid permeable to matter.

Ringworld - sun-girdling artifact
A 50 foot thick ribbon of matter around a star, a million miles across and as long as Earth's orbital circumference.

Scrith - tensile strength
The material used to build Ringworld; has remarkable tensile strength

Shadow Square - provider of darkness
An enormous blind that orbits a star.

Shadow Square Wire - hold shadow squares in position
Very fine, very light, very strong wire.

Slaver Disintegrator - ultimate plasma arc tool
Sometimes used as a digging tool.

Slaver Stasis Field - where time does not pass
A force field that protects everything inside it by creating a space in which time is suspended.

Sleep Set (Sleep Headset)
An electronic device for inducing deep sleep.

Sonic Fold
Force field that guides air around an air vehicle.

Sound Deadener
Device that acts to damp excessive noise produced by different species.

Stepping Discs - open teleportation pads
Open air teleportation pads.

Tasp - right where you live
A device that induces a current in the pleasure center of the brain, at a distance.

Translator Discs
Wearable devices that wirelessly connected to a speech translation computer.

Variable Sword - better than Ginsu
A sword that could vary in length, and cut through anything.

 

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