The Mote in God's Eye — Larry Niven

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others. The Mote in God's Eyes is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel in mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.