"All the Myriad Ways" is pretty ancient, by modern science fiction standards, but it's also more than that. It's one of Niven's collections of mixed fiction and commentary, science explanation, and basically "wild ideas" that he has either come up with or is happy to pass along to others. (Had string theory been around when it was written, I feel sure Niven would have discussed it.)I chose this one to review because it's the one I can find my copy of and remember what's in it. But use it as a ge [...]

Unlike many reviewers, I think the essays on teleportation and time travel are some of the best parts

The title story is nice, and Inconstant Moon is always a joy. There's a segment of nonfiction in the middle that drags horribly -- Niven has poor command of density for nonfic.

The title story and "Inconstant Moon" were really great, I think they alone make it worth to buy the book. Especially the first one throws up many interesting questions concerning practical philosophy - what do "free will" and "free decision" mean? What are their value? Is a free decision only pure chance and nothing more? I feel the other stories do not match up in quality to these two, but they all are short, interesting and fun reads.

This is an early of collection of fiction and non-fiction from Niven with many of what would be come to be known as his early classics included. What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers? was always one of my very favorite titles, Inconstant Moon is an established classic of the field, and people are still reprinting and discussing his Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex essay. There are also a number of early Known Space stories a strong selection indeed!

This was fun! A lot of this I can easily see in the 1960's Star Trek TV show. Nothing overly complex, just some really cool, short ideas! As many have said, it's very technical in the middle and I can see not many being keen on that. All good. Was neat to think about and to try to get into Niven's head a little but if you're not looking for technical writings, just skip them. In particular, I enjoyed Passerby and Inconsistent Moon.Enjoy!

I used to read Larry Niven's stories voraciously as a kid. He's one of the hard sci-fi authors, who actually understands the science part of sci-fi and works out the myriad ways (see what I did there?) that scientific advances will affect society and the way people behave, the things they assume to be part of their world, and what throws them in these advanced technologies. Niven is a big ideas guy, on a rank only below Asimov, IMO.This collection of short stories are story starters: short stori [...]

I liked several of the stories in this book, but I think it was a mistake to throw three non-fiction essays in the middle. They make it pretty obvious that the stories are all about the clever idea and not about anything else.There are some clever ideas here. My favorite story was "What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?," but I also liked the two extraplanetary stories, one set on Venus and one on Pluto. "Not Long Before the End" was a clever take on the death of magic. I didn' [...]

One drawback of collecting an author's entire oeuvre (especially in the SF/F world) is the repetition of short stories in various and sundry anthologies. For example, while I'd never read this book, I had read most of its stories within other collections. IMHO, Niven's talent really shines in his short stories; whether exploring the concepts of time travel, life on other planets, the slippery slope of organ transplantation, magic as a finite resource or Superman's sex life (really!). While some [...]

Rating based on the title story, one of his very best. Time for a reread. Cool cover on the first ed.: enpedia/wiki/All_theTOC, with a few comments: "All the Myriad Ways""Passerby""For a Foggy Night". Another classic parallel-worlds story."Wait it Out""The Jigsaw Man""Not Long Before the End", 1969, might be the best of his "Magic Universe" or "Warlock" stories."Unfinished Story #1""Unfinished Story #2""Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" !! Con-souvenir classic."Exercise in Speculation: The Theory [...]

Larry Niven has always been my favorite Sci Fi author. I got the chance to meet him, along with Jerry Pournelle's son, when working in the late 1990s. This book exemplifies his mastery of the craft, though old. You can see shades of some of his longer books in this, and the development or a "known universe" set of stories. Other are, well let's just say creative. "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" is an essay on whether Superman can mate with humans. The unfinished story is three paragraphs that s [...]

This short story and essay collection contains some of my favorite stories of all time. For example Becalmed in Hell is about a man and his machine partner exploring Venus. It has a very clever psychological twist. Inconstant Moon, which won the Hugo in 1972, is about a couple of people inferring a great disaster on the far side of the world. Epic stuff. Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex is a hilarious essay about the problems Superman would have mating with the hypothetical woman “LL”. It may [...]

Thanks to my older brother, I developed a taste for Larry Niven shortly after exhausting my middle school library's collection of Hienlien. This is a particular favorite for the essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, or Why Superman Can't Get a Date," as well as the one on teleportation. They still hold up.

Some stories and some essays, all on Niven's characteristic hard-science perspective. Includes an essay on time travel and the classic consideration of Superman and Lois Lane's love life, "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex". I read this with great enthusiasm thirty years ago, and, surprise! found it a bit dated.

I only read the titular story, which was a standard piece of science fiction based on the multiverse theory. It was an okay yarn, though the idea was clearly of more importance to Niven than the characters or the story. The exploration of how people would react to the multiverse theory being proven true was trite.

Larry Niven is truly at his best with short fiction, and though I had read a couple of these stories in other anthologies this was a very good book -- I particularly liked some of the closing stories ("Inconstant Moon" and "What Can You Say About Chocolate Manhole Covers?").

Ahhhh these short stories were great! If you read NOTHING else out of this book of short stories, you MUST read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" you'll never look at Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Supergirl and Superman the same way (at least, not without laughing)

This book would have been more fun if it hadn't contained like 40% recycled material from other Niven collections. What, did you think I wasn't going to read those other collections? Weak. But the new stuff was great as usual.

Good collection of stories"," many from the Known Space sequence.

All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven (1985)

Sciency science fiction short stories from about 1970 by the great Larry Niven.

This was great! There were a few stories that I recall reading elsewhere, though maybe from another collection?

Damn many good stories. Everybody should read this!

Fiction N734a 1971

The Superman/Lois Lane "essay" is quite risque and very funny--not at all typical of my mental picture of this hard-science SF writer.

Larry Niven has his moments of quality. This book isn't really one of them. But Inconstant Moon is still a fine story.

The classic essay "Man of steel, Woman of Kleenex" alone is worth the price of admission

A few brilliant short stories and a few cute premises for essays. He could use an editor.

recommended to me despite not liking ringworld