Larry Niven – Tales of Known Space, Reading Order

I’m a big Space Opera / Sci-fi fan, and an equally big Larry Niven fan.

I recently decided to re-read a bunch of Larry Niven stories from his Known Space Series, but was at a complete loss about the read order of the various stories, short stories and novels that encompass the timeline.

So, after a fair bit of research (before I found a great reference here), I put together a solid read order for all the main stories on the Known Space timeline. There is a bit of jumping around and pulling chapters out of certain books, but this is what I ended up with.

1. The Coldest Place
2. Becalmed in Hell
3. Wait it Out
4. Eye of an Octopus
5. How the Heroes Die
6. The Jigsaw Man
7. World of Ptavvs
8. At the Bottom of a Hole
9. Intent to Deceive
10. Death By Ecstasy
11. The Defenseless Dead
12. Phsstphok (from Protector)
13. ARM
14. The Patchwork Girl
15. The Woman in Del Rey Crater
16. Cloak of Anarchy
17. The Ethics of Madness (start thru “2583.8 PLATEAU”)
18. Interlude (from Protector)
19. Vandervecken (from Protector)
20. A Gift From Earth (novel)
21. Protector (from Protector)
22. The Ethics of Madness (“2583.8 PLATEAU” thru end)
23. The Warriors
24. Telepath’s Dance (from “Man-Kzin Wars VIII”)
25. Madness Has Its Place
26. Choosing Names (from “Man-Kzin Wars VIII”)
27. Neutron Star
28. A Relic of Empire
29. At the Core
30. Flatlander
31. The Handicapped
32. Grendel
33. Juggler of Worlds (Chapters: “They” thru “Besieged”)
34. The Borderland of the Sol (from “Crashlander”)
35. Juggler of Worlds (Chapter: “Besieged”)
36. Fleet of Worlds (novel)
37. Juggler of Worlds (Chapter: “Becalmed”)
38. Procrustes (from “Crashlander”)
39. Ghost (8 sections from “Crashlander”)
40. Juggler of Worlds (Chapter: “Betrayed”)
41. Fly-By-Night (from “Man-Kzin Wars IX”)
42. The Soft Weapon
43. Juggler of Worlds (Chapters: “The Outsiders” thru “Epilogue”)
44. Destroyer of Worlds (novel)
45. The Color of Sunfire (short story published on LarryNiven.net)
46. Betrayer of Worlds (novel)
47. There is a Tide
48. Ringworld
49. Ringworld Engineers
50. Ringworld Throne
51. Ringworld’s Children
52. Fate of Worlds: Return from the Ringworld
53. The Hunting Park (from “Man-Kzin Wars XI”)
54. Safe at Any Speed

Enjoy!

Category: Books