I just finished The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. It was excellent. It's my favorite kind of speculative fiction: imagine one small change to how the world works and then explore its consequences. In this case, the exploration is packaged as a first contact narrative which makes the comparative anthropology feel natural and entertaining.
Ignoring superficial differences, alien biology deviates from human biology in one way. That deviation leads to substantial differences in their evolution, societal organization, priorities, and motives. Niven and Pournelle toss in a few other interesting ideas along the way.
I sometimes had trouble keeping the cast of characters straight. I've never had a mind for large social networks, so that's probably as much my problem as theirs. Either way, it didn't detract from the story or the ideas. It's definitely worth reading.
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