Little Fuzzy

First published in 1962 and good enough to be nominated for the Hugo Award for best novel in 1963 (Philip K. Dick won that year with <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/216363.The_Man_in_the_High_Castle" title="The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick" rel="noopener">The Man in the High Castle</a>) Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper makes me wonder how influential this book was in the 60s, not just in science fiction or even in literature, but in the 60s culture. <br><br>Working well on many levels, this is a fun story about Earth colonists coming into contact with cute little fuzzy bipeds, but also a serious discussion about what it means to be a sentient, thinking individual. And more than that, this may also be read as either an allegory for an individual’s relationship between big business and big government; also for a statement about indigenous people's rights.<br><br>Many critics have noticed the libertarian themes to this work (Piper was nominated posthumously for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel in 1997), but I must observe that big business was cast as the villain early in and it was big government that came in to save the day. Of course, there are plenty of examples of individuals standing up for each other, and doing what's right in spite of possible negative consequences.<br><br>This has been described as a young adult or juvenile novel. I cannot agree as the characters step out of the 60s drinking like fish and smoking like chimneys, and there is some nefarious suggestions and brutal violence. Perhaps the cute little fuzzies are the origin of this classification, and this makes me wonder about influences on Gremlins and / or the Ewoks.<br><br>Finally, this could have been an even greater classic. Several times while reading, I thought I had a 5 star vote, but Piper's villains are one dimensional straw men and the denouement is watered down. For these reasons, I will likely read <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/4763.John_Scalzi" title="John Scalzi" rel="noopener">John Scalzi</a>'s <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/9647532.Fuzzy_Nation" title="Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi" rel="noopener">Fuzzy Nation</a> and check out his Fuzzy "reboot". <br><br>Even that said, this is a fun book and a must read for classic sic-fi fans.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1499176523i/23201138._SY540_.jpg" width="251" height="400" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

<b>“Well, if a Little Fuzzy finds a door open, I’d like to know why he shouldn’t come in and look around.”</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1647382071i/32691625._SX540_.jpg" alt="Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper - Free ebook download - Standard Ebooks: Free and liberated ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover." class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>H. Beam Piper's <i>Little Fuzzy</i> has all the features of a feel-good science fiction tale. It has cute, sentient (almost childlike) aliens, a struggle for their survival as well as villains and corporate greed to root against. So it might have been a bit predictable, but I don't regret picking it up in the least. 3.5 stars

I remember loving this when I first read it as a teen, rereading it decades later I can see why I loved it then and why I am a little less keen on it now. The “Fuzzy” aliens are very cute, as shown on the various book covers, or if you visualize them from <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/128647.H__Beam_Piper" title="H. Beam Piper" rel="noopener"> H. Beam Piper</a>’s descriptions. They look cute and the act cute, they must be one of sci-fi’s most charming alien species. My teen self was indeed very charmed, my current self was reminded to make an appointment for my annual dental checkup. <br /><br />Even with all the cuteness overload <i>Little Fuzzy</i> only reads like a children’s book half the time, the other half is a more mature exploration of the meaning of sapience* and a theme of understanding and compassion toward less civilized, sophisticated or educated folks. I enjoy both the juvenile and the mature facets of the book though I have to confess I do find much of it too calculatedly cute, especially with names like Pappy Jack (nickname for Jack Holloway) for the main character, Goldilocks, Cinderella, Ko-Ko etc. for the aliens. I find the aliens too cute and too anthropomorphized to be believable, for example they think of humans as “the Big Ones” who are mostly good and want to live with them for comfort and protection. A lot of humans are of course very keen on them on account of their extreme cuteness, the situation just seems too pat and overly idealistic to me.<br /><br />The theme of “what is sapience?” is – for me – the best aspect of this book. It starts with a simplistic definition of “anything that talks and build a fire” to more rigorous tests of language, communication, problem solving, social interaction etc. Here is an example passage:<br /><br /><i>“It isn’t communication, it’s symbolization. You simply can’t think sapiently except in verbal symbols. Try it. Not something like changing the spools on a recorder or field-stripping a pistol; they’re just learned tricks. I mean ideas.” </i><br /><br />I like how <i>Little Fuzzy</i> developed into a courtroom drama where the aliens’ sapient status is at stake. The arguments are very interesting though the antagonists who oppose to recognizing the Fuzzies as sapient never become much of a threat. The human characters are all forgettable including Jack Holloway himself. The Fuzzies are of course very well-conceived and vividly described, though too deliberately cute for my taste.<br /><br />The Fuzzies are likely to be the inspiration for the Ewoks in <i>Star Wars: Return of the Jedi</i> (an observation made in many other reviews of this book). The plotline also remind me a little of the Athsheans from Ursula Le Guin’s excellent and more serious <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/276767.The_Word_for_World_is_Forest__Hainish_Cycle__6_" title="The Word for World is Forest (Hainish Cycle #6) by Ursula K. Le Guin" rel="noopener"> The Word for World Is Forest</a>, though <i>Little Fuzzy</i> predates Le Guin’s book by many years.<br /><br />The most obvious book inspired by <i>Little Fuzzy</i> is of course John Scalzi’s popular “reboot” <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/9647532.Fuzzy_Nation" title="Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi" rel="noopener"> Fuzzy Nation</a>. I have not read <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/9647532.Fuzzy_Nation" title="Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi" rel="noopener"> Fuzzy Nation</a> but in general reviews tend to be very positive, the book is a commercial success, and having read some of his other novels I believe he probably did a very good job. My only reservation is that I don’t like the idea of rebooting books, I think we have enough of that sort of thing in movies and I hope it does not become a trend for authors.<br /><br />In any case <i>Little Fuzzy</i> is something of a minor classic and I highly recommend it to the young and old alike. It is also in the public domain so you can legally grab a <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137" rel="nofollow noopener">free e-book from Project Gutenberg</a>, or a <a href="https://librivox.org/little-fuzzy-by-h-beam-piper/" rel="nofollow noopener">free audio book from Librivox</a> (quite nicely read actually).<br /><br />________________________________<br /><u>Note:</u><br /><br />* For some reason <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/128647.H__Beam_Piper" title="H. Beam Piper" rel="noopener"> H. Beam Piper</a> prefers "sapience/sapient" over the more common "sentience/sentient" often used in science fiction. If I understand correctly “sentience” is more related to responses to or consciousness of sense impressions, whereas “sapience” places more emphasis on the ability to think, and to reason. If this is wrong please enlighten me in the comments.

I was expecting to come here and find an overwhelming number of 5-star ratings. <i>Little Fuzzy</i> is a bit of a Science Fiction classic and was nominated for the Hugo Award for best novel in 1963.<br /><br />Turns out reading is still a subjective experience after all. <br /><br />Perhaps it is just a question of the right book at exactly the right time. <br />Or, perhaps I just like critters more than people. <br />Or, perhaps it is because I have a little fuzzy of my own at home.<br /><br />In all honesty, I don’t think I can remember the last time a book held me quite as captive as <i>Little Fuzzy</i>. I <b>could.not.put.this.book.down!</b> I absolutely <b>had</b> to know what was going to happen next and how things were going to pan out.<br /><br />Frontier planet with gun-slinging elements? Check.<br />Grizzled frontier prospector type protagonist? Check.<br />Big corporation executive types as the villains of the piece? Check.<br />Fuzzies? Check.<br /><br />I would argue that the only weakness of <i>Little Fuzzy</i> is the rather humdrum nature of (some of) the opening chapters. This is where the bureaucratic ne’er do wells are introduced, and some background is established. This all serves a purpose, of course, and the novel picks up considerably around page 20 (give or take).<br /><br />In fact, this little book generates a surprising amount of tension. I found it to be Edge of the Seat stuff (you will have to fight the impulse to sneak a peek at the last page of the story once you are invested in the fate of <i>Fuzzy Fuzzy Holloway Zarathustra</i>).<br /><br />The story does have some bitter sweet elements, but this seems inescapable. How else to tell a story like this? <br /><br />It is a fairly quick read, though, which weighs heavily in its favour. As much as I enjoyed the book, there would have been no point in dragging the story out. H. Beam Piper seems to have hit a bit of a sweet spot here, as far as this is concerned. It is not an overly complex story with overly complex characters, but it doesn’t need to be. It gets the job done just fine.<br /><br />Then of course, there is the big question that the story concerns itself with: when is a species “sapient”? That’s to say, when is a being truly self-aware (sentient)? What might trigger this (from a purely scientific point of view – there isn’t much of a religious viewpoint here)? Can it be defined and measured? Etcetera. <br /><br /><b>Highly recommended.</b><br /><b>Added to Favourites.</b><br /><b>5 stars.</b>

I read this before! Actually, I might have many years ago, but my main memories are from <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/9647532.Fuzzy_Nation" title="Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi" rel="noopener">Fuzzy Nation</a> by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/4763.John_Scalzi" title="John Scalzi" rel="noopener">John Scalzi</a>. It's been a while since I read that, but I'm wondering just how close a homage should be to the original. I'm also wondering why Scalzi bothered. <br /><br />I thought this aged well. Sure, there were a few outdated elements such as typewriters, tapes, &amp; developing movie film, but they weren't bad - just gave it a bit of flavor. I don't recall the discussions of sapience as any better, either. That was quite well done, especially for the time. I don't think we've crowded sapience into any tighter of a corner since this was written, even with all our work on artificial intelligence. Surprising &amp; a bit sad.<br /><br />The court scenes caught my attention. There was definitely a McCarthy era ("1984", Cold War or CIA?) flavor to them with the pre-signed warrants, surveillance, &amp; spies. There was also an old west flavor to them which was fun. <br /><br />I'm sure some will knock this for the lack of female characters, but the one it did have was very well done. Only having one made sense given the frontier, the almost western flavor, of the novel &amp; the times. Jack's character would certainly be at home prospecting in the Rockies. I loved his reputation. He was a hoot.<br /><br />I highly recommend reading this before Scalzi's book. It was good, but this was the masterpiece from which it was copied.

First I'd like to say that this isn't really a review of Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation. It's a comparison of Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation and Piper's original Little Fuzzy. I came to both of these books clean, with no previous knowledge or biases. Although, in honor of full disclosure, I have read the majority of Sclzi's previous work and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is my first exposure to Piper but I plan to seek out more of his work as a result of this book. <br /><br />I really enjoyed both books and if pressed I don't think I could choose a favorite between them. In many, many ways they are nearly the same and completely equal. No shock there since one is a reboot of the other. But in others they are very different. Scalzi's Fuzzy planet is a much more dangerous place than Piper's. This adds tension in some key places and makes both the evolution of the Fuzzies and the fact that they haven't been discovered earlier make more sense. Facts and situations in general seem better thought out in Scalzi's version. On the other hand, Piper's soft hearted space cowboy is a much nicer person and an easier character to identify with. Scalzi's Jack Holloway is, in his own words, not a good man but he is more interesting for it as are his relationships with the rest of the scaled down cast. Piper fits an amazing host of characters in such a short novel. <br /><br />Piper's Little Fuzzy exudes an almost literal haze of the late 50's and early 60's. This is where Scalzi has an advantage and is the reason for his reboot. Sure people write in paper diaries, watch film strips on actual projectors and record on tape recorders but it's not just about the tech. The characters in Piper's novel drink like fish and smoke like chimneys. Many of them would, by today's standards, be considered alcoholics but it's expected behavior here. There is only a single female character among a sea of males and the first of the two times we see from her viewpoint it says, "She ought to have known this would happen. It always did. A smart girl, in the business, never got involved with any one man; she always got herself four or five boyfriends, on all possible sides, and played them off against one another." Sorry, that just doesn't cut it today. And then there's the treatment of the Fuzzies. Even though they spend the book trying to prove that the creatures are sentient, they treat them like they're somewhere between a mentally retarded child and a well trained dog. That, I think bothered me the most.<br /><br />That's not to say that Piper doesn't have some points over Scalzi. Little Fuzzy has a more richly complex plot that makes it feel like it's the longer book (it's not) and left me feeling more replete. It gave the satisfaction of a complete meal where Fuzzy Nation left me wanting dessert. <br /><br />Overall, they are both excellent book and both worth the read. Scalzi does a great job of piquing interest in Piper's work, fuzzy and not fuzzy. For fresh readers, especially ones who didn't experience the 50's and 60's personally, I world recommend starting with Scalzi's reboot. This perspective, I think, would allow them to appreciate Piper's work for what it is instead of what it is not.

<strong>Great story</strong><br /><br />Little Fuzzy is a story that got me thinking, kept me entertained, had a happy ending, and reminded me of old fashion sci-first books.

<b>4.0 Stars</b><br />I read this after reading Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi… which was inspired by this novel so my reading experience was largely swayed by that initial read. I was surprised how closely Scalzi followed the original plot. The original novel was quite strong in of itself, although with much less humour than Scalzi's remix. I would recommend checking out this classic story, which certainly held up to modern reading.

This one those special classic sf books that you look for because people have told you how good it is.<br /> Do know what ? they were 100% right too.So if can find these books even if there taty don't put it back buy it .

This is a book I have read many, many times. I actually first discovered it in my early teens and loved it beyond measure I still have that same copy and I re-read it every year or two with great enjoyment.<br /><br />It was apparently nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel, I think it should have won.<br /><br />We start on the planet Zarathustra, a Class-III uninhabited planet where the chartered Zarathustra Company, with Victor Grego at the helm is happily striping the planet of resources and making lots of money. We then jump to Jack Holloway, a geological prospector happily living his life in the wilderness far from civilisation. Then one day, a small, golden-furred, humanoid, bipedal furry animal walks into Jack's house and is named by him little Fuzzy. When news of the Fuzzies spread, Victor Grego and the Company realise the danger - if these little Fuzzies can do everything claimed for them, they may well be sapient and that would be the end of their charter.<br /><br />This little known (and in my opinion, far FAR underrated book) wowed me when I first read it and it continues to do so with every re-reading. I loved the gentle touch with which geology, planetology and a brand new planet are described. When I read it the sci-fi books had a lot of exciting space romps, a lot of human-o-centric adventures and a lot of social speculation in science fiction but I had never before come across such a beautifully written, vivid book which took biological science and geology and made them into such an exciting, vivid story. <br /><br />The description of sunstone mining on Zarathustra, where "Some fifty million years ago...there had existed a marine life form, something like a jellyfish..." some of which by an accident of fossilisation were thermoflurecent and were enormously expensive as jewels just made me want to run away to the stars and become a fossicker. There was a problem with this career plan which I later spotted. I had to make do with some fossicking in outback Australia instead.<br /><br />I loved Little Fuzzy and his family, I was charmed by the way in which Jack Holloway related to them. The whole plot plan though fascinated me. The Charter Zarathustra Company, while certainly the bad guy in the plot, was very level headedly described; it was there to make money. It's executives kind of talked themselves into believing what their career path needed for them to believe, it all seemed so rationally and so very human.<br /><br />I enjoy court dramas, of which there is an abundance in this book, complete with precedents from many worlds some of them quite fascinating. Also I loved the exploration of what was and what was not sentience and the exploration of sentience and exo-biology.... Well, I am not going to say that was why I ended up doing an honours, in animal behaviour, but I am willing to consider it as a contributing factor.<br /><br />Something that always amazes me when I re-read this book is how much is packed in! It is a shortish book, 174 pages, yet within those pages a whole planet comes to life, many individuals all distinct and unique are described. A whole new sentient -no spoilers- race, it's discovery and recognition is outlined. All that while giving us an excellent, fast paced adventure. Marvellous book, far underrated and unrecognised.<br /><br />This is definately one of my all time favourite classic science fiction books.