Title: Analysis: The Mote in God's Eye - Review
Written:  1973  Pages: 108
 
Description:
Correspondence with Jerry Pournelle regarding "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. File includes extended recommendations by Robert regarding the editing of "The Mote in God's Eye".  The main body of Opus 174 are Robert's letters to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven of June 20, 1973 and August 27, 1973.
File consists of:
 
1)       Jerry Pournelle to Robert A. Heinlein, November 6, 1973, 4 pp;
2)       Robert A. Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle, November 21, 1973, 1 pg. 
3)        Jerry Pournelle to Robert A. Heinlein, "Tuesday AM, date unknown", 3 pp.
4)       Robert A. Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, June 20, 1973, 13 pp. This appears to be a draft.
5)       Jerry Pournelle to Robert A. Heinlein, July 13, 1973, 6 pp.
6)       Robert A. Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle, July 14, 1973 ("Bastille Day"), 7 pp.  
7)       Ginny Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle, November 10, 1973, 2 pp.  
8)       Ginny Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle, November 18, 1973, 1 pg. 
9)       Ginny Heinlein to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, September 19, 1973, 2 pp.
10)   Robert A. Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, June 20, 1973, 15 pp. This appears to the version actually sent to Pournelle and Niven because of the presence of the "PS" and "PPS" pages not present in the other version.
11)    Robert A. Heinlein to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, August 27, 1973, 26 pp. 
12)   Jerry Pournelle to Ginny Heinlein, November 5, 1973, 1 pg.
13)    Robert A. Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, August 27, 1973, 26 pages. This version of this letter appears to be the one that Robert intended to be the "official" part of the Opus due to handwritten edits throughout, and margin notes on some pages that do not appear in the other version. This suggests he was preparing this version to be part of Opus 193, "Writing for a Living". 
 
Publication: 
Dates suggest this Opus crystallized Robert's desire to undertake a book on writing using a variety of his previous writings on the issue.  The lengthy letters critiquing "The Mote in God's Eye" are June through August 1973, and Robert proposes "Writing for a Living" to his agent Lurton Blassingame in September, 1973.
 
Notes: Cross Refrenced in Opus 193