Learning the World
A novel of first contact. After years of travel a colonization ship arrives at its destination only to find the planet already inhabited by an alien species that just started using radio. This first ever encounter with an alien species takes place against the backdrop of short sighted internal politics for both species, as well as the new reality that space is not empty. I liked the book for its depiction of the alien world and society, as well as for the statistical notion that finding one alien species means finding a lot more. That is the true consequence of the new reality the humans face, putting a possible end to a long era of space colonization.