* AccidentalAesop: Some critics interpreted the book [[TheGoodKingdom as supporting monarchism]]. Pournelle and Niven wrote an essay, "Building the Mote in God's Eye", that said they weren't trying to argue that an empire was the ''best'' option for future humanity.
* {{Memetic Mutation}}: The phrase "on the gripping hand" became [[http://catb.org/jargon/html/O/on-the-gripping-hand.html very popular among hackers]].
* YellowPeril: This book was wtitten at the height of US paranoia about China, which seemed to have an inexhaustible population, the apparent ability to steal and replicate any Western technology, and a society that appeared to assign people to fixed roles (farmer, miner, engineer, diplomat etc.) for life.