Now Ringworld I have heard of since the Halos in the Halo games are kind of based on the ones in his novel. I just forgot the author, now I'm definitely going to find a copy.
It's not a single book, Known Space is the fictional universe a large number of Niven's books take place in. He's been writing books around it since the 60's, all the way to his most recent one (the end of a 5-part series), "Fate of Worlds", which came out just last summer. I'd recommend starting with his collection of short stories "Neutron Star" and if you like that, follow it up with his most famous book, "Ringworld". He's come up with several other interesting aliens, too. One of which, the Kzin, he used in an episode of "Star Trek: The Animated Series" which he wrote the script for.
I think Doctor Who is almost as popular as Star Trek in North America now, mostly thanks to the general lack of any decent sci-fi shows these days. Personally I've been a fan since I was a kid, when a new TV channel decided to air every single episode from the original series, once a week. Been a Whovian ever since.
My favourite alien race is the Pierson's Puppeteers from Larry Niven's "Known Space" books. The only sentient race evolved from herbivores, they are a race of cowards who flee at the faintest hint of danger and consider any member of their species brave enough to go off-world and deal with aliens (ie. diplomats and traders) to be technically insane. Having come from herd animals they prefer being in large groups, and their world has a trillion of them on it. At one time they performed scientific experiments and determined that they had nothing resembling a soul, and so since death was absolute, their society heavily invested in self-preservation (so much so that their furniture consists of no straight edges or corners in case someone falls against them), and they've become fantastically advanced as a result. They have ships where the entire hull is a single piece of material that is indestructible by any known means (except antimatter as they discover), and discs that will instantly teleport an individual halfway across the world.
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