I Just finished "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Really liked it and you couldn't tell it was a scifi book from the 70s (except for the part in the introductory timeline that said by 2008 the first interstellar drives were being tested

)
I don't plan on reading the sequel as it got terrible reviews.
Now on to "Shadow of Freedom" by David Weber.