I was watching the Nova episode Monster of the Milky Way today (featuring, amongst others, famed science fiction author Gregory Benford). This was a pure astrophysics romp showing the people, events, and theories that describe the very nature of galaxies. They discussed neutron stars, black holes, the big bang - frankly, all of what we think of as reality.

Partway through was a description of tidal forces around a black hole which, as it turns out, are very similar (though dramatically bigger) to the tidal forces around neutron stars. And "Neutron Star" is a very good story by Larry Niven which provide and excellent explanations of tidal forces around very massive objects.

There was also a discussion of the black hole that apparently sits in the middle of our galaxy - indeed, in the middle of all galaxies - which Larry Niven also described in A World Out of Time.

Niven was not, himself, mentioned in this - and indeed shouldn't have been as he's not a researcher in this area. However, I could not help but be reminded of his work as I watched this highly informative and entertaining episode.