Robert Match

I read "The Mote in God's Eye" more than twenty years ago. I found it very engaging. It's a thick book but did not read as such. It was a page turner for me. It is more classical SF than Social SF. You read it for the mystery of trying to understand an alien civilization and the plot evolves around the evolution of the 'understanding'. If you want to apply HUMAN SOCIAL understanding, you might very well consider it dated, and not in a good way. But it is distinct in that you're not going to confuse it with other well known authors such as Heinlein or LeGuin or Asimov. It maybe worth comparing to the great modern series"The Three Body Problem"by Liu.