Oh wow, I actually haven't read the Rama books (been meaning to!), but I vividly remember the flawed-but-wonderous PC adventure game. Have you played it by chance?
Haha, grokking abstract space-math associations maybe wasn't my strength when I was like...7 or something (prolly still isn't LOL). But I sure did enjoy crudely drawing the biots and aliens. :D
The soundtrack is still one of my favorites from any game, ever.
This humorous review is fun to watch, but there's really good gameplay and stuff without commentary too. :)