[krazydawg005]

I just got into science fiction, and my friend lent me the novel, Earth, by David Brin. The only thing I know about Brin is that he also wrote The Postman.

If any of you have read this, what are your feelings about this novel? GOod or bad?

[Lowlander]

Brin is one of the best SF writers of the last 20 years.
However, Earth is probably not the best of his novels to
start. I would describe "Earth" as an interesting novel.

Brin's a very intelligent writer and his vision of how our
planet could be in another 50 years is fascinating. But it's
a very long book (700 pages) and definetely not his best.

I always prefered his Uplift novels. They're awesome : a combination of hard science fiction and space opera. Few people have done it succesfully but Brin does a fine job with it.

I would recommend starting with Startide Rising and the
Uplift War. These are two of his best novels. If you like these you can go on with the New Uplift trilogy.
Another good book by him is Glory Season. Again a very
long book (+ 700 pages) but a brave attempt for a male
SF writer to write a "feminist novel" in the tradition of
Sherri Tepper, Ursula Le Guin, Charnas etc...

By the way, Brin has also written a Science/fantasy novel
called The Practice Effect which is kind of a hommage to
L. Sprague De Camp and his Harold Shea stories. Good fun.

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

I agree with Lowlander that EARTH is a pretty ordinary book. Since reading it, I have shied away from the rest of his books, although I suppose I will probably read the Uplift novels one of these days, since I've heard nothing but great things about them.

The one (nearly) unanimous thing I always hear about Brin is to stay away from the Second Foundation Trilogy that he contributed to (FOUNDATION'S TRIUMPH?).

[nicba]

I really liked Earth and can't see why so many people consider it his worst. I thought his first, Sundiver, was the worst of them, followed by The Postman. Yet both of these are still pretty good books.

My favorit of his are probably the Uplift novels, especially the last three. They can be rather hard to get into as they tend to start slow, but once the story gets going....!

By the way, Brin has some short stories you can read online at his webpage: http://www.davidbrin.com/shortstories.html to get an impression of his style.

[Archren]

I'm with you, nicba. I have always really enjoyed "Earth." For me that one and then the original Uplift saga ("Startide Rising") are my two favorites of his. His near future speculation is pretty reasonable and has dated fairly well, although as usual things aren't quite as bad as he made it out.

I liked a lot of the characters, the science was pretty neat and it was a really fully fleshed out world: the media, politicians, characters from all over the world with all sorts of different viewpoints, etc. No laziness here!

Anyway, it might be worth a try, but I have to say that starting with "Startide" might be a better bet; it will get you more used to his style. Starting with "Earth" might be like jumping into the deep end.

[Horace Slatz]

It read like an "Earth First" flyer. I hated it.

[Soon Lee]

I liked "EARTH" but that's rather beside the point.

I was wondering if we have any threads for the SF newbie like krazydawg005, someone who is getting into the genre. Some of the books a longtime fan might enjoy may not go down so well for someone new to the genre. Anyone?

[Kamakhya]

I loved Earth. It was one of Brin's best, imho.

Why not start with Earth? Just keep in mind that just because you like or dislike it, there is plenty of other SF out there. The biggest mistake most people make with SF is they base their judgement of the genre on a book or two. There are many different subgenre's of SF, e.g., Hard SF, Cyberpunk, Alternate History, etc. Some people love Space Opera, but loathe Cyberpunk, or any other combination.

Just head to the Recommendations Page and pick a few that sound interesting.

[lemming]

Earth is on my list of top 10 best SF novels ever. It is fully, amazingly fleshed out.

The ONLY thing I didn't like was that, although I'm a sucker for the 'emerging intelligence' thing, it's done rather sloppily/mystically here toward the end. However, up to that point the science is hard, the speculation is well-done and realistic, the characters seem real, the planet has taken on an importance to people that I think it really will take on in 50 years, there are a million little touches that bring it to life. It's an outstanding novel and, in my mind, the best Brin I've read.

(The Postman was decent but too comfortable, and Kiln People was terrible. I keep meaning to read an Uplift War book, but remember reading one in college and not being too impressed.)

[Soon Lee]

Kamakhya,
As noted by Burrich (latest post on the recommendations thread), the links within the thread don't work anymore.

While the thread itself is an excellent resource, it no longer works as a hub for links to other recommendations. I can imagine readers getting very frustrated if they attempt to follow a link within the thread.