David Brin
 

Anybody here read him?

He's won nebulas and/or Hugos for some of his work.

His Uplift books seem pretty interesting, so does his book Earth. I've only read The Postman by him and wasn't all that impressed. Not a bad book, but there was potential for more. (and no I didn't see the film).

DON'T see the film!

I read most of his stuff except for his most recent three.

Sundiver
The Uplift War
Startide Rising

I loved these three. They are in order, but they are not really related except that they are set in the same 'universe'.

"Uplift" means to use genetic engineering to increase intelligence to sentient level those animals on your home world that have that potential. So far Chimpanzes and Dolphins have been uplifted, and they were working on dogs and cats.

Susan

He's my favorite author, and I've read everything by him except The Practise Effect, which I've never got around to buying.

He writes very hard SF, take the ship in Sundiver, fully functional and explained apart from one small violation of the law of thermodynamics to make it possible using current technology.

The Uplift series, of which there are now six, are his best (and most famous) work; a potrayal of a universe swarming with lifeforms, all of which snub earth as totally immature. They are a wonderful read, get any of the ones which SusF mentioned (I reccomend Startide Rising, which won all sorts of awards, and chronologically comes before the uplift war).

He also writes some excellent short stories, from adventures like Thor meets Captain America (don't be put off by the title, it's really excellent) to illustrations of some of the more extravagent scientific theories that have just appeared (including an incredible one about the evolution of multiple universes by black holes, an amazing explanation of why all of the cosmological constants are 'just right' for life)

His big problem is a tendancy, in early writings at least, to go for 'big answers' to solve all of the problems (Earth, especially). He's got a little better, but all of his books tend to be quite upbeat.

If you like Brunner, and near-future histories of the world, read Earth

If you like post-apocalyptic stories or moral stories, check out The Postman (a total of 2 minutes of the book made it into the film)

If you like broad-ranging space opera and believable aliens, get any of the first three of the Uplift series.

If you enjoy deep character development go for The Heart Of The Comet, co-written with Gregory Benford (and my personal favorite).

He's also written the finale of the Foundation series, and a bunch of factual essays on the technology of the future, quite easy to find with Google.

And if anyone can point me at somewhere that has a copy of GURPS: Uplift (preferably in the UK) I'd be much obliged.

Enjoy!

I've read the Uplift books and they are all worth reading, although Sundiver isn't quite as good as the rest, IMHO.

As far as I know, Sundiver was actually his first book. I thought it read almost as a "whodunit" set in space. It's the first book in the uplift series, but I had difficulty getting it, so therefore I read it last. I didn't think it tied in that much with the rest of the books.

The lat three books in the series forms a "triology" within the series and should be read together and in the correct order. Despite a rather heavy start in the first chapters of the first book, I thought they were brilliant. I'm still hoping he will write more in the uplift universe.

Oh, and Vitriol: How do you get to read his short stories? I never heard of them. Is there a book collecting them or are they all spread out in different magazines or some sort of thing?

There are books of his short stories - Don't know if they're abvailable outside the UK though. Try The River of Time, Otherness as short story lists.

Love the Uplift series. Couldn't finish the Brightness Reef series.

Thought provoking writer - tendency to hard SF, very similar to Greg Bear IMO.

Above posts say it so much better than I can at the mo, so I'll keep it short (for a change).

Hobbit

Earth was a great read, IMO, though certainly a little drawn-out and slowish in parts. The subject matter though is quite interesting. An epic that certainly needs to be read if you like that style of SF.

I could never get in the the Uplift series, but I did enjoy The Postman when I read it some years back. Pity that the movie made such a hash of a great tale!

Sundiver really wasn't very good. I enjoyed the background idea of "uplift", but the actual description of the aliens in this book was pretty ordinary. The whole writing was amateurish. However, considering this was his first book I suppose I shouldn't be too harsh.

I've been thinking about reading the next one in the series since it won some big awards, but I've already got a stack of books sitting on my desk waiting to be read.

Thanks for the feedback folks!

I've enjoyed what I've read of Greg Bear, if that's a good indication Hobbit.

And Vitriol, thanks!

I liked sundiver a lot- the world brin creates throws a lot of ideas at you, and the story's pretty good, if a little by the numbers mystery adventure. The worlds brin creates are a good idea of what life may be lke in a few hundred years (even though the book was written 20 years ago)- not just weapons and technology, but society.

I've started on startide rising (well I've read the 1st 100 pages today)- seems good so far, and u don't need to have read sundiver to enjoy startide rising- set a few hundred years after sundiver, and not set anywhere near earth- the author explains the main concept of uplift again in this book anyway.

The author's definitely worth checking out IMHO.

The Practise Effect was my fave book of his so far, and I've read the Uplift series.
It's a charming premise - that entropy happens when something isn't used. What he does with it is really fun to read, mainly fantasy. I read it in a night and found myself remembering it's ideas for years afterward.

I read "startide rising" and I had a blast.. IMO all this uplift stuff is pretty original. most of the story takes place under water ;-)
That's really something else for a change *G


SusF, I just notice you've made a mistake there (NOT trying to be smartass ;-)

"The Uplift War" is the last in the series, it takes place after the events in "Startide Rising"; for we are introduced to the Streaker in "Startide Rising", and in "The Uplift War", earth's colonies struggle for survival when they are attacked by some alien races who try to let Earth order the Streaker to hand over their find.

The story about the Streaker itself goes on in Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach.


-- Elessar

[This message has been edited by Elessar (edited January 12, 2002).]

Hey my memory is so bad these days, I can't argue until I've re-read them. I can only say that during both times that I read the books, I was under the impression Uplift came first. Don't ask me how I got that impression, it's been to long ago.

I just found Uplift War while cleaning out books.

I didn't like Brightness Reef much, and didn't finish it. I need to get it out of the library again someday and try again, since I've loved all of this other writing.

The new book The Kiln People looks fascinating. Saw it at Barnes and Noble today.

Susan

As far as I know the correct order of the Uplift books are:

1. Sundiver
2. Startide Rising
3. Uplift War
4. Brightness Reef
5. Infinity's Shore
6. Heaven's Reach.

The first three books can be read fairly independently of each other, perhaps Sundiver can even be skipped completely. I think it's easily the weakest book in the series.

The last three books (4,5 and 6) forms a triology and should be read together.

Anybody read "Kiln People" yet? I read a review which stated it is Brin's best book since Startide Rising. No spoilers please!

I read Kiln People and a good number of the rest of Brin's work (uplift, postman, earth, etc.). I adore Brin's wit and creativity.

As for Kiln People, the premise is unique and really quite interesting. I loved the story up until the end, which I thought was just a shade absurd. It reminded me a lot of Asimov's robot series. It is a good mystery, some action, some great characters and a good dash of philosophy to chew on.

If you like Brin, read the book. But, I wouldn't go so far as to say it is his best.

Thank you for that, Kamakhya. The books not out here in the UK yet, but the reviews I've read so far are interesting and rather mixed. Your comment seems to be more positive than a lot of the ones I've read http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif.

On a (slightly) side-issue, and seeing as how I mentioned him in the thread above, Greg Bear's book Vitals has also had rather mixed reviews too, hasn't it?

I'm looking forward to the Darwin's Radio sequel when it comes out but until then have thought about this one. (I usually like both authors and Greg's another nice bloke - sent me a lovely email after the death of his father in law, Poul Anderson, which was very touching and unexpected http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif )

Any thoughts or comments?

Hobbit

Brin...

Stumbeled over "Uplift War" (bound together with Niven's "Ringworld - one of those "wash and go" translations) and was "hooked" immediatley. Superb storytelling(building up the appetite-suspense/fast-furious action/release&relaxation-yes,quite like good sex is supposed to be-and all that repeatedly) combined with the best alien socology/psycology description i have ever(so far)had chance to read - i really felt sorry for those poor bastards.

Niven's masterpiece in comparison lacked "body", i never could "see" the alien point of view -fortunately have other authors "repaired" on that in "Man-Kzin Wars" series- bravely done of Niven, let others play in his "sand-box".

Later Uplift series(excl."Startide...") are "watered down", it has same problem as Jordans WoT, when reading, frustrated and suspicious that the writer is just "coining" on his/hers one ond only good idea ever(e.g.blish"dayworld"series)