Must have Books - David Brin

Bibliography

1980	Sundiver	Review
1983	Startide Rising	Review
1984	The Practice Effect	Review
1985	The Postman
1986	The River of Time
1986	Heart of the Comet	Review
1987	The Uplift War	Review
1990	Project Solar Sail
1990	Earth	Review
1992	Dr. Pak's Preschool
1993	Glory Season
1994	Otherness
1995	Brightness Reef	Review
1996	Infinity's Shore	Review
1998	Heaven's Reach	Review
1999	Foundation's Triumph	Review
1999	Secret Foundations
2001	Star Trek Forgiveness
2002	Contacting Aliens : An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe
2002	Kiln People

Reviews

	Sundiver by David Brin No species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of a patron--except perhaps mankind. Did some mysterious race begin the uplift of humanity aeons ago? Circling the sun, under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in history--a journey into the boiling inferno of the sun.
	Startide Rising by David Brin David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War--a New York Times bestseller--together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind? The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history. Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret--the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.
	The Uplift War by David Brin Billions of years ago, an alien race known as the Progenitors began the genetically engineered techniques by which non-intelligent creatures are given intelligence by one of the higher races in the galaxy. Once "Uplifted," these creature must serve their patron race before they, in turn, can Uplift other races. Human intelligence, which developed by itself (and brought about the Uplifting of chimpanzees and dolphins), is an affront to the aliens who plan an attack, threatening a human experiment aimed at producing the next Uplift. Such is the premise of this novel, which won the 1988 Hugo Award.
	Brightness Reef by David Brin Millennia ago the Five Galaxies decreed the planet Jijo off limits. But in the last thousand years six races have begun resettling Jijo, embracing a pre-industrial life to hide their existence from the Galactics. Overcoming their differences, the Six have built a society based on mutual tolerance for one another and respect for the planet they live on. But that has all changed with an event the Six have feared for hundreds of years: the arrival of an outside ship. Author David Brin has returned to his popular Uplift universe in this, the first book of a new trilogy.
	Infinity's Shore by David Brin This second volume in David Brin's new Uplift trilogy is an epic tale that artfully combines dozens of unique characters and their individual stories. The planet Jijo, which has been settled by six separate races despite a decree that it remain barren for a million years, is about to change. The exploration ship Streaker, on the run since discovering the secrets of a two-billion-year-old derelict fleet, has arrived with virtually the entire universe in pursuit. Overnight the peaceful, technologically backwards Jijoan society erupts into civil war, creating a chaotic tapestry of grief, sorrow, joy, love and, ultimately, hope.
	Heaven's Reach by David Brin Heaven's Reach is the final volume of the Uplift trilogy. It chronicles the adventures of a handful of primitives from the planet Jijo who have left or been taken from their homes only to be swept into the intrigues of galactic politics. The novel also continues the story of the fugitive Earth starship Streaker, pursued across the galaxy for its precious cargo of ancient artifacts. Just when it looks like things can't get worse for Streaker, the foretold Time of Changes rocks the galaxy. Devastating "space quakes" shake every planet and star, and some of the particularly unscrupulous alien races attempt to use the disaster to further their bizarre goals. There's danger and excitement on almost every page and Brin finally delivers on many of the mysteries of the Five Galaxies. The Progenitors, the Hydrogen Breathers, Streaker's cargo--these and more are explained at last. Or are they? Each seemingly ultimate truth tends to dissolve a chapter later, revealing a new and more complex truth. New adventures and mysteries await.
	Earth by David Brin Brin's 'Earth' takes place in the year 2038, and the portrait painted of our society 40-some years from now is so totally plausible that it's a little disturbing. By 2038, Earth's population has grown to over 10 billion, natural resources are even more depleted than they are today, and many people think that the population is on the verge of a massive crash. Brin's depiction of the way that various sectors of society deal with this concept is complex and fascinating. Although many of the scientific aspects of the book were somewhat confusing to me, I was still able to follow the plot. I have studied quite a bit of ecology, have also had a few courses in geophysics, and I was pleased that everything Brin has included in his story is consistent with today's scientific beliefs. The structure of the novel is interesting as well; little tidbits from the general populace and their responses to the events detailed in the chapters are interspersed throughout the book. Furthermore, the character development is excellent; many "hard" science fiction novels are more about the technology and the situations than about the characters themselves, but Brin has made his characters and their motivations very real and well-developed. Even the less important characters like Logan Eng were as detailed as the central protagonists.
	Heart of the Comet by David Brin and Gregory Benford HEART OF THE COMET is one of the best true science fiction novels I've read in a very long time. In some ways, it is classic hard science fiction, with very convincing scientific extrapolations that stay well away from the science-fantasy cliches of FTL travel, transporter beams, and the like. On the other hand, the book is rather atypical for hard SF, in that, as a result of the hostile indigenous life and endless factional fighting, it makes the grand task of colonizing Halley's Comet seem about as appealing as a life sentence in a third-world prison. This results in a continual tension between the sweeping, go-where-no-man-has-gone-before scope of the book and the spectacularly unpleasant living conditions to which the characters are subjected. The three main protagonists (and a lot of the supporting characters) are very well-drawn. Like good hard-SF lead characters, they overcome the adversity of their circumstances with their technical expertise and willpower. We see them shaped over the years by life on the comet, in once case, growing believably from a rather callow youth into a confident, skilled leader. Some of the antagonistic supporting characters, and there are many of them, are well drawn, but others have a tendency to become stereotypical amalgams of the sorts of irrationality of which the authors clearly don't approve. On the whole, I found myself enthralled by this book. It creates a plausible, coherent environment unlike just about anything else I've read, and populates it with (mostly) interesting and well-conceived characters.
	Foundation's Triumph by David Brin Following preceding volumes by Gregory Benford and Greg Bear, Brin concludes the second trilogy about Isaac Asimov's famous universe, the Foundation. Hari Seldon escapes house arrest on Trantor to investigate what is sowing chaos in the galaxy so quickly that it threatens the downfall of civilization. Rebels from the "chaos worlds" oppose him, robots, and the empire, and R. Daneel Olivaw, the Immortal Servant, is trying to prevent a civil war between the Giskardian robots, who are willing to harm individual humans in the long-term interests of all humanity, and the Calvinians, who remain loyal to the famous old three laws of robotics. R. Daneel and Seldon finally meet on a ravaged, primitive Earth, which recalls Asimov's charming Pebble in the Sky, and agree that the robots likely will evolve into an independent race while protecting humans from their own weaknesses. This literate, intelligent coda to a grand vision of human evolution will be appreciated even by those who think four of sf's most powerful talents have spent too much time making Asimov's universe coherent.
	The Practice Effect by David Brin Drama critics have long known that comedy is harder to direct and to perform than tragedy. The same goes for literature: being even slightly off the mark is all that it takes to ruin the endeavor. In science fiction and fantasy it's even tougher to write good humor because the reader first has to understand the "rules" of the culture or technology in which the story is set--and there's nothing worse than a joke that has to be explained. Connie Willis can pull it off, Robert Sheckley can pull it off...and so can David Brin. This book is a treasure because it takes on that hardest of all SF writing tasks and hits a good solid home run. Read slowly to savor it...