# Sci Fi Writer David Brin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293 "2014-06-07T21:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/1 "2014-06-07T21:45:22Z")
I’ve just finished Heart of the Comet (co-written with Gregory Benford) This was an excellent book, the type of hard science fiction I enjoy. I’m eager to read more of his books. From the Wikipedia [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin), I should probably try the Uplift series of books. Anyone have opinions on them? It seems interesting that Brin also wrote The Postman. Now, I liked the Postman movie more than most people did. I’m curious to read the book. I’ll assume the book isn’t 1000 pages and that Kevin Costner was quite generous when the screenplay was adapted. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/2 "2014-06-07T21:53:25Z")
The book’s much better than the movie. I enjoyed all of Brin up to\* Kiln People.\* ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/3 "2014-06-07T21:59:26Z")
It’s been a while since I read any Brin but I always enjoyed his work, not just his novels. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/4 "2014-06-07T22:01:59Z")
A brilliant writer with great ideas. Glacial writing pace, though. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/5 "2014-06-07T22:06:22Z")
Brin has also produced an important academic survey of the Fermi Paradox > **[The Great Silence - the Controversy Concerning Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983QJRAS..24..283B/abstract)** > > Recent discussions concerning the likelihood of encountering extraterrestrial technological civilizations have run into an apparent paradox. If, as many now contend, interstellar exploration and settlement is possible at non-relativistic speeds, then... and some interesting work on surveillance in society > **[The Transparent Society](http://www.davidbrin.com/transparentsociety.html)** > > In THE TRANSPARENT SOCIETY: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?, David Brin examines the challenges of respecting privacy while monitoring security in the information age. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/6 "2014-06-07T22:06:32Z")
The Uplift series is a great idea, with storylines that gradually run out of steam as the series progresses. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/7 "2014-06-07T22:11:08Z")
I liked his Uplift books a lot. I found Sundiver (the 1st book) to be weaker than Startide Rising (2nd) or the Uplift War (3rd). Sundiver is something of a solitary prequel to the other books despite technically being the first book in the trilogy. It’s also set in the distant past compared to the rest of the series, and has completely different characters. I’d start with Startide Rising and continue with Uplift War. You can return to Sundiver later if you find the series interesting. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/8 "2014-06-07T22:14:29Z")
Brin will sometimes build a fascinating interstellar civilization, then place the setting in an isolated world where people are hiding from said fascinating interstellar civilization. To me, this can be quite frustrating - I don’t want to read about a group of kids hiding out on some ecologically-damaged backwater, I want to read about the movers and shakers that make the civilization work. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/9 "2014-06-07T22:17:32Z")
And I know that many might disagree with me, but I’ve long believed that his book _Earth_ is one of the top science fiction books of the 1990s. Both in content and form it is - to me - up there with anything written by Niven, Clarke et al. He doesn’t really get the ‘blood and thunder’ (as H. Beam Piper described it) but he’s great, nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/10 "2014-06-07T22:39:09Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > I liked his Uplift books a lot. I found Sundiver (the 1st book) to be weaker than Startide Rising (2nd) or the Uplift War (3rd). Sundiver is something of a solitary prequel to the other books despite technically being the first book in the trilogy. It’s also set in the distant past compared to the rest of the series, and has completely different characters. I’d start with Startide Rising and continue with Uplift War. You can return to Sundiver later if you find the series interesting. Agreement. I liked Sundiver, but absolutely adored Startide Rising. Going back and filling in Sundiver after, if you like ST and TUW, is a very good reading strategy. (Personal brag: I was actually standing on his doorstep, delivering some paperwork to him, when the postman – yes, the real postman! – came and handed him an envelope. Inside was a copy of the art work for the cover of Startide Rising. So I may have been the first Brin fan to see that cover art, and certainly the first person to see it after he saw it.) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/11 "2014-06-08T00:46:12Z")
> [@susan](#): > > The book’s much better than the movie. Only if you skip the last twenty-five pages. “We saved civilization because the women were sulking.” Seriously? That ending was an insult to _both_ genders… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/12 "2014-06-08T02:45:29Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > I liked his Uplift books a lot. I found Sundiver (the 1st book) to be weaker than Startide Rising (2nd) or the Uplift War (3rd). Sundiver is something of a solitary prequel to the other books despite technically being the first book in the trilogy. It’s also set in the distant past compared to the rest of the series, and has completely different characters. I’d start with Startide Rising and continue with Uplift War. You can return to Sundiver later if you find the series interesting. It’s not really a trilogy. They’re just the first three books in a series that’s set in a common background. He wrote these three books in the eighties. He then took a few years to work on other books and came back to the Uplift setting with a genuine trilogy: _Brightness Reef_, _Infinity’s Shore_, and _Heaven’s Reach_. These three books are a continuous narrative and should be read in order. My recommendation for someone starting out on Brin is to not jump into the rather long Uplift series. Start with one of his stand-alone novels like _The Practice Effect_, _Glory Season_, or _Kiln People_. One book I have to unfortunately not recommend is his most recent book, _Existence_. It’s not terrible but it’s not as good as his earlier books. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/13 "2014-06-08T03:04:35Z")
The Practice Effect is a light, fun kind of story. Enjoyable, but not deep. Startide Rising was the first of Brin’s books I read: I can read that alone, without going onto the other Uplift novels, almost as though it was truly a standalone. I’m with Jonathan Chance on Earth: it, along with Startide Rising, are my favourites of his. There’s a novella of his, called Thor Meets Captain America which is interesting. Nothing to do with the Marvel universe. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/14 "2014-06-08T03:49:29Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Only if you skip the last twenty-five pages. “We saved civilization because the women were sulking.” Seriously? That ending was an insult to _both_ genders… Point taken, but still better than the movie. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/15 "2014-06-08T04:03:39Z")
[In a thread 12 years old](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=112429), Jonathan Chance and I said pretty much the same thing as we do in this one. The more things change, etc… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/16 "2014-06-08T04:10:38Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > And I know that many might disagree with me, but I’ve long believed that his book _Earth_ is one of the top science fiction books of the 1990s. Both in content and form it is - to me - up there with anything written by Niven, Clarke et al. > > He doesn’t really get the ‘blood and thunder’ (as H. Beam Piper described it) but he’s great, nonetheless. I agree, an excellent book, and (as I remember it) quite prescient about things like everyone uploading video all the time, and things like that. But I thought the overarching story about what happens when someone drops a mini black hole into the earth’s core to be, well, silly. I’ve liked just about everything of his that I’ve read, but I haven’t read his stuff in maybe 10-15 years. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/17 "2014-06-08T04:46:51Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I’ve liked just about everything of his that I’ve read, but I haven’t read his stuff in maybe 10-15 years. Actually you didn’t miss a lot. Brin took a ten year break from writing novels. He didn’t publish any novels between _Kiln People_ (2002) and _Existence_ (2012). ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/18 "2014-06-08T13:29:07Z")
I read Earth and The Postman and enjoyed both. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-writer-david-brin/690293/19 "2014-06-08T13:39:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Actually you didn’t miss a lot. Brin took a ten year break from writing novels. He didn’t publish any novels between _Kiln People_ (2002) and _Existence_ (2012). Not quite - He published a short young adult novel in 2007 (called “Sky Horizon”). > [@tavalla](#): > > There’s a novella of his, called Thor Meets Captain America which is interesting. Nothing to do with the Marvel universe. It used to available on his web site but doesn’t seem to be any more. But it’s available for sale for 99 cents [Smashwords – Thor Meets Captain America](http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69054). The story was also expanded into a graphic novel “The Life Eaters”.