Existence

I have seldom read such a wonderfully convoluted novel as EXISTENCE. Its joy is in it complexity--that the multiple plots stay coherent and express a multitude of contradictory viewpoints of the future of our humanity. According to Brin, in the later 21st century the world's factional differences--great to begin with--grow to crisis proportions when a crystal containing the downloaded electronic intelligences of numerous galactic beings is found by an astronaut trolling for space garbage. That's just PART of the intertwined plot of this 900+-page novel! Soon after the announcement of the discovery (can you imagine it being released in our secretively paranoid decade?) similar "stones" surface all over the globe, with new sets of characters fleeing factions in pursuit. Brin is a master of varying viewpoints, as he demonstrated in his Uplift War and Uplift series, so we meet (or hear about) extremists of all sorts, not very many reasonable folks, plenty of persons with a wealth of human frailties, but no cardboard villains at all. The aliens, when they begin to speak, are as vulnerable, error-prone, fanatic and sly as humans, which makes the appearance of a few of them as pseudo-alive electronic beings at the novel's end fascinating and poignant. I loved Brin's shrewd portrayal of the conceit of self-justifying trillionare oligarchs, the cruelty of extremist rebels with a cause, the struggle of impoverished families in the era of global warming, and the awful pollution of plastic and rusting metal junk in the rising seas--which Brin describes as something future humans and dolphins must try to cope with although it will very likely overwhelm their efforts. As a Medievalist, I think his acceptance of Steven Pinker's belief that humans are now less violent than in the past is naive, nor does he bring in the ominous likelihood of the rapid destruction of the planet's fresh water, food chain and other life-sustaining necessities by our decade's selfish fossil fuel solipsists who think only of profits, but otherwise there seem to be no major gaps in his analysis of what Earth's overcrowded future may be like. Much of it isn't pleasant, but the novel somehow seems optimistic. It's filled with outspoken, opinionated, intelligent and very human people--as varied as burnt-out aging astronaut Gerald Livingstone who discovers the crystal among space-trash, science-obsessed trillionaire Lacey Donaldson-Sander and her playboy son Hacker who becomes an uplifter of dolphins, hard-working shoresteader of drowned Shanghai mansions Peng Xiang Bin and his resourceful wife Mei Ling, the delightful rastifarian physicist and science popularizer Professor Noozone or "Profnoo" who seems like a blend of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bob Marley, TV journalist Dorothy (Tor) Povlov who becomes a hero and loses her face and body but not her mind or spirit, conceited sci-fi writer and hypocrite Hamish Brookeman who gets humbled and becomes a much finer person, a world-chain of autistic young people who communicate in their own ultranerd jargon no less brilliantly and courageously than conventional people. Artificial intelligence is very nearly a character in its own right. And there are dolphins, aliens, and numerous other characters important or subsidiary, who impressed me as amazingly plausible within so complex a novel. If you enjoy good storytelling, a lot of humor and punning wit, prediction of the limited choices for our future, intelligent digressions on theology, philosophy, sociology, ethics, fanaticism, conservatism, rebellion both sane and insane, and the mind-expansion of getting to know humans and non-humans of all points of view--this is the book for you! It's a long read and demands concentration. Usually I finish a novel in a couple of days, but EXISTENCE took almost two weeks, and then I turned right around and read it again, to locate ideas I knew I'd overlooked. I don't do that more than once every 20 years! Enjoy!

As a first-time reader of David Brin, I did not know what to expect from Existence. Luckily, Brin provides a lengthy preview, which I recommend that you read before buying, especially given that this is a pricey book. While reading Existence, I was reminded of Heinlein in some respects. Brin explores political, philosophical, scientific, religious, moral and ethical considerations from a number of different perspectives. His musings are truly kaleidoscopic. This is, of course, both good and bad: the positive perspective is that Brin criticizes modernity, particularly its politics and more parochial tendencies, thus providing the reader with a refreshing or perhaps more refined understanding of polemical issues, while challenging everyday "post-modern" platitudes; the negative flip side is that all of Brin's introspection, questioning and pontificating becomes repetitive, if not a bit tiresome, depending on your interest in these more existential questions, along with your attention span. Indeed, Existence has been written--make no mistake--for avid science fiction readers. The language is, in addition to pedantic, somewhat turgid, even pretentious, so make sure you are prepared to read a book whose author isn't afraid to challenge your vocabulary; if this turns you off, then there are times when the writing will bother you. The plot itself is rather straightforward: Gerald, aboard a spaceship orbiting Earth, encounters an anomalous object: is it alien; is it a hoax; where did it come from? Immediately after apprehending this object, later dubbed the "Artifact," Brin explores the various reactions humans have toward the object. He provides the full gamut of human reaction, which courses through every nook and cranny in society. However, Brin is principally concerned with the Artifact's effect on society as a whole; Brin's characters, being sort of one-dimensional and easily forgettable, serve as symbols for greater collective cliques. You've got the inquisitive scientist, the ultra-rich elitist, the conservative and reactionary politician, and so on. But none of these characters seem very real. Character development is altogether lacking, although there are a few characters who are more indelible than others. As a work of science fiction, Brin has a rather optimistic perspective of humanity's future, in spite of the many predictable and inevitable potholes ahead. Existence takes place around 2040, then jumps ahead to 2060 or so, and again toward the end of the twenty-first century. Most of the novel takes place around 2040, or the time frame near which time the Singularity, and the dawn of transhumanism, is hypothesized to take place. Like in the real world, Existence captures both the wonderment and anxious nostalgia revolving around transhumanism, cyborgs, artificial intelligence, and so forth. If you recall what Arthur C. Clarke writes in his Space Odyssey saga, the material out of which a being is made is immaterial; what we humans identify as truly special is our intelligence, and if that intelligence is manifested by biological beings, technological-silicon cyborgs, or hybrids between the two is of lesser concern than the possibility of a harmonious or commensal relationship between like-minded sentient beings. A federation of intellectual and moral beings, if you will. This lofty yet satisfying goal of a federation encompassing an panoply of sentient beings reminds me of Star Wars wherein every being, regardless of species, is accepted. Brin breathes life into this quasi-utopian but nonetheless noble possibility: he, in short, merges the morality of progressivism with the politics and technology of futurism, if you will. Moreover, Brin's society incorporates many of modernity's predictions of the future: escalated sea levels, virtual reality (albeit with a more unique flavor), a fragmented United States (not unsimilar to Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games, though not dystopic), an autism pandemic, etc. Amid the partisan politics, basically boiled down to conservative versus moderate versus progressive-"futurist," Brin weaves a tapestry of narratives that coincide--or sometimes even wither away prematurely, on the other hand--all the while raising important questions about the Artifact, from which questions about the nature of intelligent life, extraterrestrial beings, the feasibility of interstellar space travel arise, and receive startling answers. Aside from all these big questions, Brin somewhat solemnly tackles the quandary that has been irking sci-fi aficionados for possibly decades, if not centuries: Are we alone in our galaxy, or even in the entire cosmos? Have we yet, or will we ever, encounter intelligent life elsewhere? If not, what does this say about humanity? Do we have a responsibility to mother and husband up-and-coming civilizations, once we have mastered the science of interstellar space travel? But what if we destroy ourselves first? What does this say about the possibility of intelligent life in general? Is it a spoof? As you can see, these questions are a bit arresting: and yet these are the questions you will encounter throughout Existence. A great deal of Existence is spent trying to figure out what the Artifact is, what it wants, what utilitarian purpose can it serve humans, etc. Brin provides many cliffhangars, however: after you're starting to figure things out, Brin leaves you hanging for several chapters, until, almost randomly, one of those lingering, nagging questions at the back of your mind is finally answered. In this regard the plot, at times, feels somewhat anticlimactic: I felt no intense, adrenaline-filled anticipation for something to ever happen with Existence. The big questions are answered, but kind of schizophrenically: Brin takes you out to sea, slams multiple waves into your seafaring ship, some of which are unexpected while others are redundant and therefore superfluous, then brings you out of the storm, into calm waters, finally satisfies some of your curiosity by showing you the "land ahead," but then seemingly makes a roundabout turn before you ever get to see that land, taking you off to sea again--sometimes through the same waters, leading to more redundancy and therefore boring superfluity. However, eventually Brin does offer an exciting plot twist, that dwarfs the importance of the "Artifact." After much skepticism and waffling, your spirit for adventure is whetted again. But Brin, nevertheless, provides the same formula: rephrasing of the same questions, answering them from a number of perspectives, and eventually providing a resolution. What sets Existence apart from many First Encounter sci-fi novels is its ultimate optimism. This isn't a work for Cassandras. You'll be reminded of "The Rational Optimist" by Matt Ridley in some ways. So, for a work with such an ambitious title as Existence, is it worth reading? Well, if you don't mind existential musings and shallow characters, while having your patience tested at times, then yes. If you want thrillers, horrors, tons of action and constant plot twists like many sci-fi novels today, then no: this isn't for you. Whatever your predilections may be, Existence offers a new, more intelligent-than-usual, and engrossing take on the first contact sci-fi genre. Still, for a book named Existence, you'd expect something truly marvelous; unfortunately, Brin's latest work is too ambitious, contains much redundancy, and is ultimately more about the possibilities of the existence of extraterrestrial life rather than course of human existence. 3.5-4/5

Despite the Book Description above, this story is not about Gerald Livingston, orbital garbage collector who comes upon an alien artifact circling Earth. At least, it's not *only* about Gerald. He's just one of the ensemble of characters who inhabit Brin's future world, a world that's impressively realized and layered and detailed. A world where Chinese peasants hustle to survive, where trillionaires conspire to maintain control, where amateur scientists pursue knowledge, where smart-mobs and posses form to pursue their own agendas, and where artificial intelligence is coming into its own. And that's just for starters. There is an ambitious reporter, autistic savants, a rumored genetic throwback, a mythical rat in the maze of the evolved internet, several scientists/boffins (including one Rastafarian), an author of SF/Fantasy/Horror novels, a prophet, a rich widow with a passion for SETI, a young man with a passion for adventure, some dolphins who may be smarter than they look, an amphibious mechanical snake, several androids, some aliens, and a person who collects doomsday scenarios. Oh, but there's more. There are space rocks that may point the way to the future of humanity, or perhaps lead to our destruction. There are multiple "first contact" scenes with multiple alien races and machines. There are terrorists and saviors. And throughout this complex drama, there are multiple protagonists and villains who try to cope with a world whose place in the cosmos weaves and bobs as new facts and knowledge are uncovered. Just when everybody thinks they have it all figured out, the worldview flips and everybody's position changes. Are you getting the picture of an amazing, audacious attempt to depict a world both recognizable and strange, a world of modern complexity on steroids--and yet one that retains its essential humanity? Brin has attempted something that very few others have done, and he does it well. I was strongly reminded of Brunner's classic dystopian SF novel, Stand on Zanzibar. The parallels in both content and style are, I think, undeniable. And yet, where Brunner's novel of the late 1960's was dystopian, Brin's novel of 2012 is ultimately hopeful and carries a strong message that our diversity and our humanity are inextricably connected. I liked the book but it's not perfect. In particular, Brin has a habbit of building to a climax and then abruptly stopping, only to jump to a point after the climax and retelling the dramatic moment as history. That bugged me. A lot. But dang it, Brin has done a wonderful job of creating a complex, diverse world. One with backstory and hopeful future. The ambitious scope of the backstory can only be compared to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings--and many of the secrets are revealed only as the backstory is told. This novel has it all: scope, characters, world-building and backstory, free-will versus serfdom, hard science and rigorous extrapolation, and a thematic message that we all need to hear. It's kind of amazing, actually.

"Existence", the latest by David Brin (one of the "Killer Bs", an affectionate term for three outstanding hard SF authors, Brin, Greg Bear and Gregory Benford) is a tough novel. Tough to read, tough to review and tough to rate. I settled for 3 stars (rounded up from 2.5), which in the Amazon universe means that I thought it was OK but not outstanding. Existence is not: a fast read, an easy read, filled with action, replete with memorable characters or dialogue or fast-paced. I don't think it was intended to be any of those. It is, however, filled with great ideas. The storyline is essentially built entirely around an answer to "Fermi's Paradox" - if there are aliens out there, why haven't we been contacted by them? Brin has been thinking about this for a long time - he published a 27 page scientific article on this topic in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society "The Great Silence - the Controversy Concerning Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life (24(3):283-309, 1983) almost 30 years ago. Perhaps that's part of the problem. "Existence" is clearly fiction, but seems to have been written more as a 500+ page treatise of Brin's ideas on the subject than as a novel meant to be read largely for (escapist) enjoyment. And make no mistake about it, Brin has written many wonderful, exciting, interesting and fast-paced fun novels. This just isn't one of them (although it does, in a largely irrelevant and lengthy interlude, foreshadow the "Uplift Saga" novels). In order to explain the above paragraph, I'm going to have to say more about the plot and the contents than I normally would in a review. If you're one of those who hate to know anything specific about a novel before reading it, stop now! *********************************SPOILER ALERT************************************************************** The novel takes place here on Earth a few decades in the future, when semi-sentient and sentient AI technology is used to augment perception and communication almost universally. On a routine space mission to clear away low orbiting space junk, Gerald Livingstone disobeys orders to capture a small object that turns out to be an alien crystal, encasing uploaded simulations of dozens of different aliens from different cultures. The crystal eventually turns out to be one of millions or billions of identical objects that are, depending on one's point of view, a kind of von Neuman device or an alien viral plague. Arguing for the latter interpretation is the fact that none of of the home worlds whose total economies were taken over to create and launch billions of these crystal arks seems to show any signs of life currently. All of this make for a very interesting premise, but the novel has several problems that interfere with its entertainment value. It's slow, very very slow. And Brin, who is an outstanding writer, drove me completely nuts by making up (unnecessarily in my opinion) dozens of words by inserting "ai" somewhere into normal nouns to remind us, over and over and over ad nauseum that every single thing in this culture some 30 years hence has been augmented by AI. I found this as disconcerting as I would have if the author's text had inadvertently contained tons of bad grammar, misspellings and typos. This was a huge distraction for me. There were few or no notable characters except for one faux-Rastafarian type famous scientist-commentator whose pidgin Jamaican accent, which he could turn on and off at will also drove me nuts. Why anyone would put up with having to listen to this guy is beyond me. The rest of the characters are basically throwaways, there just to speak the dialog that Brin needed to have spoken. And finally, in a way that was entirely too reminiscent of reality, there is no real closure at the end. Over 500 pages later and the big ending....wasn't. Perhaps he is planning a sequel, but I don't think I'll be around for it. J.M. Tepper

Must read for everyone. It is serious science fiction, but it's the kind of science fiction which is more realistic than conventional fiction because our world itself really is changing in big and fundamental ways. The book is a whole lot more fun to read than War and Peace, but there is a similar relatively realistic diversity of characters. Like all of Brin's novels, it's a lot more fun, engaging and easy to read than the vast majority of things I read (which are better than the average of what's out there). Yet it also manages to be very stimulating and provocative in addressing a question we really should all be facing up to -- will our species survive or not, at the end of all the challenges we re facing now and the challenges which are on their way? I see a few more challenges and dilemmas out there than Brin does -- but already, "drinking from the firehose" calls for us to do a whole lot of brainstorming, from different points of view, and Brin does a great job of weaving that into a story with an engaging plot and many twists and turns. My wife asked:"Hey Paul, how is it that you took just one week to seriously read 1,000 detailed technical proposals awhile back, but you took more like a month with this one, which is much easier to read?" I chose to savor this a small bit at a time, even though it did flow quickly, just to think about all the aspects and implications and associations. .. which is a major part of the value for me. But for those who just want entertainment, there's plenty of that here too. Do I agree with his final vision for the future? I'll think about it, with a few twists in any case.

An interesting premise and well thought out. A lot of great ideas and premises, but it strung out a bit, sometimes confusing and jumping around. Some favorite characters simply dissappeared. The ending came too quick and was the easy way out. Some story lines simply jumped to the future. It took me into about a 3rd of the book to figure it out. I did like many of the subplots and story lines. It was nice and surprised me that some of the older characters from previous books showed up. Overall, I did like it. Just don't expect too much at the end.

David Brin is a fine writer. In a universe in which self-published semiliterates abound, it is a sheer joy to immerse oneself in a work by a guy who commands the language so well that he can occasionally play with it in a way that challenges the reader to go along for the ride. As always, his character development is whimsical, a bit quirky (he clearly delights in eccentrics), and well thought out. In this book a few of his secondary characters live at one point or another along the autism spectrum, and his well-researched speculations as to their attitudes and thinking are fun and thought-provoking. The sci-fi predicate of "Existence" is brilliant and grounded in a very reasonable near-future: a bored career astronaut, who thinks of himself as a glorified "garbage collector," with a routine, entirely unglamorous job of collecting detritus in Low Earth Orbit, finds an unusual piece in orbit, and has to finagle to get his supervisors to let him keep it, rather than throwing it into the atmosphere to burn up. From there we embark on a fascinating speculation on one possible means of interstellar travel that respects Einstein's non-negotiable speed limit. This is set against a world a half century from now built of well considered, reasonable, speculative technological and political developments. There is a lot of action--disasters averted and not, chases, close escapes, etc, all the requirements of a sci-fi adventure; and there are aliens (of a sort) and they are all integral to the story. But I found his speculations as to how political and technological changes will impact the lives of all of us endlessly fascinating. I strongly recommend this book to anybody.

Some books are written for pure entertainment. This is clearly not one of them. "Existence" throws our future at the reader without much explanation. It is bursting with ideas and technological advancements which are only marginally explained to the outside observer. The story seems fade into the background at times, but that gives the reader some time to get better acquainted with the world and the characters for a while. It is not always clear how the parts of the story connect, and indeed there have been older short stories and novellas incorporated into the novel. The characters may seem a little flat in some cases, but they are only minimally stereotypical and this flows well with the way the world is described (or presented). It may even lend more credibility to the characters whose emotions are obviously changed by their extreme exposure to technology. The story itself has been described in detail elsewhere and although it is not completely original, it is described from a refreshingly new perspective. There are a few twists and turns, maybe a section that drags a little. But in the end this book is bursting with an incredible amount of ideas and surprising bits and pieces in almost every sentence. "Existence" is not an easy read. Luckily the chapters are mostly short, which makes it easier to lay the book down and think about it "offline" for a while. It certainly keeps the reader thinking for a long time after putting it down for the final time.

Dieser Roman ist eine brilliante Zusammenführung von verschiedensten futuristischen und aktuellen Themen. Insbesondere die fein ausgearbeitete Interpretation für das Schweigen "da draußen" ist an sich 5 Sterne wert. Weiterhin ist die Geschichte wunderbar geschrieben, es gibt unterschiedlichste Charaktere, an Spannung mangelt es nie. Nur einen kleinen Wermutstropfen gab es für mich, eine der wichtigeren Nebenfiguren taucht plötzlich nicht mehr auf, auch nicht als reine Erwähnung. Aber das stört nicht wirklich und schmälert das Gesamtwerk nicht im geringsten.

A good book and a great read. An exploration of the potential traps and pitfalls for a freshly born technological society and its impact on the planet. A tottering global mass further stressed by the knowledge that we are not alone and that our visitors have their own agendas.

I've just been laid up in bed after a (routine) operation for about 5 days and read 6 science fiction books. After this one I had to get up because I knew that anything else I read after it would feel flat and uninteresting. This was the most enjoyable thing I've read in that genre for years. Spot on the mark for being up to speed with modern paradigms/technology and philosoph-ethical conundrums, all woven into a hard and gutsy plot; and with some good characters. I really can't praise it enough. Blows most other stuff out of the water. As a (struggling!) writer myself, I would say that if I had written this I would (1) be inordinately proud, and deeply satisfied for the rest of my life (2) want to rewrite the end. In particular I wanted to know more about the Seeker and his buddies (you'll have to read it to find out who I mean). Of course this is a sign of a good book/writer, and the pace and attention to detail was flawless right up to the last few pages. At the end, one or two of the other characters started to crack a little too, but read it and make up your own mind. I humbly suggest maybe he should have ended it a few pages earlier (and let our own imaginations take over?). It's still a great story (and manifesto?). My only other quibble: Some 'bits' (which at the author's own admission were included from previous short stories) added little or nothing to the story. I don't mind (I don't expect life, real or imagined, to be simple/neat), but if I'd submitted the story to a literary agent I suspect they would reject a quarter of it as not relevant. Still, I HATE that market-driven imperative to keep us constantly on-plot and breathlessly turning pages: This was a welcome return to real imagination/writing, and it kept me avidly reading (and digesting) the (plentiful!) pages right up to the last twenty or so. So: 5 stars 'cos it's a must-read; but......

J'adore Brin. Je n'ai jamais réussi a finir celui-ci. Rien de plus a en dire, préférez ses séries plus anciennes.

Some books I can't put down. Like popcorn compulsively shoved down your gullet, some books demand to be finished as quickly as you can read them. Existence, on the other hand, is a book that I can continue to enjoy after I've put it down. Like a rich dish, I appreciate and savour the taste of it until, before long, it is calling me back for another spoonful. Existence is a masterful exploration of what-ifs and grand ideas, where the characters are both vital and incidental and the story shows occasional hints of self-awareness in ways that made me laugh out loud or, as a fan of Brin's other works, made me feel like I was being teased. If you liked Earth, and you liked the Uplift books, I'm confident you will like this. That being said, I don't think I've read another book like it by any author.