David Brin
Birth nameGlen David Brin
Birth dateOctober 6, 1950 (age 75)
Birth placeGlendale, California, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, NASA consultant
Websitedavidbrin.com
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego (PhD, MS)
California Institute of Technology (BS)
FatherHerb Brin
David Brin
GenreScience fiction
NotableworksUplift series, The Postman, Earth, "The Transparent Society"
David Brin
Thesis year1981
Thesis urlhttps://www.proquest.com/docview/303005703/
Doctoral advisorD. Asoka Mendis

Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo,[1][2] Locus,[3][4][5] Campbell[6] and Nebula Awards.[7] His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.[8]

Early life and education

Brin was born October 6, 1950, in Glendale, California, to Jewish parents Selma and Herb Brin. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in astronomy, in 1973.[9][10] At the University of California, San Diego, he earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering (optics) in 1978 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in astronomy in 1981.[11][12]

Career

From 1983 to 1986, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Space Institute, of the University of California, at the San Diego campus in La Jolla.[9] In 2010, Brin became a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.[13][14] He helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD. He serves on the advisory board of NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts group and frequently does futurist consulting for corporations and government agencies.[15]

As of 2013, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science Fiction.[16]

Personal life

Brin has Polish Jewish ancestry, from the area around Konin. His grandfather was drafted into the Russian army and fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.[17]

As of 2022, Brin was living in San Diego County, California, with his wife and children.[18]

Works

Most of Brin's fiction is categorized as hard science fiction, in that they apply some degree of plausible scientific or technological change as important plot elements. About half of Brin's works are in his Uplift Universe. These have twice won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Much of Brin's work outside the Uplift series focuses on technology's effects on human society.[19]

Bibliography

Fiction

Uplift

Novels:

  • Sundiver (1980), ISBN 0-553-13312-8
  • Startide Rising (1983), ISBN 0-553-23495-1. Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1984;[20] Nebula Award winner, 1983[21]
  • The Uplift War (1987), ISBN 0-932096-44-1. Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1988;[22] Nebula Award nominee, 1987[23]

Uplift trilogy, a.k.a. Uplift Storm:

Short fiction:

  • "Aficionado" (1998) was first published as "Life in the Extreme" in Popular Science magazine, republished in the 2003 limited-edition collection Tomorrow Happens, and included in Brin's 2012 novel Existence. It is available on Brin's website. "Aficionado" takes place before the novels.
  • "Temptation" (1999) appeared in Robert Silverberg's anthology Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction and is set after the events of Infinity's Shore.

Other works:

  • Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe (2002), ISBN 978-0553377965 (co-written by Brin and Kevin Lenagh)

High Horizon

  • Colony High (February 2021) ISBN 978-1953034526; reprinted June 2023 ISBN 978-1961511132
  • Castaways of New Mojave (August 2021) ISBN 978-1956015126; reprinted October 2023 ISBN 978-1961511514 – with Jeff Carlson

Stand-alone novels

Comics

Short fiction collections

  • The River of Time (1986), ISBN 0-913165-11-5
  • Otherness (1994), ISBN 1-85723-310-7
  • Tomorrow Happens (2003), ISBN 978-1886778436
  • Insistence of Vision (2016), ISBN 978-1611882216
  • The Best of David Brin (2021), ISBN 978-1645240099

Fiction set in worlds created by others

Games

Brin designed the game Tribes, published in 1998 by Steve Jackson Games,[31] and wrote the storyline for the 2000 Dreamcast video game Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.

Nonfiction

Ongoing:

Books:

Honors and awards

References

  1. ^ 1984 Hugo Awards Archived 2007-12-25 at the Wayback Machine, Best Novel:Startide Rising by David Brin (Bantam, 1983), The Hugo Awards
  2. ^ Who's Getting Your Vote? Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, October 29, 2008, Reason
  3. ^ Startide Rising Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, Science Fiction & Fantasy Books, WWEnd
  4. ^ The Postman Archived 2009-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, Science Fiction & Fantasy Books, WWEnd
  5. ^ The Uplift War Archived 2009-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, Science Fiction & Fantasy Books, WWEnd
  6. ^ 1986: 1st – The Postman, David Brin Archived 2011-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, 2003: 2nd – Kiln People, David Brin, The John W. Campbell Memorial Award
  7. ^ "Nebula Award Winners: 1965–2011 Archived 2015-01-31 at the Wayback Machine". Section: 1983. Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. sfwa.org. "Best Novel: Startide Rising by David Brin". Retrieved 2018-02-04.
  8. ^ Jones, Fiona M (20 March 2021). "David Brin: The Postman". Mythaxis Review. Retrieved 26 October 2021.[dead link]
  9. ^ "David Brin". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, 2018-02-01. Available online via Encyclopedia.com Archived 2018-02-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ "Caltech Commencement Program". Caltech Campus Publications. June 8, 1973. p. 5. Archived February 9, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  11. ^ "David Brin." St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, 2018-02-01.
  12. ^ Brin, Glen David (1981). Evolution of cometary nuclei as influenced by a dust component (Ph.D.). University of California, San Diego. OCLC 8067212
  13. ^ "David Brin". ieet.org. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010.
  14. ^ "David Brin | Closer to Truth". www.closertotruth.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  15. ^ "BrightSight Exclusive Speakers:David Brin". brightsidespeakers.com. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  16. ^ Snider, Mike (3 November 2013). "Funds sought for science fiction museum lift-off". USA Today. Archived 8 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  17. ^ Wojtowicz, Slawek (2002). "David Brin Revealed: A two-year-long interview with Slawek Wojtowicz". www.slawcio.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011.
  18. ^ "David Brin's biography". davidbrin.com. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  19. ^ "David Brin on future societies of transparency and freedom". Future Thinkers. March 31, 2016. Archived November 7, 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  20. ^ "1984 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  21. ^ "1983 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  22. ^ "1988 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  23. ^ "1987 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  24. ^ "1996 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2012-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  25. ^ "1986 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  26. ^ "1985 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  27. ^ "1991 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2009-02-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  28. ^ "1994 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2009-10-01 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  29. ^ "2003 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd". Worldswithoutend.com. Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  30. ^ "Forward | Graphic Novel". Forward.msci.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  31. ^ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  32. ^ The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1985. New York: Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc. 1985. p. 415. ISBN 0-911818-71-5.
  33. ^ Inkpot Award
  34. ^ "(5748) Davebrin". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer. 2003. p. 486. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_5421. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7.
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