Rating: 
Summary: Phenominal Exicution of an Over Worked Topic
Review: This novel, whether or not I agree with Brin's idology, was an amazing work. Brin's ability to write from multiple perspectives and to paint such vivid, cinematic panoramas has made Earth a Sci-Fi classic. I cant recommend this book enough. It's thought provoking, intelligent, exciting, and overpowering. You will go away from each chapter with something deep to think about. I will always come back for more stories from David Brin.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely comprehensive and technically detailed epic.
Review: The characters aren't much to look at, but this is an epic, so you know what priority characters are held at. The story dances from place to place, person to person, event to event, so you really don't understand what's going on until about halfway through, but then it pays off as all the events start coming together until they crash into each other in several huge climaxes at once, all breathtaking and pretty much unforseeable. This is definitely worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful- will leave an impact on you...
Review: This is one of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's got everything a sci-fi buff is looking for, with a modern touch. I had to read it a little slower than other books due to it's complex character roles, it has a little of the "cyberpunk" element to it. The book is a bit lengthy but it never gets boring, it really relates to the modern day world and makes some of our problems seem more clear. Brin is a brilliant writer, they should make a movie of this book. Don't forget to read the end of the book- AFTER the Afterword. I loved it and I'm going to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Very convincing and well thought out backgroung.
Review: David Brin must have done a lot of research for this book. It doesnt feel like sci-fi because it seems so real. I would give 5 stars if it were 200 pages less but a lot of people now seem to like epic sized books.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking.
Review: There's a lot to complain about in this book. You spend the first few hundred pages trying to keep track of who's who. The last two hundred contain a plot twist that is incredible (in the sense of hard-to-believe).But it doesn't *matter* - the journey makes it all worthwhile. To a very real extent, the main character of this novel is the setting itself. Brin fleshes out a future world that is detailed, enticing, cohesive, plausible and frightening. A very thought-provoking novel.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it was excellent
Review: I don't know what's wrong with all these bitter, complaining reviewers -- I thought it was great. I *am* an Objectivist, and while I agree that the novel's theme clearly knocks heads with Ayn Rand's philosophy, it's a very sad reader who is unable to take pleasure in a well-articulated, dramatically presented opposing view. We're supposed to be rationalists, not censors, for heaven's sake. Anyway, I thought the book was ingenious, mind-bending, insightful, and impressively prophetic in many important regards, including the rapid spread of hypertext, how close we have come to creating artificial singularities, loss of privacy, etc.
Rating:
Summary: It is Unique !!! Makes you think.
Review: D. Brin shows us in an entertaining way some of the potential problems humanity could be facing. I like the science bit in this book. Powerful message. I read a lot of SF. This book is unique by its content and the gravity of its subject (pun !). It is not SF as some people would expect it to be, i.e. a mindless useless entertainment, hence I suspect the negative reactions. READ IT and MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
Rating: 
Summary: As poisonous in it's philosophy as it is thorough
Review: David Brin is often touted as a Libertarian, but this book belies that. Buy it, because it is destined to be the bible of anti-individualists and devotees of the "New World Order" everywhere. It is the perfect antithesis of "Atlas Shrugged," and just as thorough in expounding its philosophical thesis. If you want to understand Ayn Rand, this book is a perfect example of how her fictional villains and real-world opponents think. The book is a tour de force poisonous philosophical tenets, from its metaphysics of pop-mysticism and its epistemology of the "multiple-personality mind" to its group-identity ethics, "third-way" authoritarian socialist politics, and thinly veiled nihilism. If it does nothing else, this book should be hailed for exposing the "Whole Earth Movement" for the collectivism that it is. It is a breathtakingly disturbing read for the rational individualist reader, but priceless for understanding the collectivist mindset.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story but boring characters and writing kill this book
Review: Brin definitely has an interesting plot with many twists and turns. However, his characters are extremely boring and simplistic. The writing also was very mind numbing. I had the feeling that he wrote an outline then feed it into a machine to do the writing for him. These factor detract from an excellent story. Having not read any other works by him I'm not sure if this is the case with all his writing. I don't recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Good extrapolation, makes you think, characters not as good
Review: David Brin has managed to extrapolate in ways that no other SF author has done. He not only advances technology by half a century, but also the trends of society. His idea that senior citizens will basically control the world because they are the largest voting group sounded right on. Maybe the most impressive thing about Brin's writing is the way he takes multiple plot lines and plays them on each other, having them all come together at the end. My only problem is that the characters didn't seem as well rounded as the ones in his other novels.
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