Earth

Rating:
Summary: I'll read more Brin!!
Review: I hadn't read anyhthing by Brin before, when I saw EARTH at the library, I judged it by its cover. It turned out to be a great story with well developed, thoughtful characters. The end was not too "out there" (just barely) but he made it sound plausible. I was very happy he didn't end it on some cliche ominous note. I liked his vision of our future. I'll enjoy being a little old man there. My only wish was that, in a book this long, he had included a list of characters to refer back to.

Rating:
Summary: The train to Morrow is a mile upon its way...
Review: Two very difficult tasks are managing a large cast of important characters and building a near-future society. David Brin does both brilliantly in Earth. The people are engaging and believable, even when their parts are tangental, and the society is phenomenal. He correctly anticipates many aspects of the WWW, and I'm eagerly watching as many more predictions move towards fulfillment. His ecological predictions are realistic, not catastrophic, and his solution, though a bit over the top, leavens the divine intervention with the practical steps we still need to take. Not only is this a first class work of science fiction, it's a insightful work of sociology, technology forecasting, and people watching.

Rating:
Summary: just OK
Review: After reading some of Brin's short stories and seeing speak at a local bookstore, I decided to buy this book. The picture he paints of the future is the book's strongest point. He makes a convincing, but at the same time exotic world. Something he fails to do is make the reader care about the characters, I found myself even forgetting who was who. The end did poorly as well, it was just not convincing.

Rating:
Summary: Great all the way to the ending, then....not sure
Review: Brin is one of those writers who somehow manages to keep 30 different threads going and to bring them all together in the end, under a unifying theme. Especially interesting in this book, is the fact that each one of these threads represents basically a different experience of, and perspective on, the state of the world 50 years from now. Brin's projections usually ring true, which helps to bring the world, and the characters to life. But when he reaches for the big ending, he reaches a little too far. Sure, it's fun and exciting, but as a reader, you can't help losing that sense of reality which makes the rest of the book work so well. I wish he had come up with an ending that was more...um..."down to Earth."

Rating:
Summary: Intertwining stories fascinating
Review: The back of this book says that its about a black hole falling to the core of the earth and the chaos that insues. This is true, but only in part. What makes this story truly compelling is the way Brin includes the stories of everyday life: 3 teenagers striving to make their mark on the world; one woman determined to save it from humanity; and many more. Brin actually created an entire believeable society about the core of the story (no pun intended) and makes it truly interesting. When I was 400 pages in this book all I could think of was how happy I was there were still 300 more to read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!!!!
Review: Character development took second place to development of entire scenario - the characters concern for events was more than enough to make you care for them!!! Truly a masterfully executed undertaking by Brin - A huge leap of faith!!!

Rating:
Summary: Brin is vindicated by current events
Review: While reading Earth, one might remember when it was actually published. Brin describes the idea of a "global web" allowing all points of the globe to stay in easy contact when the Internet was still 10 servers and a hub between Universities. How many other ideas in his works may come true? Brin is thought provoking in all of his books, but especially so in Earth

Rating:
Summary: His best.
Review: Wonderful concept. Great ending. Brin is a good writier, and here he makes that leap to GREAT. The concept--wrapped around a message of environmental harm--is so intriguingly sci-fi that when you get to the end you just drop your jaw in shock. I pray they never even try to make this beutifully crafted, well executed novel into a Hollywood crud film (a 'la the POSTMAN).

Rating:
Summary: Long and Boring
Review: Brin takes a stab at trying to explain how the Earth will fair as we move towards environmental disaster (a favorite topic of current future history writers). Unfortunately, all he creates are vignettes that really don't run together and characters that I really don't care about. With all his stellar books, I guess I can forgive one mess. Here's hoping we don't get another "message" book from Brin.

Rating:
Summary: Quite an epic...
Review: I was really fascinated by this book, even if it was a tad long. I find the idea of writing near-future sci-fi to be one of the most challenging types of stories, especially when the political climate can change as dramatically as it has since Earth was written: I get bogged down in the what-ifs of it all. Anyway, I'm impressed with the "prediction" factor, as it seems Mr. Brin has balanced interest with plausability all with skill. I wonder if the the larger alien intervention idea wasn't influenced by a similar one in Sagan's Contact.