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Rating: 
Summary: Few will enjoy this
Review: ...Brin's uplift novels are overloaded with wonderful details that lets the reader's mind co-create aliens and alien landscapes. He provides just enough information to evoke a sense of weirdness with his aliens that they become full fledged beings all on their own. His aliens are, for the most part, shockingly original and often disturbing in just how un-human they can be. In Contacting Aliens imagination and originally have been surgically removed leaving us with aliens as two dimensional as the artwork that accompanies their brief description. What a disappointment. The book neither fills in holes left by the series nor adds new ground or information to these characters.The drawings appear rather juvenile and provide no depth or interest. They contribute nothing to the image of the exotics that populate Brin's novels...
Rating:
Summary: Few will enjoy this
Review: ...Brin's uplift novels are overloaded with wonderful details that lets the reader's mind co-create aliens and alien landscapes. He provides just enough information to evoke a sense of weirdness with his aliens that they become full fledged beings all on their own. His aliens are, for the most part, shockingly original and often disturbing in just how un-human they can be. In Contacting Aliens imagination and originally have been surgically removed leaving us with aliens as two dimensional as the artwork that accompanies their brief description. What a disappointment. The book neither fills in holes left by the series nor adds new ground or information to these characters. The drawings appear rather juvenile and provide no depth or interest. They contribute nothing to the image of the exotics that populate Brin's novels...
Rating: 
Summary: For lack of trivial pursuit I can¿t get no satisfaction
Review: For someone who loves the Uplift universe and the books this is some fun, a mind-teaser but also an annoyance because of the pictures. Having read all of the Uplift novels I have a distinct mental picture of the relevant alien races and I guess that is true for most of the fans. For someone who doesn't know the novels this book must be quite bewildering - especially because of the pictures. So the only use I foresee for this book is if there is a "Trivial Pursuit - Uplift Universe Edition", then it will be essential. Other than that I agree with others reviewers (and quote the Stones): I can't get no satisfaction either.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but unsatisfying.
Review: Full of intriguing trivia about the races of the Five Galaxies, but not well edited. Full of minor contradictions and glitches, any one of which is easily ignored, but together they become annoying. Plus, the illustrations aren't very good. I would have willingly paid more for for a book with QUALITY pics, like those in Barlowe's Guide To Extra-Terrestrials (sadly, out of print). Get it if you're already a Brin fan; if you're not, don't bother, get Sundiver or Stardtide Rising instead.
Rating: 
Summary: fun stuff
Review: I loove the Uplift universe (really galaxies, not the entire universe, but whatever). This is an excellent guide book to the series, fleshing out previously-introduced races and providing new information on others. However, DO NOT read this book until you have read Startide Rising, The Uplift War, and Sundiver. Contacting Aliens contains spoilers to the conclusions of those books.
One thing, I hope a second edition of this comes out, because there are a few little errors/contradictions in it.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing and Impudent
Review: If you're like me and sometimes you have trouble keeping track of which species is which in David Brin's Uplift Saga, then this book will prove to be a valuable resource. All of the major players are listed (including those so prominently featured in the "Heaven's Reach" trilogy), along with their patrons and clients, which is very helpful in sorting out the various allegiances and alliances. Most of the entries are quite short, just giving a brief description of the physical appearances of the races, how they were uplifted and what unique gifts were cultivated, and their role or fate in galactic society. Many patrons that have retired or are being urged in that direction by their juniors are included here, along with some races that are now extinct. The artwork is not phenomenal like you might get from, say, Jim Burns or some of today's prominent artists from graphic novels, but it's got a sly and impudent sense of humor in my opinion. This fits well with the overall tone of the book, which purports to be a field guide for agents of the Terran Clan, i.e. good ol' Mother Earth. So the text often offers up tips on which races are friendly to humans, which want to destroy us, and which are indifferent, and provides hints on how to deal with some of these. (Of a particularly violent and prosletyzing race of religious zealots, the book notes that an agent's only two options are to flee or "to convert [them] to some less noxious creed".) Also, there are some interesting "real world" web resources listed at the back of the book. As a general refesher for the fan of Brin's work, this works well, but it's not likely to succeed in attracting new readers to the saga. Really, it's a solid supplement to the accumulated material of the novels and can be of some use, but it's not critical to own.
Rating: 
Summary: Exactly what it claims to be
Review: This book is exactly what it claims to be. It is an excellent reference book laid out in an easy to read and intellectually pleasing format. It does contain a few minor inconsistincies but you can figure them out for yourself. If you play a game such as GURPS Uplift, this is an invaluable resource. Just one warning: this book does have a few spoilers in it so you might want to read the Uplift series first.
Rating:
Summary: Someone called this unsatisfying and I agree
Review: To anyone that is a fan of Brin's books (I'm one, I've read them all, and re-read most several times) this is a completist view that adds visuals and some details to a picture already in their mind. To anyone else (my wife, who I've been trying to get to read his books forever) it is a bewildering index to things that never were, displayed in a way that makes sure you won't care. David, if you're reading this...I know your name was on the book, but I'm pretty certain you were only tangentially involved in this. I liked the book, but only cause I loved your books. Write some more for us, would you?`
Rating:
Summary: Someone called this unsatisfying and I agree
Review: To anyone that is a fan of Brin's books (I'm one, I've read them all, and re-read most several times) this is a completist view that adds visuals and some details to a picture already in their mind. To anyone else (my wife, who I've been trying to get to read his books forever) it is a bewildering index to things that never were, displayed in a way that makes sure you won't care. David, if you're reading this...I know your name was on the book, but I'm pretty certain you were only tangentially involved in this. I liked the book, but only cause I loved your books. Write some more for us, would you?`
Rating:
Summary: Good for fans who have read all the Uplift novels
Review: What is this book filled with? Info about the Uplift universe. What do the novels do? Tell the story of the Uplift universe. In short, this one, fun to read guide can in fact spoil some of the intrigue of the novels. If you already read all the books, though, this is a nice refresher in everything you read, plus offers lots on the things that were only hinted at in the books. Another group this book will be good for is the role playing sect. This book was seemingly desinged with you folks in mind, and should offer pleanty of ideas for campaigns and other things. Writers of "fan fiction" may also like it to glean ideas from. The illustraitions, though, do leave something to be desired. They are simple, and all by the same artist. The pictures are nice and clear, but adding an artist or two to give things some variety might have been a good idea. Do not think that just because the cover illustraition is brilliant that the entire book is nothing but the same (though it would have been nice...).
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