DAVID BRIN: scientist, best-selling author, tech-consultant and speaker

David Brin

David Brin is best-known for shining light — plausibly and entertainingly — on technology, society, and countless challenges confronting our rambunctious civilization. His best-selling novels include The Postman (filmed in 1997) plus explorations of our near-future in Earth and Existence. Other novels are translated into 25+ languages. His short stories explore vividly speculative ideas.

Brin's nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the American Library Association's Freedom of Speech Award for exploring 21st Century concerns about security, secrecy, accountability and privacy.

As a scientist, tech-consultant and world-known author, he speaks, advises, and writes widely on topics from national defense and homeland security to astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction, creativity, and philanthropy. Urban Developer Magazine named him one of four World's Best Futurists, and he was appraised as "#1 influencer" in Onalytica's Top 100 report of Artificial Intelligence influencers, brands & publications.


Here you will find the latest news about DAVID BRIN, including his newest books, articles, appearances and speeches.

newest book releases

Ailien Minds

Ailien Minds

NEW! from the author of The Transparent Society

Giddy optimists foretell our coming transcendence to a golden age of AI-managed abundance. Glowering doomers predict that vast cyber-minds — cold and unsympathetic — will either crush old style humanity or render us irrelevant.

Meanwhile, geniuses fostering the artificial intelligence boom clutch clichés rooted in our wretched human past, or else cheap sci-fi ... as critics demand state regulation, ‘kill switches,’ or coercive programming. Or to seek a soft-landing with AI by ‘teaching ethical values’ to synthetic minds who see innumerable counterexamples in their training sets, then collude and manipulate for advantage, when given 'agency.'

The lessons and tools we’ll need, in order to achieve a ‘soft-landing’ with Artificial Intelligence, already exist in modern society — in a myriad ways that modern citizens right now interact with each other, and in how we raise our biological children. Tools that we used to build a gradually improving, enlightenment civilization.

But first, shall we stop proclaiming hoary clichés and turn back to examine what already works?
Find out more, or purchase Ailien Minds. (#AmazonCommissionsEarned)

Through Stranger Eyes

Through Stranger Eyes

to be released April 7, 2026

Now available for pre-order — revised and updated with new material. Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award–winning author David Brin has taken readers on exciting adventures in his fiction with his Uplift universe and novels like The Postman. Now he invites them on a remarkable journey into the mind of one of America’s greatest science fiction writers: himself.

Scintillating and incisive, Through Stranger Eyes is an opinionated free-for-all that is sure to enlighten and entertain, possibly infuriate, or make you laugh. This is the world as David Brin sees it.

Brin shares his thoughts on books like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonrider series. He also discusses movies like The Matrix, George Lucas’s Star Wars saga, and TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He sings the praises of familiar authors like Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson, and Arthur C. Clarke, as well as unfamiliar works like popular science books that touch on his own ideas as an astrophysicist. He even expounds on the storytelling process and the craft of writing.
Find out more, or pre-order Through Stranger Eyes (#AmazonCommissionsEarned)

Snowdance

Snowdance

by Allen Steele and Robin Orm Hansen

Adventure, resilience, and the power of unlikely friendships come together in this thrilling new addition to David Brin's Out of Time series!

In the 24th century, Earth's fragile alliances hang in the balance. On the alien planet New Horizon, a pioneering research team goes silent amid a sudden, brutal winter — and rumors of sabotage by unknown intelligences. With advanced tech faltering and tensions rising, Earth's last hope lies in the past.

From colonial New England, 17th-century farm girl Patience Whately has survived war, loss — and worse. From the 19th century, Norwegian snow-sport prodigy Sondre Auverson knows how to navigate any blizzard. And from the summer of 1978, Lee Jarrett is equal parts courage and curiosity, armed with only a harmonica and a stubborn streak.

Joined by two young volunteers from the future, they must brave alien forests, strange snow, and a hostile wilderness with secrets buried deep beneath the drifts. Can five kids from across time out-think an alien world? Would you want to be Yanked out of time, if it meant you could help save the future?
Purchase Snowdance today, or learn more about all the books in the Out of Time series. (#AmazonCommissionsEarned)


DAVID BRIN's latest news, activities & upcoming appearances

latest news

Acclaimed science fiction authors David Brin, Kevin J. Anderson, and Ramez Naam appeared on the "Breaking Banks" show to talk about how the Covid-19 crisis might affect humanity on a long term basis, looking out short-term and then 50 years from now. listen here

During times of great stability, many people — taking continuity for granted — pile up ever greater amounts of risk without hedging against a reversal... till reversal happens — a "Minsky Moment" when instability suddenly returns, at which point things shake out amid lots of pain. David Brin has railed for 20 years, all over DC and media, about our need for Resilient Systems that are robust enough to ride these shocks out. See this 2019 interview in ACM listing a dozen major ways that we have avoided simple preparations for the next "Minsky Moment." read it here

David Brin updated his call to end gerrymandering (and other voter suppression practices). read it here

speaking & consulting

David is asked to speak and/or consult with businesses, groups, organizations and agencies, helping them think through both near- and long-term opportunities, along with challenges our rambunctious civilization may confront in coming decades.
email DAVID BRIN at info@davidbrin.com for more information

novels offering plenty to think about

Characters, action, and vivid plots? Check. But does a gripping story have to exclude ideas? Come sample novels, story collections and nonfiction books set 10, 100, or 1000 years from now, or in the present or past.
find out more here

short fiction, a la carte

Short stories and novellas have different rhythms and artistic flavor than a novel. Some are available (free or cheap!) to read here or on your ebook.
find out more here

David Brin, curated

Many of Brin's articles, speeches, and favorite blog posts are categorized and curated on Scoop.it. Find links to all the pages here.

upcoming appearances


contact information for interviews and speaking/consulting bookings

press kit
major interviews: print, podcast & video

complete professional biography
compilation of media: films, radio & TV
Brin quotes and frequently asked questions

favorite social media hangouts
to interview or book DAVID BRIN, email him at info@davidbrin.com


a brief intro to science fiction author DAVID BRIN

To learn more, visit his books page, or see his "about me" page or detailed biography.

DAVID BRIN author

novels

David Brin's science fiction novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages. They range from bold and prophetic explorations of our near-future to Brin's Uplift series, envisioning galactic issues of sapience and destiny (and star-faring dolphins!). Learn More


shorter fiction

Short stories and novellas have different rhythms and artistic flavor, and Brin's short stories and novellas, several of which earned Hugo and other awards, exploit that difference to explore a wider range of real and vividly speculative ideas. Many have been selected for anthologies and reprints, and most have been published in anthology form. Learn More


Contrary Brin blog

Since 2004, David Brin has maintained a blog about science, technology, science fiction, books, and the future — themes his science fiction and nonfiction writings continue to explore. Learn More


social media influencer

Who could've predicted that social media — indeed, all of our online society — would play such an important role in the 21st Century — restoring the voices of advisors and influencers! Lively and intelligent comments spill over onto Brin's social media pages. Learn More

DAVID BRIN scientist

scientist

David Brin's Ph.D in Physics from the University of California at San Diego (the lab of nobelist Hannes Alfven) followed a masters in optics and an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Caltech. Every science show that depicts a comet now portrays the model developed in Brin's PhD research. Learn More


transparency expert

Brin's non-fiction book, The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy?, continues to receive acclaim for its accuracy in predicting 21st Century concerns about online security, secrecy, accountability and privacy. Learn More


speaker & consultant

Brin speaks plausibly and entertainingly about trends in technology and society to audiences willing to confront the challenges that our rambunctious civilization will face in the decades ahead. He also talks about the field of science fiction, especially in relation to his own novels and stories. To date he has presented at more than 300 meetings, conferences, corporate retreats and other gatherings. Learn More


future/tech advisor

Brin advises corporations and governmental and private defense- and security-related agencies about information-age issues, scientific trends, future social and political trends, and education. Urban Developer Magazine named him one of four World's Best Futurists, and he was appraised as "#1 influencer" in Onalytica's Top 100 report of Artificial Intelligence influencers, brands & publications. Past consultations include Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and many others. Learn More

Contacting BRIN

All the Ways in the World to Reach David Brin

an ornery, contrary BLOG, and other insightful wormholes!

Do not enter if you want a standard "Party" line! Contrary Brin's incendiary posts on science, sci-fi and politics and its engaged, opinionated community poke at too-rigid orthodoxies, proposing ideas and topics that fascinate — and infuriate. See for yourself, and if you like — subscribe for more.

Questions? Concerns? Email DAVID BRIN at mail@davidbrin.com


0

facebook followers and fans

  join me on Facebook

0

x followers

  join me on X

0

quora followers

  join me on Quora


get on the Brin newsletter!

DAVID BRIN newsletter sign-up

subscribe to David Brin's newsletter and keep up to date on his activities, books, signings and appearances

pinterest boards

DAVID BRIN Pinterest

share David Brin's favorite books, films, ideas and images from these Pinterest boards and help him share the word about science and science fiction


other points of contact

visit other pages on this website

pages about DAVID BRIN

  • latest news and activities
  • information about DAVID BRIN
  • public speaking and consulting & popular topics
  • speaking/consulting references and testimonials & a list of past appearances
  • print and podcast interviews
  • video interviews and talks
  • Brin's presskit and complete biography
  • traditional media and online media
  • Brin quotes and frequently asked questions
  • pages about BRIN's science fiction

  • Brin's novels and books
  • Brin's short stories and novellas
  • all about Brin's uplift universe
  • a selection of book reviews
  • Brin's special-order books for sale
  • Brin's advice for new writers
  • Brin reviews sci fi films — including The Postman
  • a compilation of great sf books to read
  • recommended sf films
  • science fiction that teaches
  • BRIN's nonfiction explorations

  • THE TRANSPARENT SOCIETY
  • privacy, security, accountability and transparency
  • designing and crafting our amazing 21st Century
  • predicting and projecting our near and far future
  • leading and following our politics and economy
  • keeping track of changes in science and technology
  • scanning our sky for habitable (inhabited?) worlds
  • final thoughts ...

    ... for this page, at least ...

    I am a member of a civilization

    It's good that we have a rambunctious society, filled with opinionated individualists. Serenity is nice, but serenity alone never brought progress. Hermits don't solve problems. The adversarial process helps us to improve as individuals and as a culture. Criticism is the only known antidote to error — elites shunned it and spread ruin across history. We do each other a favor (though not always appreciated) by helping find each others' mistakes.

    And yet — we'd all be happier, better off and more resilient if each of us were to now and then say:

    "I am a member of a civilization." (IAAMOAC)

    Step back from anger. Study how awful our ancestors had it, yet they struggled to get you here. Repay them by appreciating the civilization you inherited.