McFarland, 2021
My 3rd non-fiction book reconnoiters famous SF media — from E.T. and Star Trek to The Arrival and Gattaca — and how they help craft a civilization that's obsessed with self-criticism, suspicion of authority, individualism and tolerance, along with appreciation of ecology and diversity... values that might save us all! But shouldn’t we at least understand how these relentlessly proselytized values made us unique among all human societies, across 6000 years?
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Hollywood — and science fiction — helped make the world we see today and the future that’s unfolding, for well and ill. Do you dare dissect how and what they teach?
Can science fiction — especially sci-fi cinema — save the world? It already has, many times. Retired officers testify that films like Doctor Strangelove, Fail-Safe, On the Beach and War Games provoked changes and helped prevent accidental war. Soylent Green and Silent Running recruited millions of environmental activists. The China Syndrome and countless movies about plagues helped bring attention to those failure modes. And the grand-daddy of "self-preventing prophecy" — Nineteen Eighty-Four — girded countless citizens to stay wary of Big Brother.
It’s not been all dire warnings. While optimism is much harder to dramatize than apocalypse, both large and small screens have also encouraged millions to lift their gaze, contemplating how we might get better, incrementally, or else raise grandchildren worthy of the stars.
Come along with legendary science fiction author and astrophysicist David Brin on a quirky quest for unusual insights into the power of forward-looking media.
How does the romantic allure of feudalism tugs at the men and women who benefited the most from its decline?
Why does almost every Hollywood film preach Suspicion of Authority, along with tolerance, diversity and personal eccentricity?
How do these seemingly-contradictory messages help keep us free?
Though some critiques are offered from a lifetime of respect and love and gratitude, no one is spared scrutiny — not Spielberg or Tolkien or Cameron or Costner... nor Dune or demigods or zombie flicks. And certainly not George Lucas or Ayn Rand!
purchase Vivid Tomorrows
Amazon.com US: paperback
Amazon.ca Canada: paperback and Kindle ebook
Amazon.co.uk UK: paperback and Kindle ebook
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Apple iTunes US: iBook and audiobook (unabridged)
Barnes and Noble US: Available March 12,2021. Preorder now for paperback
indiebound.org US: paperback
Kobo.com US: ebook
Mysterious Galaxy San Diego: paperback and (Kobo) ebook and audiobook (unabridged)
Powell's US: paperback
table of contents/more about Brin's science fiction
With the story collections, place the table of contents here. With uplift novels, place information about them here. With the near-future sf, place information about them here.
foreign-language editions
Book has been translated into Bulgarian, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish. Here are some of the covers of the foreign and foreign-language publications.
David Brin in the world
Brin's vivid tomorrows
Brin on the web
film & media queries
Queries about film or media rights to any DAVID BRIN books or stories can be addressed to his film agent:
Vince Gerardis
Created-By Agency
email: rightsqueries@gmail.com
(with cc: to David Brin)
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.
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
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 200 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 cited as one of the top 10 writers the AI elite follow. Past consultations include Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and many others. Learn More
