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

Best of David Brin

Best of David Brin

David Brin has thrilled readers in almost thirty languages by presenting vastly imaginative — and well-grounded — challenges set in times that might yet come... along with a sometimes razor-thin hope we’ll persevere. In this major retrospective collection of shorter work, gathered from across an extraordinary career spanning decades, you’ll find wonder via David Brin’s unparalleled talent at imagination, extrapolation, hard headed optimism, and plain old fun.
Find out more, or purchase Best of David Brin as a special limited collectible hardcover or Kindle ebook. (#AmazonCommissionsEarned)

The Out of Time series

David Brin's OUT OF TIME series

Would you want to be Yanked out of time... if it meant you could help save the future?

All our best efforts in the difficult 21st century bore fruit, and in the 24th century, people live in the very opposite of a dystopia. Only now their near-utopia is in desperate peril. Suddenly, they need heroes with grit and determination, who can teach them how to face trouble and prevail. So they reach back through time to fetch such heroes...

... but only teenagers can survive the journey from our present to the future! So the heroes they bring forward must be youths from eras teeming with troubled hope — teens from today and from deeper in the past — who are "yanked" to an uncertain tomorrow, where only their courage and savvy innovation can save the day.

Vivid Tomorrows

Vivid Tomorrows

Can science fiction — especially sci-fi cinema — save the world? It already has, many times. And 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.
Find out more, or purchase Vivid Tomorrows as a paperback. (#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


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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.