Customer Reviews

Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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?`

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.

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.

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.

...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...

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.

I loved both Uplift trilogies, but this book is so bad I wish it were possible to give it zero stars; so bad I can't understand how David Brin may have accepted to attach his name to it; so bad I feel I've been swindled. I want my money back!

I found this book an enjoyable read. Granted there's no actually story telling in the book, no plot, it's simply an informational guide to David Brin's Uplift universe.

Odd as it may be, I actually read this companion before I read the series and I found that it really helped fill in some of the gaps and visualize the exotic alien species. I don't know that I'd recommend everyone reading this before the novels, as it's purely informational, but I did find it helpful having this information going in to the novels. Some of the species are so odd and best as he might try, Mr. Brin's descriptions of his many alien races don't always paint the perfect picture. The illustrations in this book are great for completing that picture. I also felt like I understood the motives, quirks, charms, ego's and flaws of the aliens much better having read this first.

I'm sort of an information junkie, when I get really interested in a property I want any media/information I can get about that property. For instance, I'm a huge Halo fan and have read/watched/played everything Halo related. I love how authors can create such a rich, complex, detailed world of their own, especially ones filled with "historical" events that explain why this world they've created is the way it is at a particular point in time. So where I felt this book let me down a little was that the timeline and entries provided for explaining human history was a bit light. The author gives you some big events that happened in leading up to this fantasy future, but the details are lacking. For instance, what prompted humans to uplift chimpanzees and dolphins in the first place? What was this political/social revolution that took place on Earth centuries ago? I was hoping for a bit more in explaining how/why human culture had changed and advanced so much over those few centuries.

If you have read this series already and really enjoyed it this book would be good to elaborate in more detail the history, cultures and tendencies of the alien species. If you're just a casual fan of the series I don't think you'd find much of interest in this book. For those new to the series or who have yet to read the series, this might be a good starter, I suppose it just depends on how much of an information addict you are.

Not at all what I expected, all pen and ink, black and white but a different twist than I expected many of the races to look like. A must see for Brin fans.

This was an excellent book. Simple drawings, without colour, but very necessary. It would have made a world of difference to have this available when reading the rest of the Uplift series, especially Startide Rising and Brightness Reef. Brin simply has so many characters in this series, and so many species, you need a manual to follow it all. Add to this he has an extraordinary imagination, so his species aren't always the run of the mill StarTrek bipedal humanoids, but have very strange biologies. It helps to have an extended description, pictures, and a history on each one. Reading the Illustrated Guide I was finally able to fully understand many of the interactions in the other books of the Uplift Series.

But beyond it's shear necessity, this book is valuable in it's own right for the peculiar species presented. Brin presents the book as if it was written for the CIA of the 24th century, giving them all the important basic details on major species in the Five Galaxies. Again, his imagination is amazing, and it stays within a internally coherent scientific framework. Brin shows what different species would be like depending on their particular environments. He never gives anything away from any of the six books of the Uplift series, but rather simply vaguely alludes to major events that might pertain to particular species. This is a necessary addition for every Uplift library.