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

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.

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.

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.

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...).