---
product_id: 8001200
title: "Existence"
price: "R$78"
currency: BRL
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.com.br/products/8001200-existence
store_origin: BR
region: Brazil
---

# Existence

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## Description

Bestselling, award-winning futurist David Brin returns to globe-spanning, high concept SF with Existence. Gerald Livingston is an orbital garbage collector. For a hundred years, people have been abandoning things in space, and someone has to clean it up. But there's something spinning a little bit higher than he expects, something that isn't on the decades' old orbital maps. An hour after he grabs it and brings it in, rumors fill Earth's infomesh about an "alien artifact." Thrown into the maelstrom of worldwide shared experience, the Artifact is a game-changer. A message in a bottle; an alien capsule that wants to communicate. The world reacts as humans always do: with fear and hope and selfishness and love and violence. And insatiable curiosity. This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

Review: Superior classic sci-fi by a master storyteller! - I have seldom read such a wonderfully convoluted novel as EXISTENCE. Its joy is in it complexity--that the multiple plots stay coherent and express a multitude of contradictory viewpoints of the future of our humanity. According to Brin, in the later 21st century the world's factional differences--great to begin with--grow to crisis proportions when a crystal containing the downloaded electronic intelligences of numerous galactic beings is found by an astronaut trolling for space garbage. That's just PART of the intertwined plot of this 900+-page novel! Soon after the announcement of the discovery (can you imagine it being released in our secretively paranoid decade?) similar "stones" surface all over the globe, with new sets of characters fleeing factions in pursuit. Brin is a master of varying viewpoints, as he demonstrated in his Uplift War and Uplift series, so we meet (or hear about) extremists of all sorts, not very many reasonable folks, plenty of persons with a wealth of human frailties, but no cardboard villains at all. The aliens, when they begin to speak, are as vulnerable, error-prone, fanatic and sly as humans, which makes the appearance of a few of them as pseudo-alive electronic beings at the novel's end fascinating and poignant. I loved Brin's shrewd portrayal of the conceit of self-justifying trillionare oligarchs, the cruelty of extremist rebels with a cause, the struggle of impoverished families in the era of global warming, and the awful pollution of plastic and rusting metal junk in the rising seas--which Brin describes as something future humans and dolphins must try to cope with although it will very likely overwhelm their efforts. As a Medievalist, I think his acceptance of Steven Pinker's belief that humans are now less violent than in the past is naive, nor does he bring in the ominous likelihood of the rapid destruction of the planet's fresh water, food chain and other life-sustaining necessities by our decade's selfish fossil fuel solipsists who think only of profits, but otherwise there seem to be no major gaps in his analysis of what Earth's overcrowded future may be like. Much of it isn't pleasant, but the novel somehow seems optimistic. It's filled with outspoken, opinionated, intelligent and very human people--as varied as burnt-out aging astronaut Gerald Livingstone who discovers the crystal among space-trash, science-obsessed trillionaire Lacey Donaldson-Sander and her playboy son Hacker who becomes an uplifter of dolphins, hard-working shoresteader of drowned Shanghai mansions Peng Xiang Bin and his resourceful wife Mei Ling, the delightful rastifarian physicist and science popularizer Professor Noozone or "Profnoo" who seems like a blend of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bob Marley, TV journalist Dorothy (Tor) Povlov who becomes a hero and loses her face and body but not her mind or spirit, conceited sci-fi writer and hypocrite Hamish Brookeman who gets humbled and becomes a much finer person, a world-chain of autistic young people who communicate in their own ultranerd jargon no less brilliantly and courageously than conventional people. Artificial intelligence is very nearly a character in its own right. And there are dolphins, aliens, and numerous other characters important or subsidiary, who impressed me as amazingly plausible within so complex a novel. If you enjoy good storytelling, a lot of humor and punning wit, prediction of the limited choices for our future, intelligent digressions on theology, philosophy, sociology, ethics, fanaticism, conservatism, rebellion both sane and insane, and the mind-expansion of getting to know humans and non-humans of all points of view--this is the book for you! It's a long read and demands concentration. Usually I finish a novel in a couple of days, but EXISTENCE took almost two weeks, and then I turned right around and read it again, to locate ideas I knew I'd overlooked. I don't do that more than once every 20 years! Enjoy!
Review: Interesting premise, Hopeful and Optimistic, but topsy-turvy narration weakens the effort - As a first-time reader of David Brin, I did not know what to expect from Existence. Luckily, Brin provides a lengthy preview, which I recommend that you read before buying, especially given that this is a pricey book. While reading Existence, I was reminded of Heinlein in some respects. Brin explores political, philosophical, scientific, religious, moral and ethical considerations from a number of different perspectives. His musings are truly kaleidoscopic. This is, of course, both good and bad: the positive perspective is that Brin criticizes modernity, particularly its politics and more parochial tendencies, thus providing the reader with a refreshing or perhaps more refined understanding of polemical issues, while challenging everyday "post-modern" platitudes; the negative flip side is that all of Brin's introspection, questioning and pontificating becomes repetitive, if not a bit tiresome, depending on your interest in these more existential questions, along with your attention span. Indeed, Existence has been written--make no mistake--for avid science fiction readers. The language is, in addition to pedantic, somewhat turgid, even pretentious, so make sure you are prepared to read a book whose author isn't afraid to challenge your vocabulary; if this turns you off, then there are times when the writing will bother you. The plot itself is rather straightforward: Gerald, aboard a spaceship orbiting Earth, encounters an anomalous object: is it alien; is it a hoax; where did it come from? Immediately after apprehending this object, later dubbed the "Artifact," Brin explores the various reactions humans have toward the object. He provides the full gamut of human reaction, which courses through every nook and cranny in society. However, Brin is principally concerned with the Artifact's effect on society as a whole; Brin's characters, being sort of one-dimensional and easily forgettable, serve as symbols for greater collective cliques. You've got the inquisitive scientist, the ultra-rich elitist, the conservative and reactionary politician, and so on. But none of these characters seem very real. Character development is altogether lacking, although there are a few characters who are more indelible than others. As a work of science fiction, Brin has a rather optimistic perspective of humanity's future, in spite of the many predictable and inevitable potholes ahead. Existence takes place around 2040, then jumps ahead to 2060 or so, and again toward the end of the twenty-first century. Most of the novel takes place around 2040, or the time frame near which time the Singularity, and the dawn of transhumanism, is hypothesized to take place. Like in the real world, Existence captures both the wonderment and anxious nostalgia revolving around transhumanism, cyborgs, artificial intelligence, and so forth. If you recall what Arthur C. Clarke writes in his Space Odyssey saga, the material out of which a being is made is immaterial; what we humans identify as truly special is our intelligence, and if that intelligence is manifested by biological beings, technological-silicon cyborgs, or hybrids between the two is of lesser concern than the possibility of a harmonious or commensal relationship between like-minded sentient beings. A federation of intellectual and moral beings, if you will. This lofty yet satisfying goal of a federation encompassing an panoply of sentient beings reminds me of Star Wars wherein every being, regardless of species, is accepted. Brin breathes life into this quasi-utopian but nonetheless noble possibility: he, in short, merges the morality of progressivism with the politics and technology of futurism, if you will. Moreover, Brin's society incorporates many of modernity's predictions of the future: escalated sea levels, virtual reality (albeit with a more unique flavor), a fragmented United States (not unsimilar to Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games, though not dystopic), an autism pandemic, etc. Amid the partisan politics, basically boiled down to conservative versus moderate versus progressive-"futurist," Brin weaves a tapestry of narratives that coincide--or sometimes even wither away prematurely, on the other hand--all the while raising important questions about the Artifact, from which questions about the nature of intelligent life, extraterrestrial beings, the feasibility of interstellar space travel arise, and receive startling answers. Aside from all these big questions, Brin somewhat solemnly tackles the quandary that has been irking sci-fi aficionados for possibly decades, if not centuries: Are we alone in our galaxy, or even in the entire cosmos? Have we yet, or will we ever, encounter intelligent life elsewhere? If not, what does this say about humanity? Do we have a responsibility to mother and husband up-and-coming civilizations, once we have mastered the science of interstellar space travel? But what if we destroy ourselves first? What does this say about the possibility of intelligent life in general? Is it a spoof? As you can see, these questions are a bit arresting: and yet these are the questions you will encounter throughout Existence. A great deal of Existence is spent trying to figure out what the Artifact is, what it wants, what utilitarian purpose can it serve humans, etc. Brin provides many cliffhangars, however: after you're starting to figure things out, Brin leaves you hanging for several chapters, until, almost randomly, one of those lingering, nagging questions at the back of your mind is finally answered. In this regard the plot, at times, feels somewhat anticlimactic: I felt no intense, adrenaline-filled anticipation for something to ever happen with Existence. The big questions are answered, but kind of schizophrenically: Brin takes you out to sea, slams multiple waves into your seafaring ship, some of which are unexpected while others are redundant and therefore superfluous, then brings you out of the storm, into calm waters, finally satisfies some of your curiosity by showing you the "land ahead," but then seemingly makes a roundabout turn before you ever get to see that land, taking you off to sea again--sometimes through the same waters, leading to more redundancy and therefore boring superfluity. However, eventually Brin does offer an exciting plot twist, that dwarfs the importance of the "Artifact." After much skepticism and waffling, your spirit for adventure is whetted again. But Brin, nevertheless, provides the same formula: rephrasing of the same questions, answering them from a number of perspectives, and eventually providing a resolution. What sets Existence apart from many First Encounter sci-fi novels is its ultimate optimism. This isn't a work for Cassandras. You'll be reminded of "The Rational Optimist" by Matt Ridley in some ways. So, for a work with such an ambitious title as Existence, is it worth reading? Well, if you don't mind existential musings and shallow characters, while having your patience tested at times, then yes. If you want thrillers, horrors, tons of action and constant plot twists like many sci-fi novels today, then no: this isn't for you. Whatever your predilections may be, Existence offers a new, more intelligent-than-usual, and engrossing take on the first contact sci-fi genre. Still, for a book named Existence, you'd expect something truly marvelous; unfortunately, Brin's latest work is too ambitious, contains much redundancy, and is ultimately more about the possibilities of the existence of extraterrestrial life rather than course of human existence. 3.5-4/5

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,563,085 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #675 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction #695 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books) #59,757 in American Literature (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,312 Reviews |

## Images

![Existence - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71BPHuxnVBL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Superior classic sci-fi by a master storyteller!
*by J***R on July 4, 2013*

I have seldom read such a wonderfully convoluted novel as EXISTENCE. Its joy is in it complexity--that the multiple plots stay coherent and express a multitude of contradictory viewpoints of the future of our humanity. According to Brin, in the later 21st century the world's factional differences--great to begin with--grow to crisis proportions when a crystal containing the downloaded electronic intelligences of numerous galactic beings is found by an astronaut trolling for space garbage. That's just PART of the intertwined plot of this 900+-page novel! Soon after the announcement of the discovery (can you imagine it being released in our secretively paranoid decade?) similar "stones" surface all over the globe, with new sets of characters fleeing factions in pursuit. Brin is a master of varying viewpoints, as he demonstrated in his Uplift War and Uplift series, so we meet (or hear about) extremists of all sorts, not very many reasonable folks, plenty of persons with a wealth of human frailties, but no cardboard villains at all. The aliens, when they begin to speak, are as vulnerable, error-prone, fanatic and sly as humans, which makes the appearance of a few of them as pseudo-alive electronic beings at the novel's end fascinating and poignant. I loved Brin's shrewd portrayal of the conceit of self-justifying trillionare oligarchs, the cruelty of extremist rebels with a cause, the struggle of impoverished families in the era of global warming, and the awful pollution of plastic and rusting metal junk in the rising seas--which Brin describes as something future humans and dolphins must try to cope with although it will very likely overwhelm their efforts. As a Medievalist, I think his acceptance of Steven Pinker's belief that humans are now less violent than in the past is naive, nor does he bring in the ominous likelihood of the rapid destruction of the planet's fresh water, food chain and other life-sustaining necessities by our decade's selfish fossil fuel solipsists who think only of profits, but otherwise there seem to be no major gaps in his analysis of what Earth's overcrowded future may be like. Much of it isn't pleasant, but the novel somehow seems optimistic. It's filled with outspoken, opinionated, intelligent and very human people--as varied as burnt-out aging astronaut Gerald Livingstone who discovers the crystal among space-trash, science-obsessed trillionaire Lacey Donaldson-Sander and her playboy son Hacker who becomes an uplifter of dolphins, hard-working shoresteader of drowned Shanghai mansions Peng Xiang Bin and his resourceful wife Mei Ling, the delightful rastifarian physicist and science popularizer Professor Noozone or "Profnoo" who seems like a blend of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bob Marley, TV journalist Dorothy (Tor) Povlov who becomes a hero and loses her face and body but not her mind or spirit, conceited sci-fi writer and hypocrite Hamish Brookeman who gets humbled and becomes a much finer person, a world-chain of autistic young people who communicate in their own ultranerd jargon no less brilliantly and courageously than conventional people. Artificial intelligence is very nearly a character in its own right. And there are dolphins, aliens, and numerous other characters important or subsidiary, who impressed me as amazingly plausible within so complex a novel. If you enjoy good storytelling, a lot of humor and punning wit, prediction of the limited choices for our future, intelligent digressions on theology, philosophy, sociology, ethics, fanaticism, conservatism, rebellion both sane and insane, and the mind-expansion of getting to know humans and non-humans of all points of view--this is the book for you! It's a long read and demands concentration. Usually I finish a novel in a couple of days, but EXISTENCE took almost two weeks, and then I turned right around and read it again, to locate ideas I knew I'd overlooked. I don't do that more than once every 20 years! Enjoy!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting premise, Hopeful and Optimistic, but topsy-turvy narration weakens the effort
*by A***C on June 23, 2012*

As a first-time reader of David Brin, I did not know what to expect from Existence. Luckily, Brin provides a lengthy preview, which I recommend that you read before buying, especially given that this is a pricey book. While reading Existence, I was reminded of Heinlein in some respects. Brin explores political, philosophical, scientific, religious, moral and ethical considerations from a number of different perspectives. His musings are truly kaleidoscopic. This is, of course, both good and bad: the positive perspective is that Brin criticizes modernity, particularly its politics and more parochial tendencies, thus providing the reader with a refreshing or perhaps more refined understanding of polemical issues, while challenging everyday "post-modern" platitudes; the negative flip side is that all of Brin's introspection, questioning and pontificating becomes repetitive, if not a bit tiresome, depending on your interest in these more existential questions, along with your attention span. Indeed, Existence has been written--make no mistake--for avid science fiction readers. The language is, in addition to pedantic, somewhat turgid, even pretentious, so make sure you are prepared to read a book whose author isn't afraid to challenge your vocabulary; if this turns you off, then there are times when the writing will bother you. The plot itself is rather straightforward: Gerald, aboard a spaceship orbiting Earth, encounters an anomalous object: is it alien; is it a hoax; where did it come from? Immediately after apprehending this object, later dubbed the "Artifact," Brin explores the various reactions humans have toward the object. He provides the full gamut of human reaction, which courses through every nook and cranny in society. However, Brin is principally concerned with the Artifact's effect on society as a whole; Brin's characters, being sort of one-dimensional and easily forgettable, serve as symbols for greater collective cliques. You've got the inquisitive scientist, the ultra-rich elitist, the conservative and reactionary politician, and so on. But none of these characters seem very real. Character development is altogether lacking, although there are a few characters who are more indelible than others. As a work of science fiction, Brin has a rather optimistic perspective of humanity's future, in spite of the many predictable and inevitable potholes ahead. Existence takes place around 2040, then jumps ahead to 2060 or so, and again toward the end of the twenty-first century. Most of the novel takes place around 2040, or the time frame near which time the Singularity, and the dawn of transhumanism, is hypothesized to take place. Like in the real world, Existence captures both the wonderment and anxious nostalgia revolving around transhumanism, cyborgs, artificial intelligence, and so forth. If you recall what Arthur C. Clarke writes in his Space Odyssey saga, the material out of which a being is made is immaterial; what we humans identify as truly special is our intelligence, and if that intelligence is manifested by biological beings, technological-silicon cyborgs, or hybrids between the two is of lesser concern than the possibility of a harmonious or commensal relationship between like-minded sentient beings. A federation of intellectual and moral beings, if you will. This lofty yet satisfying goal of a federation encompassing an panoply of sentient beings reminds me of Star Wars wherein every being, regardless of species, is accepted. Brin breathes life into this quasi-utopian but nonetheless noble possibility: he, in short, merges the morality of progressivism with the politics and technology of futurism, if you will. Moreover, Brin's society incorporates many of modernity's predictions of the future: escalated sea levels, virtual reality (albeit with a more unique flavor), a fragmented United States (not unsimilar to Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games, though not dystopic), an autism pandemic, etc. Amid the partisan politics, basically boiled down to conservative versus moderate versus progressive-"futurist," Brin weaves a tapestry of narratives that coincide--or sometimes even wither away prematurely, on the other hand--all the while raising important questions about the Artifact, from which questions about the nature of intelligent life, extraterrestrial beings, the feasibility of interstellar space travel arise, and receive startling answers. Aside from all these big questions, Brin somewhat solemnly tackles the quandary that has been irking sci-fi aficionados for possibly decades, if not centuries: Are we alone in our galaxy, or even in the entire cosmos? Have we yet, or will we ever, encounter intelligent life elsewhere? If not, what does this say about humanity? Do we have a responsibility to mother and husband up-and-coming civilizations, once we have mastered the science of interstellar space travel? But what if we destroy ourselves first? What does this say about the possibility of intelligent life in general? Is it a spoof? As you can see, these questions are a bit arresting: and yet these are the questions you will encounter throughout Existence. A great deal of Existence is spent trying to figure out what the Artifact is, what it wants, what utilitarian purpose can it serve humans, etc. Brin provides many cliffhangars, however: after you're starting to figure things out, Brin leaves you hanging for several chapters, until, almost randomly, one of those lingering, nagging questions at the back of your mind is finally answered. In this regard the plot, at times, feels somewhat anticlimactic: I felt no intense, adrenaline-filled anticipation for something to ever happen with Existence. The big questions are answered, but kind of schizophrenically: Brin takes you out to sea, slams multiple waves into your seafaring ship, some of which are unexpected while others are redundant and therefore superfluous, then brings you out of the storm, into calm waters, finally satisfies some of your curiosity by showing you the "land ahead," but then seemingly makes a roundabout turn before you ever get to see that land, taking you off to sea again--sometimes through the same waters, leading to more redundancy and therefore boring superfluity. However, eventually Brin does offer an exciting plot twist, that dwarfs the importance of the "Artifact." After much skepticism and waffling, your spirit for adventure is whetted again. But Brin, nevertheless, provides the same formula: rephrasing of the same questions, answering them from a number of perspectives, and eventually providing a resolution. What sets Existence apart from many First Encounter sci-fi novels is its ultimate optimism. This isn't a work for Cassandras. You'll be reminded of "The Rational Optimist" by Matt Ridley in some ways. So, for a work with such an ambitious title as Existence, is it worth reading? Well, if you don't mind existential musings and shallow characters, while having your patience tested at times, then yes. If you want thrillers, horrors, tons of action and constant plot twists like many sci-fi novels today, then no: this isn't for you. Whatever your predilections may be, Existence offers a new, more intelligent-than-usual, and engrossing take on the first contact sci-fi genre. Still, for a book named Existence, you'd expect something truly marvelous; unfortunately, Brin's latest work is too ambitious, contains much redundancy, and is ultimately more about the possibilities of the existence of extraterrestrial life rather than course of human existence. 3.5-4/5

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is How It Is Done: A Master Class on the Hard Science Fiction Novel
*by N***S on July 12, 2012*

Despite the Book Description above, this story is not about Gerald Livingston, orbital garbage collector who comes upon an alien artifact circling Earth. At least, it's not *only* about Gerald. He's just one of the ensemble of characters who inhabit Brin's future world, a world that's impressively realized and layered and detailed. A world where Chinese peasants hustle to survive, where trillionaires conspire to maintain control, where amateur scientists pursue knowledge, where smart-mobs and posses form to pursue their own agendas, and where artificial intelligence is coming into its own. And that's just for starters. There is an ambitious reporter, autistic savants, a rumored genetic throwback, a mythical rat in the maze of the evolved internet, several scientists/boffins (including one Rastafarian), an author of SF/Fantasy/Horror novels, a prophet, a rich widow with a passion for SETI, a young man with a passion for adventure, some dolphins who may be smarter than they look, an amphibious mechanical snake, several androids, some aliens, and a person who collects doomsday scenarios. Oh, but there's more. There are space rocks that may point the way to the future of humanity, or perhaps lead to our destruction. There are multiple "first contact" scenes with multiple alien races and machines. There are terrorists and saviors. And throughout this complex drama, there are multiple protagonists and villains who try to cope with a world whose place in the cosmos weaves and bobs as new facts and knowledge are uncovered. Just when everybody thinks they have it all figured out, the worldview flips and everybody's position changes. Are you getting the picture of an amazing, audacious attempt to depict a world both recognizable and strange, a world of modern complexity on steroids--and yet one that retains its essential humanity? Brin has attempted something that very few others have done, and he does it well. I was strongly reminded of Brunner's classic dystopian SF novel, Stand on Zanzibar. The parallels in both content and style are, I think, undeniable. And yet, where Brunner's novel of the late 1960's was dystopian, Brin's novel of 2012 is ultimately hopeful and carries a strong message that our diversity and our humanity are inextricably connected. I liked the book but it's not perfect. In particular, Brin has a habbit of building to a climax and then abruptly stopping, only to jump to a point after the climax and retelling the dramatic moment as history. That bugged me. A lot. But dang it, Brin has done a wonderful job of creating a complex, diverse world. One with backstory and hopeful future. The ambitious scope of the backstory can only be compared to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings--and many of the secrets are revealed only as the backstory is told. This novel has it all: scope, characters, world-building and backstory, free-will versus serfdom, hard science and rigorous extrapolation, and a thematic message that we all need to hear. It's kind of amazing, actually.

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