Earth (original 1990; edition 1991)

Arg! I don't care about any of these people. Also, casual misogyny for the lose. You try to tell me this is a future on limited resources, but she has plants watered?! And orange juice from Oregon brought to her in Texas?! Give me a break.

This was read for ENG 360A Class taken in 2007.

Readings Environmental Novel English Class.

It was not required but I did some extra reading. ( )

My reactions to reading this novel in 1991. Some spoilers follow.

I liked this novel for one reason: Brin’s skill at building and portraying a world fifty years in the future. I agree with Brin’s Afterword statement that this is one of the hardest types of sf to write. Fifty years is just long enough to change some things significantly (beyond the one or two trend extrapolation of a near-future short story) but not enough to allow any wild speculation (at least not plausibly) on the part of the author. Brin does a good job at covering technological, social, and political change. And the fact that he used the Dos Passos style endears him to me. I regard it as one of the best sf styles.

The best part of this novel is Brin’s portrayal of the Net. Brin postulates many uses for hypermedia, world-sprawling grid of cheap information from special interest groups, fanzines, data gathering, political actions, religious junk mail (a Buddhistic group asking if you’re a reincarnated bodhisativa) to sabotage programs that force people to the dreaded Emily Post program before they again send their words out on the Net.

I liked his Helvetian War. He explains his reason for creating it in the Afterword: to have a conflict that echoes in his characters’ minds like World War II and Vietnam do in previous generations and gives some plausible reasons why the world would decide to beat up on innocuous Switzerland.

While most of the characters in this novel didn’t elicit any strong reactions from me one way or another, I really liked the disaffected youths of Bloomington: Remi, Roland, and Crat. In the year 2038, I'll be one of those old guys they're angry at. But, unfortunately, Brin doesn’t do much with their characters. They seem to serve primarily as symbols. After meeting Joseph Moyers who causes them to examine the direction of their lives, they each take symbolic paths. Remi, ultimatley disaffected, goes out in a blaze of glory in a gangfight; Roland learns the meaning of courage, sacrifice, and heroism when he gives his life in a UN raid on a dealer in animal product contraband; Crat becomes our symbol of the despair of the dispossessed of Sea State and the hope of the novel’s end. (Brin, in the Afterword, admits he exaggerated the probable extent of seal level rise due to the Greenhouse Effect).

I also appreciated Daisy McClennon, the eco-fascist. Some may find her character extreme, but she seems all too realistic to me. I also liked Glen Spivey not turning out to be the evil military figure so many, especially Teresa Tikhana (who I found rather annoying), thought him to be.

I liked Brin taking to task those who see Western culture and science as to blame for the environmental crisis. For Brin, wise technology is a way to solve problems. He acknowledges that today’s technological solutions sometimes becomes tomorrow’s problem but argues, in the Afterword, that that should not stop us from seeking solutions. And Brin rightly points out that the future creeps in day by day to become giant changes only noticeable in hindsight.

But there were many things I didn’t like in the novel. I didn’t mind the super science plot of singularity building and gravity beams, but I thought the end bit with it being used as cheap space dirve to save Earth was predictable. As was Daisy McClennon being swept away in a Mississippi that broke through its confining levee. As was a mothballed Atlantis that reaches space again (and where exactly did Atlantis get enough memory space in its computer to run the program that directs the grazer?). The literal incarnation of Gaia was annoying too.

And what was really annoying was the final, vaguely explained battle of surrogate champions -- Jenny Wolling’s tiger and Daisy McClennon’s dragon -- for Gaia and man’s fate. This smacked of the same plot flaw that ruined Brin’s excellent The Postman with its end battle with the souped-up commando. Perhaps Brin frequently resorts to the battle of champion-ending habitually. I guess what I object to is the “everything but the kitchen sink” ending of this novel culminating with the possibility that reporter Pedro Manella is an alien. I realize that Brin thematically tied up everything -- the nature of consciousness, the ultimate value of technology to the environment and man’s place in it, the dichotomy and chaotic relationship of cooperation and competition, the nature of Gaia -- but the ending seemed jarring, contrived -- especially the tiger-dragon fight. ( )

Earth, written by David Brin, is an unforgettable journey and story though a not-so-distant future that stresses the importance of taking care of the environment. With the well thought out characters, wonderful story line full of twists and quirks, Earth grabs your attention from the very beginning and doesn't let go until the final word.

The story takes place in futuristic 2030. Not so far from where we are today, but the book was published in 1995. However, Brin paints a situation that doesn't seem so far off. Because of global climate change, seas have risen way past current day levels, species have gone extinct, and many other problems that society has taken note of today are found in amounts not to far from what we could expect. With the introduction of new technology, society has become completely connected with one another through the use of a global online resource, sort of like the Internet of today, but much, much greater in extent. All of these things are not too far off from where we are for now, and give a realistic touch to the book that many science fiction stories do not.

Throughout the story, Brin takes the viewpoint of different characters from all over the world. Young teenagers, astronauts, and physicists are just a few types of people that make there way onto the list of characters. At first, none of them seem to correlate with each other and are seen as completely individual stories. However, Brin does a good job and ties all of the people together in a way that rivals the similar style found in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. Each character is well thought out and completely burst with personality. As the story goes on, they face increasingly difficult situations.

However, there are some bad points about the book. With all the details, the book can get bogged down a bit. Some of the more intricate scientific matters presented in the book can still be confusing even though it tries to explain it, but it does a good job at simplifying the hard subject matter.

Earth is one crazy journey through science, disaster, and human intuition. Brin calls upon some of the newest sciences of the day and uses them in a way that shows everyone what new technology could do if we are not careful. All of the science found in the book is well explained and will not confuse people without a background of what's going on. The story is gripping and will leave you with wanting to read more to see what continues. Earth is a powerful book and is a must read for all science fiction lovers and environmental enthusiasts. ( )

Earth tries covers an amazing amount of ground. When I started reading it I had no idea how long ago Brin wrote it. The man is nearly a prophet!

I did find it gripping but also demanding. Some characters we follow are just meat for the story's vast grinder. The plot layers on heaping portions of wild speculation, one right after the other.

By the end I was dazzled, culture-shocked, and felt like I'd travelled a very long way. I enjoyed it but I think it is impossible to be outstanding (5 stars rating, to me) in such an epic story. I'm not saying Brin did a bad job, just that the job is too much for one book.

Certain threads tickled me greatly. I loved the Helvetican war as a historical backdrop. I loved the Settler/Ra-Boy future gangs and their surveillance society. I enjoyed the contrast between Maori myth and modern science though it felt a bit clumsy, like we were beaten over the head with it. A touch more subtlety would have been appreciated.

I felt let down, just a little, by the family of Daisy, her daughter, and dad. The plotting around them was critical to the story but didn't hang together as well as other threads. I'm not objecting to Daisy's inhumanity. We see that in too many people around us today. Something about the family's interactions felt tacked on. And the extended family (the hidden wealthy villains) was kept too well hidden from the reader. The people behind the other gravity sites were far too faceless.

Four solid stars from me. A lengthy read but worth it. ( )