Insistence of Vision: Stories

by David Brin

A soaring collection of stories from a modern master of science fiction.

What may we become? How will we endure? The future is a daunting realm, filled with real and imagined perils. So enter it prepared!

Here are vivid tales about possible tomorrows, from the keen eye and colorful pen of David Brin. Visit a chillingly plausible tomorrow when prisoners may be sent to asteroidal gulags. Or might prisons vanish and felons roam, seeing only what society allows? Suppose, amid lavish success, we gain the superpower to fly! Will we even appreciate it . . . or will we find new reasons to complain? In "Mars Opposition," you'll experience an alien invasion like no other, confronting humanity with a stark and terrible choice. On the other hand, might fantastically potent new beings emerge out of ourselves, as revealed in "Chrysalis”?

Featuring guest appearances by Gregory Benford, Jules Verne, and Galileo, this reading adventure takes you beyond the very singularity in “Stones of Significance,” pondering what could happen after humans are like gods. And “Reality Check” asks one of you readers – just one of you – to wake up!

And in "Temptation," we make a novella-length return to the world of the Hugo winners STARTIDE RISING and THE UPLIFT WAR.

Tomorrow awaits. We can face it and prevail. So long as our stance is brave.

Discover potent visions of it in INSISTENCE OF VISION.

“David Brin excels at the essential craft of the page turning, which is to devise an elegantly knotted plot that yields a richly variegated succession of high-impact adventures undergone by an array of believably heroic characters.”
– Entertainment Weekly

“David Brin is notable for unquenchable optimism, focusing on the ability of humanity to overcome adversity.”
– Los Angeles Times Book Review

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections, Science Fiction Fantasy

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 22, 2016

About the author

David Brin is a scientist, speaker, and world-known author. His 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.

Existence, his latest novel, offers an unusual scenario for first contact. His ecological thriller, Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and near-future trends such as the World Wide Web. A movie, directed by Kevin Costner, was loosely based on his post-apocalyptic novel, The Postman. Startide Rising won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel. The Uplift War also won the Hugo Award.

His non-fiction book -- The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? -- deals with secrecy in the modern world. It won the Freedom of Speech Prize from the American Library Association.

Brin serves on advisory committees dealing with subjects as diverse as national defense and homeland security, astronomy and space exploration, SETI, nanotechnology, and philanthropy.

David appears frequently on TV, including "The Universe" and on the History Channel's "Life After People."

Full and updated at:

http://www.davidbrin.com/biography.htm

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley, I can explore the new Short Story collection from David Brin, one of my favorite authors. Yay!

So after reading a few of the stories, I came to the final conclusion that they're too good, too integrated to talk about except in the most general of terms without giving away practically everything. So I'm going to remain vague. I'll leave a few of my observations from before within a well, and talk, instead of my emotional reactions. :)

I loved this book. I've had the pleasure to read all of Brin's works, including all the short stories that were published in Otherness and before, so I already knew what I was getting into. He's always been a devotee of the need to be original, and I'm very pleased to say he maintains the ideal.

Strange and fascinating societies, are built upon or extrapolated from trends and new ideas, and in the tradition of some of my favorite short stories, they all come with either a clear message or a very nice zinger.

Chrysalis was one of those for me.

The stories with the Coss in them have really been sparking my imagination, too, because by his own admission, Brin has been toying with a new grand epic involving them, and from the three stories here, I am thoroughly impressed and delighted. To say I want more is to oversell understatement.

Something I've noticed before about Brin's writing really stands out in spades in this collection, and anyone who loves the grand SF tradition of conversing with the authors through the stories will know what I mean. He continues the dialogue, but even better, he goes on to name-drop so so many authorial debts, peers, and humorous walk-ons. I've had the pleasure to read almost all of them or know about them, so enjoying this little game has been a particularly nice treat. Brin's very well read in the SF field, and not only his roots are showing, but we should never forget that he has planted tons of his own that we should all remember and admire.

I know I do. Which is why I'm going to send out a call for "MORE!" Please? I've missed my favorite go-to SF author, giving us such breathtakingly real worlds and situations, complicated societies, and breathtaking adventure.

The zingers are always a grand treat, too! Few authors can pull of the kinds of layered plot twists as Brin, and this collection just proves to me that he hasn't lost a speck of his verve.

Please, please, please, give us more! :)

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction by Vernor Vinge
In which Vinge sort-of apologizes for not immediately reading that manuscript Brin gave him once.

The Heresy of Science Fiction
An essay on the nature of science fiction. It starts out with some interesting, thoughtful ideas, but falls into a bit of a trap with: "science fiction is - and ought to be - exactly what *I* write."

**** Insistence of Vision
Through a personal story, Brin explores the possible ramifications of a future alternative to the prison system.
As the piece opens, we meet a man who's strangely unable to perceive the majority of the people around him... he perceives them only as blurs. We can tell he's desperately lonely, as he takes the opportunity to speak to one of the only people he can 'see' - a young woman.
Nicely structured.

*** Transition Generation
Plays around with readers' expectations. In a near-future, new technologies have radically changed some daily norms - but office workers are still disgruntled, interpersonal politics can still be nasty. and there's still a generation gap between those who've grown up with new devices, and older people who feel like they're constantly playing catch-up just to keep up.

*** Chrysalis
A couple of researchers have made major progress in decoding what was once called "junk DNA" - resulting in impressive techniques to regenerate limbs, heal from injuries, etc. A Nobel prize is all but guaranteed. But then the research leads us a step further...

** Stones of Significance
A post-singularity Zen Master/researcher type who specializes in creating detailed AI simulations receives a delegation from a group who believes that simulations should be entitled to all the basic 'human' rights of other citizens (or recognized beings.)
Successful science fiction, I feel, wraps groundbreaking and interesting ideas into a compelling story. This piece had the ideas (and I'll take the 'author's notes' claim that they felt much more groundbreaking in 2000, when this was first published, in stride - it did come out a year before The Matrix, after all). However, the plot elements felt like no more than a flimsy skeleton to hang an essay on.

** News from 2035: A Glitch in Medicine Cabinet 3.5
A faux-news report on a controversy regarding new technology. The tech here is sf-nal - DIY biotech - but it's a satire on our current attitudes toward new tech. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
I'm sure Bruce Sterling and Greg Bear got a laugh out of their shout-outs.
Not too memorable, though.

*** The Logs
"Siberia" here, is a remote asteroid, and the Russians have been sent to work camps by our new alien overlords, The Coss. A cultural history of oppression may have made a family tough enough to endure and survive. Nice imaginative details enhance a good story.

*** The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss
Already read, in 'Old Venus.'
"An entry into the "they've been isolated for so long that they forgot to check the weather outside" subgenre. The isolation here takes the form of colonies established in naturally-occurring bubbles, far beneath the surface of the Venusian sea. But now, the bubbles are reaching the end of their natural 'lifespan,' beginning to shake loose or 'pop' - with devastating results. Will one young couple find a solution to the impending disaster?
The story is entertaining and very accessibly written, but suffers from a repeated use of: "Well, the plot calls for some kind of new gadget here. Good thing my character happens to just have invented that gadget!" I also didn't feel that the characters' behaviors necessarily matched the social system that's described, and their attitude at the very end of the story is inexplicable, given the circumstances."

*** Eloquent Elepents Pine Away for the Moon's Crystal Forests
This one felt like the opening chapter to a novel (and not one with this title). Doni is a young man, a military cadet at a school dedicated to the brave human heroes who laid down their lives defending their people from alien domination. Now, ironically, the school is run by the victorious alien overlords. However, there's an intriguing glimpse into internal politics and dissent among those overlords...
I almost forgot I was reading a short story, and was disconcerted when it abruptly ended.

*** Mars Opposition
Amusing story of first contact. The aliens arrive on Earth with a list (a long list) of people they want to find - and they immediately demonstrate that they're willing to pay well for help. However, the abrupt demise of Bill Nye the Science Guy shows that these Martians do not come in peace. But what are their true motivations and goals? Will it even be possible for us to understand a truly alien culture?

*** A Professor at Harvard
The titular professor writes a letter describing his recent research and discoveries regarding a seemingly-obscure historical figure and his role in Colonial America. Gradually, we realize that the near-future world that the researcher is writing from is not quite our own - indeed, it's quite a bit better. The theme: small actions can add up to big differences.

*** I Could've Done Better, written with Gregory Benford
How did an average beer-swilling, sports-loving, philandering Joe from the 21st century become Pharaoh of Egypt? And why isn't he all that thrilled with the situation?

** Paris Conquers All, written with Gregory Benford
H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds,' as experienced by Jules Verne. Since this is Verne channeled through Brin/Benford, the focus is on conquering through ingenuity rather than being saved through mischance (which kind of destroys the strength of the story completely). Although this is written with an eye toward humor, rather than being a serious attempt at being Vernian (Verne-esque?), it's obvious that the authors didn't really make a serious attempt to truly capture a believable 19th-century literary style, but the language comes off just feeling awkward and amateurish rather than amusing. The bar for 19th-century-style stories has been raised lately, I guess.

** Fortitude
Another first contact story, this one featuring the familiar trope of the Great and Advanced interplanetary Federation which will judge if humanity is ready to join civilization. Although not off-color, this is - literally - toilet humor.

**** An Ever Reddening Glow
Nice environmental allegory about a future star drive that turns out to have infinitesimally small - but cumulative - impacts. Drives its point home.

*** The Diplomacy Guild
Another story with very clear parallels to our world. In a future universe, humans have become known for their advanced robotics. These robots have been carefully created in accordance with Asimov's laws, with mandatory safeguards built in. But the power of the economic market is a force to be reckoned with. Why obey the laws when there's profit to be made? (originally published as part of this shared-universe anthology: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)

** The Other Side of the Hill
One species' burned-out wasteland is another's paradisical salvation. It's all relative. Nice story with a point. However, there may be a star deduction because it's just not quite what "The grass is always greener" actually means...

*** Temptation: A Novella from the Uplift Universe
Previously read in 'Far Horizons.' The first time I read it, I gave it two stars, which which usually mean that I wouldn't re-read - but I enjoyed it a bit better this time.
I previously wrote: "I've read Brin's first 'Uplift' trilogy, but years ago. .... This short story set in that world, didn't really do it for me. It had a bit too much jammed into not enough pages, and the action and philosophy didn't quite mesh. Rather a lot of time is spent in setting up a reasonably interesting sci-fi scenario - and then it's sort of dropped: "Wait! Something new has come along! Now we are going to be faced with a philosophical dilemma having to do with the nature of reality and free will!" The terms in which the dilemma is discussed also seemed somewhat out of character for the individuals involved, as they'd been presented up until then. I also just didn't find his sentient dolphins to be very compelling characters."
Can't say why, but this time I found the characters more charming, and although I still agree with my criticisms, the flaws bothered me less this time through.

**** The Avalon Probes
The history of a series of probes sent toward a distant planet gives us a window into changes in technology and culture. An ultimately melancholy musing on obsolescence. I really liked it.

Six Word Tales
A few examples of such.

*** Reality Check
One possible explanation of the Fermi Paradox (Why, in a busy and ancient universe, have we seen no evidence of other life?) Perhaps, after achieving a certain level of development, virtual reality is more attractive than any other mode of existence.

Waging War with Reality
Another essay, to round off the collection. Here Brin talks about the nature of humanity as the only animal that constantly seeks to change its environment, and how that relates to the writing of science fiction. I could see what he was getting at, but his argument is introduced by discussing how people relate to Star Trek's Mr. Spock - and I really disagreed with pretty much everything he set out as a baseline premise, so I had a bit of a hard time getting into his points.

Many thanks to The Story Plant and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy of this collection. As always, my opinions are solely my own.

- See more at: http://www.davidbrin.com/insistenceof...

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Insistence of vision" describes David Brin well - he's a contrarian and a controversialist, vigorous in his promotion of his vision of the world (and of himself, I might add). I assume the title also references the phenomenon of "persistence of vision", and possibly the famous John Varley story by that name. In Varley's story, a drifter encounters a community of people who are deaf and blind and must adapt his perceptions to their world; in Brin's, augmented reality creates artificial deafness and blindness to other people's existence.

I'd read a couple of Brin's novels and enjoyed them, and more recently one of his short stories -which I thought was OK, if a bit handwavy in places - and I follow his rants on Google+, so when this came up on Netgalley I asked for a review copy.

Brin's fiction tends towards hard SF, as befits a scientist, and this can sometimes mean that the proportion of science to fiction is higher than I prefer. Like much hard SF, Brin's fiction is often about ideas more than it is about people (something he freely admits in his commentary on some of the stories). The emphasis therefore becomes delineating and (at length) explaining the world, more than developing the characters. There are exceptions, such as the story of Venusian colonists in this volume, which made it into a Year's Best anthology. The characters are still not deep, but their struggle is much more front-and-centre than the worldbuilding, and that's to the story's advantage. At the other end of the spectrum, another story is filled with the biology of life stages, and very short on characterisation or plot.

As in his nonfiction, Brin's fiction has an unfortunate tendency to employ the exclamation mark when it is only Brin, the narrator, who is exclaiming (not a character in dialog) - an old-fashioned style of author intrusion. He also falls prey, in this unedited, pre-release version, to the occasional homonym error, "let's eat grandma" omitted comma, or misplaced apostrophe. He hyphenates phrases which ought not to be hyphenated, and places commas where they have no business being (between a number and a following adjective, for example). I hope a good copy editor will remove most of these tics and stumbles before publication.

Several of the stories here are collaborations with Gregory Benford, and there's a clear contrast in the style: much smoother and more fluent, highlighting how clunky Brin's normal prose sounds. (One of these, though, surprised me with its implication that leadership qualities are heritable - a very un-Brin idea, since he often rants against a return to pre-Enlightenment illusions concerning the inherent, and inherited, superiority of those who happen to make up the elite.)

His ideas are interesting, though, and although this is far from the best fiction I've read lately, Brin's thinking is often thought-provoking, and this makes the book worthwhile.

A number of different possible futures are explored here. Some are only touched on for a single story that plays with one idea; others are more fully realised, such as the several stories in which the alien Coss have invaded and taken over the solar system, reducing humans to servitude. I was also delighted to find a longer story set in the continuity of his popular Uplift universe, and featuring enhanced dolphins. Brin does alien perspectives well (perhaps it's part of his contrarian outlook on life), and the story also highlights an important philosophical question; it's Brin at, I think, his best, and certainly his most appealing.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

A collection of science fiction stories from David Brin.

I started reading David Brin a long time ago - probably with the Uplift series. I liked that, The Postman, The Practice Effect, and a few others. Gradually, though, I began to tire of Brin's oppressively serious writing. It was intelligent and interesting, but emotionally flat. After Kiln People, I mostly lost track of Brin. This new collection of stories was a chance to go back to an author I once quite liked.

I'm sorry to say that my view hasn't changed. Brin's writing remains intelligent, mildly interesting, and emotionally flat. Several of the stories here are acknowledged thought experiments, but almost all of them read as if they were. I found it hard to care what happened, and the self-consciously 'important' themes began to wear. There's very little of the zest that filled The Practice Effect, and less of the drive of The Postman. The only piece that really works as a fully- functioning story is a novella set in the Uplift universe that feels a bit like the second, less-interesting, Uplift trilogy. The rest of the stories read largely as philosophical lectures forced into a poorly-fitting narrative format. A day after finishing the book, very few of the stories stayed in my mind. Unless you're a serious Brin or Uplift fan, I can't recommend the collection.

The best stories of the lot include:

"Insistence of Vision" - an interesting concept (punishment by virtual tagging), though not really a great story.
"The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss" - a colony living under the ocean, but still at risk. The most character-driven of the group.
"An Ever-Reddening Glow" - the consequences of widespread star-drive technology. The only one of the message-driven stories here with much impact, but it fades toward the end.
"Temptation" - what happened to the dolphins Streaker left behind. This is the most successful story as story - plot, characters, etc., and the most satisfying to Uplift fans.

[Jared Millet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone needs to tie David Brin down and get him to write more fiction. I think the only reason his fans aren't as up-in-arms as those waiting on the next G.R.R.Martin or Patrick Rothfuss book is that Brin doesn't have any ongoing series with cliffhangers waiting resolution. (Although I did read somewhere that a follow-up to the marvelous, underrated Kiln People is in the works.

Anyway, this collection of short fiction shows that Brin is just as fun to read in quick bites as he is in sprawling novels. It also shows that he's equally non-prolific, given the decades of work covered in not too many pages.

As a writer, Brin is an Idea Man who has some pretty strong opinions on the forward progress of mankind, but he's also got a pulp streak in him that keeps his writing airy and engaging. Highlights in this collection involve watching him play around with Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and returning to the Uplift series for a peek at what's been happening on the lost world of Jijo since the end of 1998's Heaven's Reach.

Jeez, has it been that long? Brin, give us another novel already!

[Leticia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo cierto es que no he leído nada de Brin con anterioridad, así que cuando tuve la oportunidad de conseguir este conjunto de relatos, pensé que sería una buena introducción para este famoso autor.

The Heresy of Science Fiction

Interesantísimo ensayo sobre la ciencia ficción, de lectura más que recomendable.

Insistence of Vision

Da nombre a la antología, así que debe ser bastante importante, fue lo primero que pensé al empezar con "Insistence of vision". Y lo es, tratando dos problemas en la sociedad actual, el tratamiento de la población reclusa (con una solución mucho más razonable que la de Margaret Atwood en The heart goes last) y la percepción de la realidad en un mundo donde se haya desarrollado la realidad virtual. Sin embargo, este tema empieza a hacerse repetitivo en mis lecturas, con la obra de García Albás o Al Robertson.

Transition Generation

Curiosa historia algo tonta sobre la evolución generacional. Entiendo el mensaje que el autor quiere transmitir, pero no me acaba de convencer la forma.

Chrysalis

Tomando la biología como base, Brin nos trae una muy buena historia sobre los peligros y bondades de la investigación genética.

Stones of Significance

Complejo relato, sobre el desarrollo de la psique humana dividida según las necesidades. No estoy segura de haberlo comprendido en su totalidad.

News from 2035: A Glitch in Medicine Cabinet 3.5

Otro relato corto en el que el autor se ríe de sí mismo y sus compañeros escritores.

The Logs

Profundo relato sobre la capacidad de la resistencia de la humanidad frente a los inconvenientes. Con mención especial para los hermanos Strugalaski.

The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss

Supongo que este relato encajaría perfectamente en Old Venus donde fue publicado originalmente. Aunque a mí me ha parecido algo aburrido.

Eloquent Elepents Pine Away for the Moon's Crystal Forests

Situado en el mismo universo que "The logs" y con la misma idea en mente, la resistencia al invasor.

Mars Opposition

Divertido aunque algo macabro, en este relato los marcianos nos visitan solicitando direcciones para localizar a una serie de humanos. Lo que harán con ellos a continuación y de dónde han obtenido esa lista será el quid de la cuestión.

A Professor at Harvard

La historia alternativa es quizá uno de mis subgéneros favoritos, así que he disfrutado mucho de este pequeña historia.

I Could've Done Better, escrito con Gregory Benford

Una nueva muestra del humor con el que Brin a veces afronta sus escritos. A Benford ya lo vi en acción en la Loncon3 así que imaginos lo bien que se lo tuvieron que pasar escribiendo este viaje hacia atrás en el tiempo.

Paris Conquers All, escrito con Gregory Benford

Menos interesante que el anterior, esta colaboración da lugar a una historia bastante previsible.

Fortitude

Algunas veces, nuestra posición depende de nuestras conexiones familiares. En este relato, se toma como base este concepto corregido y aumentado, para llevarlo a extremos insospechados.

An Ever Reddening Glow

Relato ecologista, que pretende ser una advertencia sobre nuestro futuro.

The Diplomacy Guild

Esta narración, situada en un universo compartido por varios autores creado basándose en las pautas de Isaac Asimov, no deja de ser un entretenimiento banal.

The Other Side of the Hill

Esta fue una de las primeras publicaciones de David Brin, pero ya dejaba entrever las buenas ideas que iba a tener como escritor. El inevitable toque ecologista le viene muy bien a una historia bien construida.

Temptation: A Novella from the Uplift Universe

No conozco el universo Uplift y tampoco me he sentido especialmente atraida para leerlo por esta novella. La idea de varias especias alienígenas compartiendo universo no es excesivamente original, ni tampoco los delfines inteligentes.

The Avalon Probes

Otro relato en clave de humor, con una alocada carrera espacial en busca de un mundo que puedan habitar los humanos. Muy gracioso.

Six Word Tales

Curioso como ejercicio estilístico pero estas historias formadas por seis palabras no pasan de ser eso, una mera curiosidad.

Reality Check

Jugar con la realidad y la percepción que tenemos de ella parece uno de los fetiches de Brin.

Waging War with Reality

Otro ensayo para finalizar el libro, en el que debemos buscar el equilibrio entre la imaginación y el rigor científico.

Con esta recopilación he descubierto un autor con una gran vis cómica, algo que realmente no me esperaba. Tras leer todos los relatos, he descubierto una vena humorística más que notable en David Brin y algunas historias bastante recomendables. No sé si tanto como para empezar a ponerme al día con el autor, pero ¿cuál de sus libros me recomendaríais para empezar?

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any short story collection, some entries are really enjoyable while others not so much. I especially like the 5 stories in the first section, "What we may become" -- among those fascinating thoughts on punishment for criminals and the actual purpose of a neoplastic growth.

[Xavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mixture of themes, lengths and structures of the stories causes that this anthology is very irregular. There are brilliant stories, as you would expect from a writer of the category of David Brin, but there are too many that didn't surprise me or didn't left me thinking about them.

English review: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...
Reseña en español: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...

[Adam Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed some of the stories in here.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my disappointment with this book stems primarily from my preference for long-form fiction over short-form; most of the time when I enjoy short stories, these are stories featuring characters who have themselves been developed extensively over longer works. Some of these short stories have really interesting premises, but when they're over in 6 pages those ideas just can't be fleshed out in the ways I enjoy.

Brin is certainly one of my favorite of the hard SF authors, but his insistence of categorizing himself as a hard SF author causes some problems for me. Notably, I'm an evolutionary biologist, and his grasp of biology is far weaker than his grasp of physics; several of the short stories in here make absolutely no sense when viewed through the lens of hard SF because the biology just flat-out doesn't work. For example, one of the stories involves genetic sequences in an organism which haven't been expressed -- and therefore haven't been subject to purifying selection -- for hundreds of millions of years. Even if scientists could figure out the chemical signals needed to activate these genetic sequences, they wouldn't do anything at all, because too many mutations would have accumulated in the intervening time. I'd view that differently from someone who wasn't positioning themselves as in the hard SF camp.

Overall, interesting ideas, but without the depth and the nuance I've enjoyed from his other works; notably, the Uplift Saga, Glory Season, and Kiln People.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of science fiction short stories (and a few essays). I remember David Brin's Uplift series, which I read many years ago, as some of my favorite science fiction books of all time. So I spent much of this book puzzling over why I just couldn't get into this short story collection. I considered the possibility that it was because my tastes have changed since my teenage years, but dismissed that thinking about how some of those books won the Hugo and/or Nebula awards for best science fiction. Then I got to the best part of this book, the novella "Temptation" which is set in the Uplift universe. It's been so long since I read those books (the last book of the second trilogy was published in 1999 which is when I read it), that I didn't remember the characters or the setting - and yet this story was by far the most captivating in the whole collection. And I think it's because this story actually has characters with personalities, while so many of the stories in this collection do not. Indeed, in his interstitial comments between the stories, Brin alludes to the fact that he considers many short stories to be more in the nature of thought experiments. And for the most part, those just didn't work for me. So, the novella was great, and there were a few other stories that were pretty good. But too many of the stories were tedious, boring, and/or confusing - some to such an extent that I had to skim them because I just couldn't get through them.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Brian Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of science fiction short stories, the stories felt classical in a way. Nowadays a lot of short stories are focused on a particular form of character development and introspection, but these generally revolved around an idea or introducing a different world to the reader.

I thought the best work of the book came first, but perhaps I was getting tired by the end;
the titular "Insistence of Vision" (although the ending was disappointing) poses a question about what rights people will take for granted; Transition Generation shows how much people will complain about anything that we would regard as miraculous. Some, like "Chrysalis," are good but rushed (although science unfortunately deals it a blow, as studies show that butterflies do appear to have some memories of being caterpillars). The "Diplomacy Guild" is a nice take on how laws of robotics and galactic empires might *really* work.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the bulk of other SciFi short stories I've come across (Philip K. Dick collections, for instance), Brin's stories aren't short and snappy pieces so much as slices of larger worlds. The general feeling I got after reading most of the pieces here was that of wanting to hear more. I wouldn't say this is a generally undesirable thing, it's just different. And some stories in Insistence are based off and related to his other works (which helps explain some of those feelings).

While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this collection to someone completely unfamiliar with Science Fiction, I enjoyed it overall. Those who are already David Brin fans - or who've read a good amount of SciFi already - will probably find this a good addition to round out their library. I also appreciated reading the author's thoughts via a couple of essay like pieces and occasional between-chapters commentary.

[Marti Dolata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short works by Brin. Includes an Uplift novella. More of an intellectual pleasure than an emotional one, those who enjoy thought experiments will get more pleasure from this collection than those who seek to lose themselves in story and emotion. Includes a variety of Brin's work. Includes an author's note after each story.

[Barry Haworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this collection of stories pretty hit and miss. Some had some excellent ideas, some were mediocre, some were preachy or gimmicky. I can't recall any which gripped me or astonished me or amused me in any way, so overall this is a collection I can't imagine myself rereading and cannot recommend.

[Rob Markley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brin always has great insights. Some of the stories were perhaps a little about self indulgence rather than for publication but Brin so worthwhile it doesn't matter

[Ty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these Science Fiction stories. It is hard to go wrong with Brin.

[Susan Alandar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

David Brin is imagination married to craft. This collection of stories is fascinating and some will make you think I'm new ways.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great range of stories.

[Tom Hailand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always good!

Mr Brin builds beautiful worlds
Facts and fiction fly together - story grows
Endings twist and explain what came before, ahhh

[Keith B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of shorts from a brilliant futurist.

[Randy Pursley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stories in the volume, but I really bought it for the story from the Uplift universe.

[Justin Zheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good number of ones to make you go 'neat!' and a dolphin-centric Uplift novella!

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insistence of Vision by David Brin- I've read most of David Brin's novels and even saw the one that was made into a movie, but I've not had the opportunity to read any of his short stories. They are, to me, completely different from his novels, but still show the sly craftsmanship and positive outlook I'm used to. I particularly liked the title story about how violators in the near future can never hide from their crimes. "Transition Generation" deals with the mind-numbing speed at which things change and how fast the young seem to adapt. My favorite story and a long one too, "The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss", takes place in a bubble-world at the bottom of an ocean on Venus, where the remnants of mankind struggle to survive and prosper as crashing comets change the planet surface from a sulfuric nightmare to a livable future. A great read. With most short story collections, not everything will be to your liking, but at least here the quality stays at a high level- there are no real stinkers.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

A weaker collection than his earlier Otherness, but Brin is at his best writing his beloved galactic aliens, and herein is the novella "Temptation" (initially published in Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction), which extends his Uplift series where it last left us on the planet Jijo. To me, this one story is well worth the price of admission.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this through NetGalley.

I enjoyed these stories on a spectrum from "couldn't put it down" to "skipped after the first couple of pages." I have a major beef with short story collections that are entirely made up of works that appeared in other places, and this is one of those. I'd already read several of these stories ... some are more than 20 years old, in fact. But the good ones are so good.

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of traditional Analog-style hard SF stories arranged thematically. See my review at http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.p...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you haven't read much David Brin, this is a good collection of fairly hard SF stories. If you read the magazine Analog or short SF collections then you won't find much new material here.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good stories

Many of these I had read before. I was hoping for more new stories! But overall a pretty good read

[Myssi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!