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David Brin
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Sundiver (The Uplift Saga, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 1985

by David Brin (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,316 ratings
See all formats and editions
“The Uplift books are as compulsive reading as anything ever published in the genre.”—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

In all the universe, no species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of a patron—except perhaps mankind. Did some mysterious race begin the uplift of humanity aeons ago? And if so, why did they abandon us? Circling the sun, under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in our history. A journey into the boiling inferno of the sun . . . to seek our destiny in the cosmic order of life.

David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War—a New York Times bestseller—together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being “uplifted” by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved. . . .

“Superb”—Science Fiction Times
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 6
    The Uplift Saga
  2. Print length
    352 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Spectra
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 1985
  6. Dimensions
    4.23 x 0.87 x 6.83 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0553269828
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0553269826
  9. Lexile measure
    890L
  10. See all details
Next page
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Brin is a scientist and the bestselling author of Sundiver, The Uplift War, Startide Rising, The Practice Effect, The Postman, Heart of the Comet (with Gregory Benford), Earth, Glory Season, Brightness Reef, and Infinity's Shore, as well as the short-story collections The River of Time and Otherness. He has a doctorate in astrophysics and has been a NASA consultant and a physics professor.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1.
OUT OF THE WHALE-DREAM
 
“Makakai, are you ready?”
Jacob ignored the tiny whirrings of motors and valves in his metal cocoon. He lay still. The water lapped gently against the bulbous nose of his mechanical whale, as he waited for an answer.
 
One more time he checked the tiny indicators on his helmet display. Yes, the radio was working. The occupant of the other waldo whale, lying half submerged a few meters away, had heard every word.
 
The water was exceptionally clear today. Facing downward, he could see a small leopard shark swim lazily past, a bit out of place here in the deeper water offshore.
 
“Makakai…are you ready?”
 
He tried not to sound impatient, or betray the tension he felt building in the back of his neck as he waited. He closed his eyes and made the delinquent muscles relax, one by one. Still, he waited for his pupil to speak.
 
“Yesss…let’sss do it!” came the warbling, squeaky voice, at last. The words sounded breathless, as if spoken grudgingly, in lieu of inhalation.
 
A nice long speech for Makakai. He could see the young dolphin’s training machine next to his, its image reflected in the mirrors that rimmed his faceplate. Its gray metal flukes lifted and fell slightly with the swell. Feebly, without their power, her artificial fins moved, sluggishly under the transient, serrated surface of the water.
 
She’s as ready as she’ll ever be, he thought. If technology can wean a dolphin of the Whale-Dream, now’s the time we’ll find out.
 
He chinned the microphone switch again. “All right, Makakai. You know how the waldo works. It will amplify any action you make, but if you want the rockets to cut in, you’ll have to give the command in English. Just to be fair, I have to whistle in trinary to make mine work.”
 
“Yesss!” she hissed. Her waldo’s gray flukes thrashed up once and down with a boom and a spray of saltwater.
 
With a half muttered prayer to the Dreamer, he touched a switch releasing the amplifiers on both Makakai’s waldo and his own, then cautiously turned his arms to set the fins into motion. He flexed his legs, the massive flukes thrust back jerkily in response, and his machine immediately rolled over and sank.
 
Jacob tried to correct but overcompensated, making the waldo tumble even worse. The beating of his fins momentarily made the area around him a churning mass of bubbles, until patiently, by trial and error, he got himself righted.
 
He pushed off again, carefully, to get some headway, then arched his back and kicked out. The waldo responded with a great tail-slashing leap into the air.
 
The dolphin was almost a kilometer off. As he reached the top of his arc, Jacob saw her fall gracefully from a height of ten meters to slice smoothly into the swell below.
 
He pointed his helmet beak at the water and the sea came at him like a green wall. The impact made his helmet ring as he tore through tendrils of floating kelp, sending a golden Garibaldi darting away in panic as he drove downwards.
 
He was going in too steep. He swore and kicked twice to straighten out. The machine’s massive metal flukes beat at the water to the rhythmic push of his feet, each beat sending a tremor up his spine, pressing him against the suit’s heavy padding. When the time was right, he arched and kicked again. The machine ripped out of the water.
 
Sunlight flashed like a missile in his left window, its glare drowning the dim glow of his tiny instrument panel. The helmet computer chuckled softly as he twisted, beak down, to crash into the bright water once again.
 
As a school of tiny silver anchovies scattered before him, Jacob hooted out loud with exhilaration.
 
His hands slipped along the controls to the rocket verniers, and at the top of his next arc he whistled a code in trinary. Motors hummed, as the exoskeleton extended winglets along its sides. Then the boosters cut in with a savage burst, pressing the padded headpiece upward with the sudden acceleration, pinching the back of his skull as the waves swept past, just below his hurtling craft.
 
He came down near Makakai with a great splash. She whistled a shrill trinary welcome. Jacob let the rockets shut off automatically and resumed the purely mechanical leaping beside her.
 
For a time they moved in unison. With each leap Makakai grew more daring, performing twists and pirouettes during the long seconds before they struck the water. Once, in midair, she rattled off a dirty limerick in dolphin, a low piece of work, but Jacob hoped they’d recorded it back at the chase boat. He’d missed the punch line at the crashing end of the aerial cycle.
 
The rest of the training team followed behind them on the hovercraft. During each leap he caught sight of the large vessel, diminished, now, by distance, until his impact cut off everything but the sounds of splitting water, Makakai’s sonar squeaking, and the rushing, phosphorescent blue-green past his windows.
 
Jacob’s chronometer indicated that ten minutes had passed. He wouldn’t be able to keep up with Makakai for more than a half hour, no matter how much amplification he used. A man’s muscles and nervous system weren’t designed for this leap-and-crash routine.
 
“Makakai, it’s time to try the rockets. Let me know if you’re ready and we’ll use them on the following jump.”
 
They both came down into the sea and he worked his flukes in the frothy water to prepare for the next leap. They jumped again.
 
“Makakai, I’m serious now. Are you ready?”
 
They sailed high together. He could see her tiny eye behind a plastic window as her waldo-machine twisted before slicing into the water. He followed an instant later.
 
“Okay, Makakai. If you don’t answer me, we’ll just have to stop right now.”
 
Blue water swept past, along with a cloud of bubbles, as he pushed along beside his pupil.
 
Makakai twisted around and dove down instead of rising for another leap. She chattered something almost too fast to follow in trinary…about how he shouldn’t be a spoilsport.
 
Jacob let his machine rise slowly to the surface. “Come dear, use the King’s English. You’ll need it if you ever want your children to go into space. And it’s so expressive! Come on. Tell Jacob what you think of him.”
 
There were a few seconds of silence. Then he saw something move very fast below him. It streaked upward and, just before it hit the surface, he heard Makakai’s voice shrilly taunt:
 
“Ch-chase me, ch-chump! I fly-y-y!”
 
With the last word, her mechanical flukes snapped back and she leaped out of the water on a column of flame.
 
Laughing, he dove to give himself headway and then launched into the air after his pupil.
 
 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Spectra (January 1, 1985)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553269828
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553269826
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 890L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.23 x 0.87 x 6.83 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,316 ratings

About the author

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David Brin

David Brin

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David Brin is a scientist, public 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.

David's latest novel - Existence - is set forty years ahead, in a near future when human survival seems to teeter along not just on one tightrope, but dozens, with as many hopeful trends and breakthroughs as dangers... a world we already see ahead. Only one day an astronaut snares a small, crystalline object from space. It appears to contain a message, even visitors within. Peeling back layer after layer of motives and secrets may offer opportunities, or deadly peril.

David's non-fiction book -- The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? -- deals with secrecy in the modern world. It won the Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association.

A 1998 movie, directed by Kevin Costner, was loosely based on his post-apocalyptic novel, The Postman. Brin's 1989 ecological thriller - Earth - foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and near-future trends such as the World Wide Web. David's novel Kiln People has been called a book of ideas disguised as a fast-moving and fun noir detective story, set in a future when new technology enables people to physically be in more than two places at once. A hardcover graphic novel The Life Eaters explored alternate outcomes to WWII, winning nominations and high praise.

David's science fictional Uplift Universe explores a future when humans genetically engineer higher animals like dolphins to become equal members of our civilization. These include the award-winning Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach. He also recently tied up the loose ends left behind by the late Isaac Asimov: Foundation's Triumph brings to a grand finale Asimov's famed Foundation Universe.

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

As a public speaker, Brin shares unique insights -- serious and humorous -- about ways that changing technology may affect our future lives. He appears frequently on TV, including several episodes of "The Universe" and History Channel's "Life After People." He also was a regular cast member on "The ArciTECHS."

Brin's scientific work covers an eclectic range of topics, from astronautics, astronomy, and optics to alternative dispute resolution and the role of neoteny in human evolution. His Ph.D in Physics from UCSD - the University of California at San Diego (the lab of nobelist Hannes Alfven) - followed a masters in optics and an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Caltech. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Space Institute. His technical patents directly confront some of the faults of old-fashioned screen-based interaction, aiming to improve the way human beings converse online.

Brin lives in San Diego County with his wife and three children.

You can follow David Brin:

Website: http://www.davidbrin.com/

Blog: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DavidBrin

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/cab801

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,316 global ratings
First of the six books in the superb "Uplift" series
5 Stars
First of the six books in the superb "Uplift" series
"Sundiver" by David Brin was the first book in the original "Uplift" trilogy, which was followed by a second trilogy a few years later.The uplift series consists of1) Sundiver (The Uplift Saga, Book 1)2) Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2)3) The Uplift War (The Uplift Saga, Book 3)and then the second trilogy:4) Brightness Reef Book One of the New Uplift Trilogy5) Infinity's Shore (The Second Uplift Trilogy #2)6) Heaven's Reach the Final Book of the Second Uplift TrilogyThere is also an illustrated guide to the Universe of the Uplift saga, "Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe" by David Brin and Kevin Lenagh, which is written as though it were a field manual for agents of the "Terragens" government, e.g. that of "Earthclan" which consists of humans and sentient chimps and dolphins.I'm not going to attempt to describe the plot of this excellent book, or the series, to avoid spoiling the story, but the basic assumption underlying the stories, set a few hundred years in the future, is that in 2206 AD human explorers encounter a ship from another, much more advanced race, part of a civilisation which dominates our galaxy and four others.This is a very complex and powerful civilisation, far bigger than any one race, which runs on a number of principles and two in particular:1) That sentient species have a duty to help other potentially intelligent species reach intelligence and civilisation, and2) That they have a duty to protect the environments and ecologies of the worlds where they live.Sounds very sensible and ethical, doesn't it? Unfortunately there are some huge catches, and in particulara) Some of the most powerful races in the civilisation of the five galaxies are very aggressive and fanatical, and always looking for an excuse to take over or wipe out less powerful races who make the tiniest sin against galactic rules. In consequenceb) The year after first contact, a human colony was "sequestered" (never exactly explained but the inference is that this is a euphemism for mass murder) by galactic officials because they had no license to settle on the planet concerned. (The fact that humans had no way of knowing that one was required was not considered to be an excuse.)c) If the galactics ever discover that this planet once contained species such as the dodo, the same thing could happen to Earth.Brilliantly imaginative, very well written, extremely exciting, the "Uplift" series is one of the best works of Science Fiction ever written.
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Top reviews from the United States

Randall Sims
5.0 out of 5 stars Sci-fi with a great background.
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023
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Cons first: Took me awhile to get going on the book and I normally drop it if you don’t have me engaged immediately.
Pros: Just an entire new world for me to dive into. Gave a feeling of combining the Mass Effect universes playground of different species with more of a political and espionage side and less war and direct conflict other than the climax.

This is not really for the action sci fi enthusiasts looking for non stop rapid sequences. It’s more for finding a new universe to explore it seemed like. It also dove a lot into the universe exploring empathy as much as communication hurdles between species, and then threw in some Jekyl and Hyde.

This is now 2 books I have read by Brin. The first was the Postman, the Kevin Costner film was fun but after I read the book I felt like that movie was absolutely a flop compared to the book it was that good. Bring us definitely becoming one of my favorite authors quickly.
4 people found this helpful
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Dan O
4.0 out of 5 stars great first novel
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2024
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Good first attempt and rewrite. But it’s very hard to follow in parts. Lots of unexplained names and switching between first and last names and species.
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Jerry G
3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven but also very imaginative
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2024
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An intriguing concept that mixes science and that "magic" Brin was advised to avoid. Too much backstory that pops up as needed. But a decent read and suggests may be worth reading the next book in the series.
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LaSayle M
5.0 out of 5 stars A tad preachy, but doesn't go far enough there, considering....
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2023
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Otherwise, a great space opera. The idea of a human population divided by the mere possibility of being violent is guaranteed to bring that very nature into prime usage, instead of potential, but it's not that much different than the largely racially based criminality that has ruined any hope for our current injustice system. Add in for-profit, full-torture prisons with quotas, and today's clueless youth are having their lives ruined regardless of whether or not they have the "wrong" skin color. Don't believe me? Go watch a few local criminal trials -I guarantee an eye-opening experience, and a new hatred for our court system
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic idea, Average execution.
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018
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The universe Brin creates in this book is fascinating, and at every turn I crave more knowledge about it. The concept of an ancient galactic society with long memories, and a human society seemingly cut off from that line and fighting for an identity is super cool.

That being said, this book has a few pretty shallow characters, and an attempt at a mystery plot, only none of the clues are hidden earlier like you would in an Agatha Christie book, and are instead revealed after a twist with no foreshadowing. Couple that with numerous typos (nitpicking I know, and probably not even Brin's fault but it still bothered me) and the books plot elements are just average.

Don't let three stars dissuade you from purchasing this book though, because it is a very worthwhile experience and it's sequels fix all of the mistakes he makes in Sundiver.
One person found this helpful
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R. Cameron
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series if you like SF
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2023
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David Brin is an incredible writer and what an imagination. I am on book three now of his "Uplift" series. My husband has read them all and loves them. I am so pleased that he loves to read as much as I do.
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Zachary P. Wussow
3.0 out of 5 stars A bit dated, and showing it, but might be worth a read
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2015
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This was completely not what I was expecting, going in.

Short version: its not a great book, but it's a quick read, with a few really stand out ideas.

Long version:

I heard about this book because it's considered the origin (or at least the first, most obvious example of) the "Uplift" trope. Which is to say, the idea that most intelligent species in the universe get that way by being "Uplifted" by another intelligent race. And, for what it's worth, that part of this book is really fascinating and I can see why many other authors have borrowed it.

But that is a very small part of this book.

Overall, Sundiver is a mystery novel, but not a very good one. (In fairness, I don't really like mystery novels, so I may be a bad judge.) The book also dates itself in a lot of ways. The biggest, for me, is the blending of science and para-sciece that was a fad in Sci-Fi for a while. Think X-Files, where UFO's coexist with telepathy and Ouija boards (only the x-files was, well, good...). Worse, there's a ton of pop-psychology stuff thrown in and given the strength of scientific fact. (Imagine, "Darth Vader, you clearly have a desire to sleep with your mother! But we can put you in a trance and fix it.") There's a lot of stuff, too, that is clearly trying to be politically correct, but by standards that are so out of date now it feels really racist/sexist.

All of that might have been okay, except I found the narrator pretty tiresome. He may or may not be deliberately written this way (it relates to all that pop-psych stuff), but he's terrible. He behaves inconsistently, and is constantly daydreaming and not paying attention. I suspect the author was doing this on purpose, so that he could draw attention to "important clues", but it really doesn't work. Passages like this make up, no joke, the majority of the text:

"Well, it's a nice day, and also you have terminal cancer."
It was a nice day, and the sky was so beautifully cloudless and blue. He thought back to his days on a beach as a young child. Wait, did the Doctor say he has cancer!?

YES HE DID. We were paying attention the first time.

One last gripe: Reading this book, you would be forgiven for assuming it's the sequel to another book. Everyone is constantly referring back to an earlier event in the protagonist's life, without ever really explaining what happened. I was so confused, I did some googling, and apparently this is just something David Brin does in all his books.

One big problem, though: That non-existent first book sounds a lot more interesting.

But with all of that, I still gave it three stars. Because it's not unreadable - indeed it's a very quick read. And because it does have some really stellar ideas, even if the author doesn't seem to know himself what's good and what isn't. So for fans of the genre it might be worth picking up for the same reason I did, to see the archetypal "Uplift" book.
31 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic re-read
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2021
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Not for the first time, I just reread this novel, and as always found it a wonderful story, told by a masterful story teller. In its simplicity, it has more of a direct tie to the other books of the first trilogy. Despite being an early novel of Brin's, it is highly engaging, filled with rich characters, but still less decorous than his later efforts (particularly the second trilogy, which almost felt forced at times), and it's that direct story telling that I certainly appreciate.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Glinbog
5.0 out of 5 stars A clever scuff mystery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2019
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This was my fist bring novel, I has some unique elements, I enjoyed the science and the aliens a lot. I particularly enjoy the plot within plot, a great read with an interesting main characters. I will be buying all brings novels. Can't wait to read more.
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di dionisio paolo
5.0 out of 5 stars molto soddisfatto
Reviewed in Italy on April 25, 2015
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Consegna perfetta dopo qualche giorno
Libro che si legge tutto di un fiato con spunti e concetti nuovi molto interessanti
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Stephen Milton
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2020
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I enjoyed this book now in my 40's. The ideas aged badly, but now it's so old it can all be viewed as 'quaint' I guess.
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Nicole
5.0 out of 5 stars Sundiver Brin
Reviewed in Italy on April 17, 2014
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Il libro lo devo ancora leggere però posso dire che la spedizione è stata veloce e le condizioni del libro erano ok.
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"neochimp"
4.0 out of 5 stars The first novel of uplift series
Reviewed in Japan on April 18, 2004
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This is the first novel of David Brin's uplift series. The story is not directly connected to the rest of 5 novels, but it describes the basic ground of "uplift." Humans and other ETs dive into the Sun in attempt to find out intelligent lifeforms in it. However, there has been already plotted a conspiracy to ruin everything. The story is really exciting and well organized. In addtion, what I like about David Brin is that his work is built on the good knowledge of science from physics to biology.
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