An insightful, quicksilver romp through Brin's own mind. In the 20 essays, short stories, and little wonders in this book, David will take you from the worlds of Galileo Galilei and Jules Verne, through thoughtful explorations of Orwell and Tolkien, and on into tomorrows that just may happen.

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, a modern master of speculative fiction. 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… followed by several more tales of conquest from beyond, each of them wildly different. 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 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! Tomorrow awaits. We can face it and prevail. So long as our stance is brave INSISTENCE OF VISION.

"Some Math Club nerds have got a real live alien! They're hiding it in a basement rec room!" High School junior Mark Bamford doesn't believe the silly rumor. For one thing, here in the town of Twenty-Nine Palms? California homes don't have basements! Besides....A stranded alien? Seriously? Can we say c-l-i-c-h-e? Movie rip-off? Can't the math geeks think up a better hoax?But then... Why are black vans from the super-secret Cirocco Corp cruising all over town, searching for something? Mark and his pal Alexandra decide to do some investigating of their own. Only, where can they turn for help? The skateboarding "X" crowd? The varsity climbing team? It's not like their social circle is an elite spy force!Perhaps though... with home grown ingenuity... a little sleight of hand-okay, call it double-dealing, whatever.... The truth isn't just 'out there.' It may be right next door.Now available in full length for the first time - winner of the Hal Clement Award for YA fiction - comes the first book in a series about young humans confronting an age-old theme-that of strangers from beyond-giving it new shape, guided by the deft hand of one of science fiction's modern masters.

A brazen guide for sane Americans to bypass trench warfare and win our life or death struggle for civilization. Are we in phase 8 of America's 250 year civil war? This book explores the possibility of using agility -- winning political battles with the shifting dexterity of jiu jitsu -- that never occurs to many politicians or strategists. Sure, talk show hosts milk each day's outrage for humor, indignation and ratings. But does anyone consider ways to get off the hoary, insipid "left-right political axis" and maneuver in three dimensions? Amid the latest tweet-storm and news-grabbing stunt, what pundit ever steps back to ask "Hey, what actually just happened?" Across today's fast-changing political landscape, Brin explores how to confront our neighbors not with familiar chasms, but commonalities - things both you and they know to be true. How to counter the all-out war against facts and all fact-using professions, including science and the "fake news" media. Using actual outcomes to demolish comfy oft-told narratives -- by seeking better strategies against deficits, at engendering a healthy economy and even at fostering open-creative-competitive enterprise. Polemical Judo ranges from electoral cheating to the economy; from saving the planet to troubles with Russia and China; from conspiracies to racism, to forging a Big Tent Coalition. It also explores more extreme "exit strategies" -- impeachment, indictment, the 25th Amendment and all that, as well as incorporating bold ideas from Lincoln, FDR, MLK and the Greatest Generation. Because those brave geniuses fought earlier battles for us. And they won.... plus tactics, tactics, tactics that you've never seen before. They might -- or might not work. But shouldn't someone at least try some of them? David Brin's best-selling novels include The Postman (filmed in 1997) plus explorations of our near-future in Earth and Existence. His award-winning novels and short stories explore vividly speculative ideas through a hard-science lens. His nonfiction book, The Transparent Society, won the American Library Association's Freedom of Speech Award for exploring 21st Century concerns about security, secrecy, accountability and privacy.