The River of Time

by David Brin

The River of Time brings together eleven short stories, including "The Crystal Spheres" (WINNER: Hugo Award Best SF Short Story 1985), and four new stories published here for the first time.

Here are powerful tales of heroism and humanity, playful excursions into realms of fancy, and profound meditations on time, memory, and our place in the universe.

CONTENTS:
DESTINY
The Crystal Spheres
The Loom of Thessaly
The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf

RECOLLECTON
Senses Three and Six
Toujours Voir
A Stage of Memory

SPECULATION
Just a Hint
Tank Farm Dynamo
Thor Meets Captain America

PROPAGATION
Lungfish
The River of Time

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

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1986

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

[Karl]

This hardcover is copy 169 of 400 copies Signed by David Brin and Paul Sonju (Illustrator)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was some over-the-top characterization with the android that I just couldn't suspend disbelief for. This seems to be standard for older scifi though. The rest, however, was a wonderful story exploring the ideas and implications of von Neumann machines. A lot to chew on. It was great!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of good stories but overall this is not Brin’s best.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collections of ideas, well developed in short format. I really enjoyed these stories. A few years back I was struggling to keep focussed on reading and short sci-fi kick started me again. Getting into a collection like this makes me think on the ideas and it is very cool to be bombarded by some far out thoughts. I highly recommend this collection, especially for people who want get a spectrum of speculative writing.

[Daniel Scott White · Rating 5 out of 5]

"River of Time" (story) reprinted in Unfit Magazine Vol. 1

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welp. Crystal Spheres, the one that won the awards, is a fine story, but not amazing. I wonder what I'll think of the rest...

The Loom of Thessaly is a lot of fun, but with a serious message. Reads a bit like a 'three wishes' tale. Memorable. Title is literal.

The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf is a mostly funny What If, bur it dryly points out that it could be a scary one, too.

Senses Three and Six is sort of Literary, sort of pretentious... sorry, but no.

Toujours Voir is an attempt at exactly 250 words. Reads like it's meant to be melancholy or something but the bit I understand is evil horror.

A Stage of Memory is ok, but I liked Walter Miller's tribute to a washed up actor better.

Just a Hint is an idea story in the best classic vein, but the punch is weak.

Tank Farm Dynamo is a tech idea story and I didn't understand the tech.

Thor Meets Captain America is an ugly alternate history, written for a challenge and not because Brin's heart was in it.

Lungfish is the only story that has a female character as a full-fledged person. It's also the one that explores most directly the idea of personhood. "Today 'mankind' included all types... all citizens so long as they could appreciate music, a sunset, compassion, and a good joke.... defined not by his shape but by a heritage and a common set of values."

The River of Time was inspired by a dream and reads, imo, like a near-nightmare. Just, no, if you believe it, David, write it out, if not, don't waste my time with this scrap of nonsense.

Y'know, I've tried Brin a couple of other times, too. Given that he says himself that he writes novels differently than short stories, and that I only kinda liked these, I do think I'm about done.

Back to Methuselah has been added to my lists.

Not a horrible book, but I just can't round up from 2.4 stars.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread of a short story collection from Brin that contains some interesting stories. Some fantasy, some alternate history, some speculative fiction. As is usually the case with story collections some are hits and some are misses, but all worthwhile reads.

My favorites are...
The Crystal Spheres - an interesting take on why we've never seen aliens in our neck of the woods
The Loom of Thessaly - an archaeologist travels to a place that he can't get to, only to find the loom of the world and the ancient beings that weave our lives
Captain America Meets Thor - written many years before the MCU, its an interesting alternate history take on WWII and how the Asgardians (though not from Asgard in this story) might have impacted that struggle.
Lungfish - Another interesting take on why we haven't seen aliens around. From Brin's afterword of the story; Crystal Spheres is what happens when we are too early to find "neighbors". Lungfish is how it might go down, if we were too late.

8/10

S: 9/12/17 - 9/23/17 (12 Days)

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story ideas, that were engagingly explored with evocative writing.

So why not 5 stars? Because I found that I just didn't enjoy the short story/novelette format. Each new story requires a certain amount of effort to get my bearings in the new world, figure out who and where we are. And then once I had expended that effort, and invested in the story, it was over relatively quickly, and I had to do it all over again. Another difficulty for me was that, since all the stories were by the same author, they were all written in a similar style, which made it more challenging to keep the threads of a previous story from creeping into the current one. To counter this, I had to read this book one story at a time, in between other books. That strategy meant it took a very long time to get through this book--though I admit it was kind of nice to have a little fiction "palate cleanser" between two nonfiction books sometimes.

[Lou Corn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story in this collection, “The Crystal Spheres”, is a solid SETI thought experiment with a beautiful opening (“When the flivver came, I was climbing the flanks of the Sicilian Plateau, in the great valley a recent ice age had made of the Mediterranean Sea I had once known. I and five other newly awakened Sleepers had come to camp and tramp through this wonder while we acclimated to the times.”) Then it got a little too into the word games. I didn’t read any of the other stories but maybe someday. I found this in one of those neighborhood “free libraries” (seems redundant no?) in Berkeley where I’ve noticed there is consistently better fiction at hand than any one of these little birdhouses of books I came across in Brooklyn.

[Jeff Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
Narrator rating: 2/5 star rating
He had like 2 male voices and 1 female voice for all characters. You could hear him take breathes while reading. Lousy. Seems like it’s how they used to do audiobooks: literally reading the book. These days, great narrators 'perform' books.

The stories were pretty cool I guess. I expected more from the river of Time story itself.

started: 2019-05-09.May.Thu 23:14:30
finished: 2019-05-14.May.Tue 23:17:31
duration: 9h:45m

[Markos · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book written in the 1980s, I was expecting to have some things that were a bit dated, but to my utter pleasure, these were a joy to read; having interesting ideas and generally enjoyable characters. My picks of the short stories were "The Loom of Thessaly", "A Stage of Memory", "The River of Time", which I remember from reading this anthology about thirty years earlier. Other stories offer speculations around extra terrestrials, which are great food for thought.

[Billeen Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bites of Brin

David Brin has been a hero of mine since The Postman. Scientist. Storyteller. The guy consults for NASA, for crying out loud.

The River of Time is a tray of brain tapas—sharp little vignettes, each served with his own wry annotation. Quick hits of wonder, science, and story that somehow feel both casual and cosmic.

I ate it up.

[John Bingamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this MANY years ago (as in, last century ;), so don't remember everything. But there were a LOT of good stories in this collection! Several of them I still think about to this day.
Ones I remember and would especially recommend:
Lungfish. The Crystal Spheres. The Loom of Thessaly. The River of Time. Thor Meets Captain America.

[Gene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining thought provoker

One of my favorite authors, i enjoy his humor coming through in his shorter pieces and author's notes. I was first introduced to his work in Sundiver and found it to be a unique page-turner. He has not disappointed.

[Amanda Schaefer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a really hard time with a book that’s first two paragraphs introduces made up words with no context and doesn’t explain them at all. I give it two starts only because if flowed nicely and had I continued reading past chapter 6 I probably could have finished the book without two much pain.

[Derek Sheldon]

Don't hold me to this. I didn't read the whole selection, but I did read "Lungfish" a short story about humanity's naivety to the rest of the universe and what is out there. Worth spending an hour or so to read it.

https://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/...

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag of sweets, mostly disapointing

The Crystal Spheres & The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf alone are 4 stars stories, the rest feels like drafts for novels newer completed.

[Rob Markley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't expect this to be short stories - was still pretty new to David Brin at the time. Nothing has stayed with me from these stories but Brin is worth another look

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of David Brin's short stories

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hit the right notes

I enjoyed reading the Authors Notes following each story . Great concept conundrums presented in accessible style. I recommend to those who enjoy thinking.

[Bill Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of short(ish) stories with comments from the author. Worth reading . . .

[Justin Zheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some solid stories in here. Bit of overlap with some of the other Brin collections floating around, but has some quality otherwise-uncollected stories as well

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love short stories, especially SF.
Mixed, most good.

[Daniel E Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cliffhangers

Many of your "short stories" seem more like excerpts of unfinished novels that leave me wanting the rest of the story.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit I didn’t read every short story in this collection, so the 4 star rating is attributed to the titular short story, The River of Time, which I found an utterly fascinating concept.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars, rating is for the short story Lungfish only

I liked it just fine, but I felt real dumb reading it. 😅

[Matt Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than "Lungfish" (which I enjoyed very much), these stories are...ok. These are workmanlike, sound, and literate, but lack any spark of 'aha!'. Characters are flat (how much different would "The Loom of Thessaly" be with a chappy Zelazny protagonist?) and Brin's overall style in these pieces is grim, lit with leached, unsaturated colors. Bradbury stories could awe you or chill you, Zelazny could entertain and amaze at the same time, and Ellison could inspire or infuriate; these don't get there. Maybe it's because these are really early works in Brin's publishing career, all before 1986, or maybe it's just that longer pieces are his strength. This collection is worth reading, by all means, but it is, to me, no worse or better than 'ok.'
Also, am I the only reader to find the blatant deistic determinism of the whole universe in "The Crystal Spheres" a bit too much to swallow? It angers me still.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't clear from the cover that this was a collection of short stories. They all move quickly, but most of the author's discussion at the end of each is redundant, pointing out the extremely obvious.

'Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf' reminded me a of Fred Pohl's 'Midas World', where humanoid robots displace human workers.

'Thor Meets Captain America' covers the same ground as parts of Charlie Stross's 'Atrocity Archives', or the first Hellboy movie, or many other Nazis-as-demon-summoner stories.

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of short stories, split into four sections: destiny, recollection, speculation and propagation. There are very few misfires amongst this collection, but The Crystal Spheres and The Loom of Thessaly stand out (the latter being a Hugo award winner). Definitely one for people that like hard science fiction in particular.

[Jorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few great stories in this collection, but too much of it was a little awkward, a bit corny. His novels are amazing, but this sampling of short stories was a little disappointing after tearing through the uplift trilogy. I think this is still worth reading, but I'd recommend lowering one's expectations a little.