Status Updates From Visions of the Future

Lungfish. By David Brin. This is actually my first ever encounter with Brin. Though I've heard a lot about his Uplift universe. This story is about humanity finally meeting von Neumann probes and about the reasons we so far haven't. It is beautiful and still has me thinking. Because the story ends just before the meeting and leaves much to the imagination about how it will go and what the Purpose of the waiting AI is

Light and Shadow. Story about a grieving, suicidal pilot and an AI who get to test a new plane with a fascinating concept for an FTL drive. I did not stay to study the mathematical explanations of Riemann surfaces that came with the story but rest assured they are there. 5*

Gift of a Useless Man. A man hurtles through space and crashes on a small, empty-seeming planet. He's about to die and I was about to give up on this story when the actual story begins. A fun re-telling of a classic this time with telepathic space-bugs. 4*

The Shoulders of Giants. Story about humanity once again sending frozen people to the stars. Sounds like same-old at first but then gets a fun twist. My rating: 4*