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Existence

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Existence

By: David Brin
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins, Robin Miles, L. J. Ganser
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About this listen

Best-selling, award-winning futurist David Brin returns to globe-spanning, high concept SF with Existence.

Gerald Livingston is an orbital garbage collector. For a hundred years, people have been abandoning things in space, and someone has to clean it up. But there’s something spinning a little bit higher than he expects, something that isn’t on the decades’ old orbital maps. An hour after he grabs it and brings it in, rumors fill Earth’s infomesh about an "alien artifact". Thrown into the maelstrom of worldwide shared experience, the Artifact is a game-changer - a message in a bottle, an alien capsule that wants to communicate. The world reacts as humans always do: with fear and hope and selfishness and love and violence. And insatiable curiosity.

©2012 David Brin (P)2012 Audible, Inc. First Contact Science Fiction
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Looking at the end of this world by local or external means. This is an exploration of our motives and actions when confronted by an answer to one of the big questions. It also explores the social, political and economic effects.
Well written, very good performances and high production values provokes a high recommendation. This story is complex, involved and uses a plethora of characters. This book may need more than one reading to catch all the details.

An interesting view.

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The story was very hopeful, but my goodness, it took a lot to get there. I nearly tapped out after 15 chapters. It just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I stuck with it, but I won't be recommending this book to anyone.

The first third was tough

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While this books central story might grab your interest Brin goes into so much detail about minutia that the art of story telling is lost. If this book was edited to one third the size it might be great, but as it is you can doze off for twenty minutes while listening and just keep listening, knowing that you won't have missed any key plot points. More bizarre is that the end of the story is rushed, skipping generations, even though the start is so slow.

An interesting core with too much to wade through.

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I have always loved sci fi that makes you think while also taking you on a fascinating journey into the unexpected. Existence definitely delivers on all counts.

Thought provoking

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