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Hadn't heard of him until now. Skimming wikipedia has not made me interested in his work. Is he very good in spite of my impression?
He's good enough to read, but not good enough to require reading. He won some Hugos in the 80s for his Uplift series, but the first book, Sundiver, is not Hugo quality and feels like a first work (because it is).
I only mention him because his series is literally called Uplift, and Brin claims to have coined the term.
The setting itself is one where patron species Uplift client species through genetic engineering, where the client is then indebted to the patron, and the patron gets status and protection and rights from all other species.. Humans are unique in that they have no patron race, and further have uplifted chimps and dolphins by the time contact is made with the rest of the alien society.
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