His books which take place in this universe are: There is also a short story, "Aficionado"[1] (originally titled "Life in the Extreme"), published in 1998, which serves as a prequel to the series as a whole (it also serves as a part of Existence, an unrelated work by Brin), and a novella, Temptation,[2] published in 1999 in Far Horizons, which follows on from Heaven's Reach.
He also wrote Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe, a guidebook about the background of the series.
In the Uplift universe an intergalactic civilization called the Five Galaxies, comprising a multitude of sapient races, has existed for billions of years.
Brin helped popularise the term 'Uplift' within the context of science fiction[8] which has since been used by academics writing in the field generally for the concept.
Whether humanity truly evolved independently, or whether it was criminally abandoned by an unknown patron early in its uplift, is a topic of fierce debate.
This saved humanity from the likely fate of becoming client to another race through forced adoption or being punitively exterminated for the environmental damage done to the Earth and its native species.
Philosophically, it has been noted Brin sees lower life forms with potential for uplift like children, that will grow into adults.
For instance, instead of drawing upon the highly refined starship designs available in the Library, humanity tends to develop its own (generally vastly inferior) vessels.
Humans feel that this is a way to exercise their own independence and creativity, and it occasionally allows them to find solutions to problems which have in fact surprised more powerful races.
The Institute of Migration determines what planets can be colonized and under what environmental restrictions, primarily to ensure that suitable races can still evolve for later uplift.
[10] This civilization is aware of, but by tradition rarely if ever interacts with, the other orders of sapient life, which include those which are hydrogen-breathing, transcendent, mechanical, memetic, and quantum.
Unlike most other races, humans and their clients regard creativity as very desirable – the others take the view that everything useful has already been discovered, so it would be more efficient to search the Galactic Library for whatever they need.
Hence they often regard EarthClan's informal speech as insulting and the humans' egalitarian treatment of their Neo-Chimp and Neo-Dolphin clients as foolish, if not outright offensive.
By becoming patrons before contact with Galactic society, humanity unknowingly protected itself from being forced into becoming a client of an older race.
They are embarrassed by situations which remind them of their earlier status as "smart animals", especially about nudity, tree-climbing and above all losing their ability to speak when under stress.
"[17] Kiqui are a pre-sapient amphibious species first discovered on the planet Kithrup by Streaker's crew, who persuade them to be uplifted as clients of the humans.
The concept of Uplift is a major theme of the novels and has been referred and discussed in numerous science articles, including both psychology and zoological journals.
The novel content has been referred to as excellent cases of theoretical uplift scenarios by George Dvorsky, writing in the Journal of Evolution and technology.
[10] The first book in the Uplift series, Sundiver (1980), is essentially a detective story and occurs only decades after humanity's first contact with the Five Galaxies.
The protagonist, Jacob Demwa, is referenced in later novels as a mentor in Gillian Baskin and Tom Orley, and the captain of the Sundiver appears briefly in The Uplift War, having been promoted to admiral.
It follows the Earthclan amphibious spaceship Streaker (crewed by uplifted dolphins and their human patrons) which has discovered a colossal derelict fleet.
An intergalactic war, sparked by the events of Startide Rising, results in a successful invasion of the EarthClan colony on the planet Garth, heavily populated by uplifted chimps.
The "Uplift Storm" trilogy (excluding the first book, which solely focuses on Jijo) follows the survivors of the spaceship Streaker as they continue to evade the various galactic powers.
In Heaven's Reach, the series sums up with conclusions on the nature of life in the universe and revelations on the motivations of the oldest species in the Five Galaxies.
The short story "Aficionado" or "Life in the Extreme" is set earliest of all the currently written work and gives an account of the early days of the human uplift program before Contact.
The contents of this story have since been reused as part of the unrelated novel Existence, making its position in the uplift universe uncertain.