Startide Rising by David Brin

I just finished this novel, and it was wonderful. It is a Nebula and Hugo awars winner, and justly so. It happens to be in the middle of a trilogy, but you really should start with it if you're interested and then read the others if you want to.

So from there I went to David Brin's Official Web Site. There's quite a lot over there. He's much more optimistic about science and human progress than I am. There's much more to say, if I felt like working on it now. Maybe later.