American science-fiction writer noted as the author of the best-selling Dune series of futuristic novels, a group of highly complex works that explore such themes as ecology, human evolution, the consequences of genetic manipulation, and mystical and psychic possibilities.

Until 1972, when he began to write full-time, Herbert held a variety of jobs while writing socially engaged science fiction. He was working as a journalist when his reputation was made with the publication of the epic Dune (1965; filmed by David Lynch in 1984), which was translated into 14 languages and sold some 12 million copies, more than any other science-fiction book in history; ironically, Dune had been rejected by 20 publishers before it was published. Its sequels are Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God-Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). In the late 1990s Herbert's son Brian began collaborating with Kevin J. Anderson on a series of prequels to the Dune chronicles; Dune: House Atreides was released in 1999.

Included among Herbert's more than two dozen novels are the highly acclaimed Dragon in the Sea (1956), The Green Brain (1966), The Santaroga Barrier (1968), The Heaven Makers (1968), The God Makers (1972), and The Dosadi Experiment (1977).