Brian Herbert is the oldest son of noted science fiction author Frank Herbert who wrote the Dune series of books.  Brian has a younger brother Bruce and an older sister Penny.  Brian was an honor student and he graduated early from high school when he was 16.  He married young as well to his wife Jan.  He went to the University of California at Berkeley and received a BA in Sociology.  He has been married for over 30 years and they have three daughters, Julie, Kimberly and Margaux.

Brian did not begin writing until he was nearly 30 years old.  His first two books were Incredible Insurance Claims and Classic Comebacks.  He kept a journal which he used to write a biography of his father Frank Herbert entitled Dreamer of Dune.  Brian Herbert used the entire Dune series to write the Dune Concordence.  He used this as a reference book when writing the Prelude to Dune series with Kevin J Anderson.