Helpful Score: 6
Ive been a big fan of Michael Crichton for years, since Andromeda Strain. I did not enjoy this book. Its as if he tried to explore every single possible ramification of genetic engineering. There are a dozen plots, none of them really well-developed, and only a few of them intersecting at the end to explain anything. The chapters are extremely short as he jumps from one subplot to another (is this a novel or a movie script hes writing?). The characters are underdeveloped, and there was not one character I cared about. Well, maybe I cared about Gerard. Crichton could have done so much with the subject, very disappointing.
Helpful Score: 5
This book was very interesting, to say the least, filled with ethical issues to think about! The story was engaging, thrilling, and even a bit funny at times, but I felt like I was left hangin' with regard to some of the characters. There were too many characters to keep up with, too many sub plots, and one mysterious french woman I never quite figured out. Gerard, the transgenic talking parrot, was awesome, but the whole Dave situation, humanzees, wow, a very frightening concept. I really liked the Author's Note at the end. I think I share his views on many of the ethical issues brought up in this book. I don't think genes should be patented either. It's too bad business and science cannot be kept separate.
Helpful Score: 5
This is a book taking current biological (transgenic) research to the Nth degree. It is a fascinating book from the conceptual point. The bibliography is just as impressive as the book. Anyone who wants to see where cloning and genetic manipulation could take us would be interested in the fictional account.
Helpful Score: 4
Describes frightening world of science turned into a business of playing with genes. Profiting off creating creatures not meant to be genetically combined such as humans and apes. Advertising on fish? Scary to think they already have created a cat that people are Not allergic too, and are now creating colored fish.
Helpful Score: 4
NEXt blends fact and fiction into a tale of a coming world where nothing is what it seems. It's what can happen, may happen and will happen if 'good people do nothing'. Challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality.
Helpful Score: 3
WOW--- loved it! Fact and fiction combined. Great moral dilemmas presented with "stories" mixed in with actual science. Crichton finished the book with an outline that would work great as fodder for a debate on the issues discussed. Recommend every person of science read it as well as anyone with interest in the morality of cloning, genetic manipulation,or animal research.
Helpful Score: 3
Genetic research is making headlines in one form or another almost every day. A cure for everything. But what happens when taken to extreme? Part fact, part fiction, part fantasy, this book will both engross and chill.
Helpful Score: 2
I was totally unable to put this one down!!
Helpful Score: 2
I loved the idea of this book - what are the implications of the rapid-fire genetic discoveries that are currently happening? What will the future look like?
However, for about 2/3 of the sheer number of storylines made the book difficult to follow. It seemed like Crichton would think of something that could possibly be related to advances in genetics, and put it into the story. The book could have used a stronger editor.
Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and it made me think about the extremes that could happen in the near future
However, for about 2/3 of the sheer number of storylines made the book difficult to follow. It seemed like Crichton would think of something that could possibly be related to advances in genetics, and put it into the story. The book could have used a stronger editor.
Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and it made me think about the extremes that could happen in the near future
Helpful Score: 2
This is the first book that I have read from Mr. Crichton and I am hooked on his writings. I thought this book was excellent! I had to come back to my review to add that it has been over 6 mths since I have read this and I still think about this book.
It is not a scary book but definitely gets your heart pumping! A must read.
It is not a scary book but definitely gets your heart pumping! A must read.
Helpful Score: 2
Very good. It's a little hard to get into because it keeps flopping back and forth like the tv series "Heroes" but wow once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. The comic relief was a talking bird. My kids made me read out loud each time I came to that section of the story.
Helpful Score: 1
A Great Read!
Helpful Score: 1
Absolutely compelling novel that blends fact with fiction about genetic engineering and the consequences it produces.
Helpful Score: 1
Although the book is fiction, it comes very close to real life and that is the scary part.
At first, I thought the book was going to have too many characters but they all fit into place.
I found the story very enjoyable and interesting. It can be read just for fun or you can follow the "gene therapy headlines" as you read.
Marion
At first, I thought the book was going to have too many characters but they all fit into place.
I found the story very enjoyable and interesting. It can be read just for fun or you can follow the "gene therapy headlines" as you read.
Marion
Helpful Score: 1
Certainly a book to make you think and rethink genetics and the world we live in.
Helpful Score: 1
Not an edge-of the seat book, but a very interesting look into what could become of genetic engineering.
Helpful Score: 1
This book blends fact with fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next shatters our assumtions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
Helpful Score: 1
Oddly enough, I work at a place that does genome research. Although I'm just an admin assoc., I found it VERY interesting especially since our head genomic researcher is relatively well-known in the scientific world.
Helpful Score: 1
I have been a fan of Michael Crichton ever since I can remember (Jurassic Park being one of the first "grown up" books I ever remember reading), so naturally I tackled his newest book with vigor. However, I had trouble getting through the first several pages, and ended up restarting the book about 4 times before finally finishing it, after which I was completely disappointed. The only positive thing that I can really say is that topic of genetic technology and its moral implications is, I suppose, timely, and, as always with Crichton, the research is very thorough. But the chapters are entirely too short to develop plot line (average 3-4 pages), and each chapter deals with a different character. Chrichton is usually a master at developing many characters and weaving their stories together in unexpected and amazing ways. However, in "Next," I found the sheer volume of characters overwhelming, and the constant switching between them highly off-putting. By the end of the book, I can honestly say there was not one single character I was emotionally invested in. This book was touted as a novel, but somehow ended up becoming Crichton's personal platform for correcting society's attitudes toward gene technology. If he wanted to write a nonfiction editorial on the effects of patenting genes, he should have done so and called it such. Attempting to add all the trappings of a novel made what could have been an interesting medical read into a muddled and disappointing mess. Sorry, Crichton fans. This is definitely one of his books that fails to get my endorsement. Don't waste your time.
Helpful Score: 1
I normally do not read books like this but my grandfather told me how much he enjoyed Michael Crichton's other books. So, I went out a got it and I could not put it down! Very cool read, you will enjoy this book!
Helpful Score: 1
Michael Crichton at his best writes an absorbing story. This book, while not his best ever, was a good story. While I did not agree with the premise, I did enjoy reading about the sleazy characters who do stupid things, either in the name of science or greed. The topic of the book was a series of intertwined threads dealing with combining human genes with animals: monkey, parrots, etc. Also, the taking of cells from an individual for profit.
A classic Michael Crichton book - it keeps you moving from page to page and chapter after chapter. A network of criss crossing themes cross in the end to which you will be surprised. Excellent!!!!
Terrific, fast paced topical thriller. Crichton packs a lot of reasearch regarding global warming theories and disputes into one great fictional story!
This was an interesting read... not my typical genre.. but I liked it.
Not Crichton's best, but not his worst. Fairly entertaining and not overly wordy as some of his work can be.
Suspenseful and thought provoking as well as informative. A very good book.
Interesting book by Crichton, not as good as Jurassic Park though. Has to do with the what the future of genetics holds and seems a bit far fetched at times, but who knows what the future holds.
Can't go wrong with Michael Crichton! Hi tech, bio-genetics thriller!! Went through the book really quick. Very hard to put down! I'd give it a 9 out of 10.
This is not a great book like Congo or Jurassic Park. I thought that it would be cool since I worked with genetics in college to read a novel about it but it was disappointing. It is a fictional account of several stories involving genetics and genetic experiments. The story line are very far fetched and portray all geneticists as evil people who want to make clones. That is so not true but this fictional account gives a person who does not know how academic genetic research really is like and all the regulations that have to be followed before any project is approved and gets funding.
While I enjoyed this book, it was difficult to follow the plot (I'm really not sure it even had a plot) and it seemed far-fetched that the characters came together at the end. I like that he dealt with this issue, and if you're interested in the issue (genetic manipulation) it's definitely worth a read... but if you're interested in Crichton for entertainment's sake, I would say just about any other novel of his that I've read (most of them) is better crafted.
I haven't read many good reviews of this book so I went into it with pretty low expectations, which I think helped. The biggest problem with this book is that it has no plot. Most chapters are only a few pages long and in most chapters new characters are introduced. There are a few recurring characters, but mostly we just get snippets. What we're looking at is what the world would be like if genetic engineering was successful and commonplace. What would happen if we could really put human genes into animals--could we create a cross between a human and a chimpanzee? Should we? What if we could modify the genes of wild animals so they would display logos for big companies--then those companies could "sponsor" animals and they'd be less likely to go extinct. If we could find the gene for drug addiction, could we fix it? Could we sue our parents for passing on to us defective genes? If your husband had a gene that predisposes him to infidelity, could he really be blamed for sleeping around? What if companies could patent genes? Would they then own the genes that we all carry in all of our cells? Would they have the right to retrieve those genes any time they want? This is just a book of what-ifs, no real plot, but I still found it to be somewhat entertaining. At the end I was annoyed by the author's note that repeats back the author's main points, in case you didn't get them in the story. If these sort of questions interest you, I'd recommend reading this, but if they don't, feel free to skip this.
Entertaining, even humorous in places. Not one of Crichton's best, but worth reading.
In typical Crichton fashion, the book is very detailed and still a page turner. But he is getting preachy about his ideas re science and the world.
Not one of his better books. I enjoyed his past novels much better.
Just as scary as any of Michael Crighton's books. This one is about genetic engineering.
A very quick, and enjoyable read. Not one of his best books, but still very entertaining.
This book made some interesting points about science and ethics in our society even if it was a bit paranoid and over-the-top. There was a jumble of characters each as wooden as the next. It was an entertaining enough story with some food for thought thrown in.
Excellent new paperback by Michael Crichton!
Chichton always tells a good story that sounds entirely plausible.
I love all of Michael Crichton's books.
Beautiful gift copy!
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease? We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.
We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes...
Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.
Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
The future is closer than you think.
Strain" journeys into the realm of genetics: fast, furious and out of control. Provocative yet playful, dark and disturbing, "Next" is Crichton as he has never been seen before.
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease? We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.
We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes...
Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.
Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
The future is closer than you think.
Strain" journeys into the realm of genetics: fast, furious and out of control. Provocative yet playful, dark and disturbing, "Next" is Crichton as he has never been seen before.
I love Michael Crichton's books, he writes another scary techno-thriller with this one. I highly recommend it.
This book was just ridiculous. Not up to his usual standards. Got 3/4 of the way through and just couldnt keep reading
Lots of fiction in this one
(amazon)
From Publishers Weekly
...the author interweaves many plot strands, one involving a California researcher, Henry Kendall, who has mixed human and chimp DNA while working at NIH. Kendall produces an intelligent hybrid whom he rescues from the government and tries to pass off as a fully human child. Some readers may be disappointed by the relative lack of action, the lame attempts to lighten the mood with humor (especially centering on an unusually bright parrot named Gerard), and the contrived convergence of the main characters toward the end. Still, few can match Crichton in crafting page-turners with intellectual substance, and his opinions this time are less likely to create a firestorm than his controversial take on global warming in 2004's State of Fear.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Publishers Weekly
...the author interweaves many plot strands, one involving a California researcher, Henry Kendall, who has mixed human and chimp DNA while working at NIH. Kendall produces an intelligent hybrid whom he rescues from the government and tries to pass off as a fully human child. Some readers may be disappointed by the relative lack of action, the lame attempts to lighten the mood with humor (especially centering on an unusually bright parrot named Gerard), and the contrived convergence of the main characters toward the end. Still, few can match Crichton in crafting page-turners with intellectual substance, and his opinions this time are less likely to create a firestorm than his controversial take on global warming in 2004's State of Fear.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
I tried to read this book - but I found myself re-reading the same sentences over and over...so I quit.
NY Times best seller.
I Loved the book, it made you think about how much of that is true and could happen in real life.
Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes.
It makes you wonder how far science has come.
Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes.
It makes you wonder how far science has come.
