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Title: Prey: A Novel by Michael Crichton ISBN: 0066214122 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 25 November, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.45
Rating: 4
Summary: A peak into our powerful and dangerous future
Comment: As part of a broad public discussion, not a specifically scientific one, Michael Crichton reaches into the deep thick darkness of our future with his new book, "Prey," and viscerally pulls out some issues, some potential realities, with his poetry-prose, that are so central to our continued breathing and cognition that we are well advised to ignore the obvious scientific weaknesses of many parts of this book. The issues he brings up include the development of nano and bio technologies, artificial life, and swarm and emergent behavior.
The plot of "Prey" is formulaic in many respects, following closely in the footsteps of books such as "Frankenstein," which was the first real story about artifical intelligence, "2001: A Space Odyssey" and, of course, "Jurassic Park."
In ignoring these varied faults, as we read "Prey," we sit quietly on this beautiful dark night and get a glimpse of the deeper issues that glimmer, simmering, on our nearest horizon.
Rating: 3
Summary: Jurassic Nanoparticles
Comment: Michael Crichton has a pretty good schtick. Research a current scientific or sociological trend to death, then regurgitate it in an easily-readable novel format palatable to the lowest common denominator. He does it often and he does it well. Perhaps too well. Because it's beginning to appear as though he's doing the same thing over and over again ...
"Prey" is an interesting concept, concerning the efforts to develop nanotechnology. Of course, in Crichton's world, science refuses to behave; arrogant scientists push limits and the scientific subjects break loose, causing a big mess and hijinx ensue. One right-thinking scientist warns against using the new technology before it is properly tested, then saves the day with his superior knowledge and skill.
In "Prey", the hero is stay-at-home dad Jack Forman, a former programmer who loses his job because he finds out the CEO is morally-corrupt and tries to blow the whistle. Crichton spends pages and pages describing how Jack takes to being a house husband, changing diapers, fixing dinner, refereeing squabbles. We get the point: Jack's a Good Guy, with Capital Letters.
Jack's wife, Julia, works for a company that has developed a medical imaging system that uses nanotechnology to take pictures of the inside of the body. This is the company for which things go Terribly Wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles breaks loose and is terroroizing the fabrication facility deep in the Nevada desert.
Because Jack worked on the code that runs the particles, he's called in to save the day and this is where the book becomes "Jurassic Nanoparticles". At the facility, we are introduced to a group of people who are working on the project. Their names are not important, for they are barely-sketched characters to be used as nano-fodder for the remainder of the novel.
The first third of the novel was almost unreadable. Crichton attempts to get us into the head of Joe Average, having conversations about diapers and managing a household where the kids slap each other and call one another "Monkey Butt". But it appears Crichton himself is a long, long way from being an average guy. I doubt he ever shopped for diapers or picked up his own dry-cleaning, so he instead seems to have cribbed all his knowledge of family life from "Mr. Mom" and "E.T."
Things DO heat up a bit when he gets to the facility in the desert. This is where Crichton shows his chops as a master story teller. His writing is still a little sloppy and choppy, but he keeps things going by building and releasing tension at a steady rate. Many questions are answered, only to raise more questions. This is what Crichton does best and it is why I still read him.
Plotting is a little sloppy, as well, as there are many inconsistencies throughout. People behave in odd ways, contact with the nanoparticles kills some but not others and has different affects on those it doesn't kill. But this is par for the course in a Crichton novel.
..."Prey" is fun, even though you've seen it all before.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, Not Great Escapist Fiction
Comment: This is good, not great escapist fiction, although from all the hype surrounding the release of PREY, its premise is not that far from reality. Scientists in the fields of computer technology, genetic engineering and nanotechnology are developing the ability to produce molecular sized robots that will be able to manipulate matter at the atomic level. In PREY, these robots swarm together and develop emergent behavior (effective new behaviors developed when old behaviors are ineffective) which is life-threatenning to the scientists who have created them.
PREY has some very exciting and thrilling moments and some intriguing information about biology and animal behavior that elevates it above the typical story of "science runs amok". The problems with it however are found in the elements that, when present, make excellent and satisfying reading. Those elements are very limited in PREY. There is very minimal character development and the dialogue can be simple-minded and at times ludicrous. For example, Jack, after witnessing his wife, who is filled with deadly particles, attempt to murder another scientist, describes his reaction, "I felt tremendously uneasy". I guess!
Nonetheless, if readers are looking for a fast-paced, entertaining thriller that provides enough science and new information to speculate about the world's future, then they should enjoy PREY.
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Title: Four Blind Mice by James Patterson ISBN: 0316693006 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 18 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The King of Torts by John Grisham ISBN: 0385508042 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Reversible Errors: A Novel by Scott Turow ISBN: 0374281602 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy ISBN: 0399148701 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 05 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: Hornet Flight by Ken Follett ISBN: 0525946896 Publisher: E P Dutton Pub. Date: 02 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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