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Loading... Next (2006)by Michael Crichton
  
No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) Zedseayou | Jan 30, 2024 |  It may seem like a cynical book at first, but it highlights issues that may be closer to reality than we would like to think. Maybe it is because I read this during Covid, but the idea of corporations vying for possession of genes or characteristics tied to an individual for profit does not seem that far fetched of a scenario in today's world. Much like the inevitability of AI genetic engineering will be part of the future, and is something we need to start thinking about and planning for sooner rather than later so people can still have autonomy over their own bodies. Because let's face it, a medical company would absolutely try to get legal authority over peoples' cells for monetary gain regardless of the moral speculation. This book is clearly well researched, which made exploring some of the themes even more enjoyable. Unfortunately, it suffers from way too many character perspectives. So interesting pathways or not explored or cluttered from just trying to keep up with multiple plot lines and characters. Maybe this should have been a collection of short stories. Some good ideas here and there, but I did find myself getting lost at moments trying to figure out what was going on each chapter. Some I felt like could have been emitted from the book entirely without taking away anything from the book. (  ) Ciraabi | Aug 13, 2022 | However the writing of the book is where it falls shorts. It often seemed very scattered and although stories between characters were meant to intertwine, that wasn't done well. If the idea of a story about genes and tissues excited you I'd still recommend reading the book. But go in knowing the style of writing isn't the best. ( ) kayfeif | Aug 2, 2022 |  )1  Audacity88 | Jun 2, 2022 | Crichton got much more open about his politics since Prey. He's always been political but I just felt he was much more open about it towards the end of his career and in this book more so. Maybe I've just noticed the politics more as I have gotten older, but there just seemed to be some cheap shots in the book that hasn't been in his past works. ( )1 donhazelwood | Mar 11, 2022 |
 All science fiction has some element of titillation — a strategy of taking known facts and stretching them to the limits of credulity, for the purposes of both entertaining and enlightening. But Crichton seems intent on confusing his readers, pummeling them with a barrage of truths, half-truths and untruths, until they have no choice but to surrender. As one of the author’s numerous stand-ins warns a naïve interlocutor, “Disinformation takes many forms.” Here, finally, Crichton has a point that should be heeded.  ''Next'' would be a narrow, uninteresting book if its sole point were to condemn such tactics as transgressive. Instead Mr. Crichton moves far beyond questioning the morality of such experiments and acknowledges that they happen. His whole thriller-tutorial boils down to one troubling question, asked about each freakish breakthrough described here: Now what? Since ''Next'' is one of Mr. Crichton's more un-put-downable novels, the reader may experience some frustration. It's tempting to stop and look up each of the genetic, legal and ethical aberrations described here in order to see how wild a strain of science fiction is afoot. Save a step. Just believe this: Oddity after oddity in ''Next'' checks out, and many are replays of real events. ''This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren't,'' Mr. Crichton writes, greatly understating the book's scary legitimacy. Belongs to Publisher SeriesSündmuste horisont (24) AwardsDistinctions
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML: 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 an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addictionâ??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 or 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 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. Get used to it. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.24)
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