Rating: 
Summary: Fun, quick, book but not the most organized
Review: Philosophical ramblings sum it up well. I love Gleik's writing style - Chaos exemplifies it best. I thought this book was interesting, witty, clever, and creative... but it wasn't organized at all, and didn't really go anywhere (like most philosophy books). An enjoyable, quick read.
Rating: 
Summary: magnificent achievement
Review: The finest, most thought-provoking, funniest, saddest exploration of time, of technology, of our end-of-millennium condition, I've ever read. Not a science book at all, it turns out, though there's an amazing digression about numbers. You get near the end, and you're wondering how this cornucopia of ideas fits together, and you come to the astounding final sections, and you realize that this is a symphony, and you're finally beginning to understand our crazy lives in this interesting world of ours.
Rating: 
Summary: A Newspaper Article Blown Into a Book
Review: This would have been fun to read at dinner or on a train - but too superficial to spend several evenings with the book. The book on the history of time by Landes, whom Gleick quotes, was much more serious, uniting technology and history. This one is too fast to be deep. The thing that pleased me about this book was that Gleick was being productive. Local papers reported that he suffered a terrible personal tragedy last year - it's great that he could work despite it. Well, thank you amazon for your generous return policy - this book is going back to you.
Rating:
Summary: A quick read - good for commuting
Review: I was a bit disappointed not to see FASTER organized into discrete chapters. I guess this is indicative of the topic of the book--everyone is in a hurry. Don't expect any deep insights into quantum physics or science here. I read it on the train commuting to work. The short chapters have kernals of information that you can use when you want to impress someone at your next social event. I wouldn't buy the book, check it out of the library. Its faster that way.
Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: Any book is an instant classic to Amazon if it's publisher can pay sufficent graft to their reviewers, Gleick is probably in the pay of multinational's, his science is ill founded, he has no understanding of thermodynamics.
Rating:
Summary: staggering, original, thought-provoking
Review: Really amazing book. Looks easy and obvious and you laugh out loud sometimes but I feel it's really deeper than his classic book, Chaos. More subtle, more powerful. It stays with you. No cheap answers here.
Rating:
Summary: In a word....SKIP!
Review: I'm fairly sorry that I read this book. It's very little on science and a lot on philosophical ramblings. I wish he kept to a series of single points rather than throwing bucket loads of info at the reader and jumping around from sentence to sentence. I'm quite sure I won't remember much from this book.
Rating:
Summary: Better As A Magazine Article
Review: I just finished reading this book last night and wanted to write this review while I could still remember what I read. Mr. Gleick throws so much information at you and most of it is so obvious that this is not the kind of book that will stay with you. There is some attempt at analysis but not that much. This book would have been better as a magazine article because Mr. Gleick could have made his point in a much shorter format. Other than giving us a lot of examples of how technology has accelerated our lives he just doesn't have all that much to say.
Rating: 
Summary: Finished it and listened to it again it was that interesting
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book. It was very interesting. It is read by the author and although his reading style is somewhat monotone, it doesn't put you off. I don't recall if the version I read was abridged, but if it was I'd read/listen to it too. Although it will definitely appeal to the nerd/techie, others will find it worthwhile. It's chock full of interesting tid-bits.
Rating:
Summary: Good description of the modern condition, but not up to par
Review: I enjoyed reading Faster very much, and it made me think about the way I live my life and why I do. It's a quick, fairly light read, with some great examples. But...It doesn't come close to Gleick's other books (or his NYTimes Magazine articles). Given his three books, it seems that the broader the stroke he attempts to make, the less insightful the analysis he writes -- and the less wonderment I feel. When he focussed on Feynman in Genius, I was enthralled and thrilled. Chaos was also wonderful, but diffused over a number of individuals. Faster is more diffuse yet with no concentration on individuals at all. Stick you your scientific, historical boigraphy, James. You are brilliant when you do.
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