Rating: 
Summary: It's an OK read, but not the best Chrichton out there.
Review: My biggest complaint about the book was the incredibly obvious foreshadowing. Every single thing that ends up being used as a plot device is trotted out 3 or 4 times as examples before it's actually used by the characters.
It made reading the book an exercise in guessing when the characters will get to using "plot device X"
An example: (not based on the book, but in the same style and heavy handedness)
(early in the book) "Gee Joe, ya'd better not touch that switch without first REMOVING ALL THE METAL FROM YOUR BODY."
(several time in the book) Joe went to switch on the electromagnetic-doohicky. In his haste, he had left on his stainless steel watch. Biff jumped in and stopped Joe just in time.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU do not touch that switch without first REMOVING ALL THE METAL FROM YOUR BODY"
(Climax of the book) Joe's nemesis entered the main electromagnetic-doohickey chamber holding the TITANIUM PENCIL SHAPENER he had just used to kill everyone else in the plant. Joe threw his plastic (cuz he'd finally remembered to remove his metal objects after the 800th reminder) wristwatch at the ON switch. The electromagnetic-doohickey instantly generated a powerful electromagnetic (duh) field that ripped the TITANIUM PENCIL SHARPENER into a zillion pieces. Oh, the pieces ripped his nemesis into a zillion pieces as well. You get the point. This happens in the book in a dozen places. Some real book examples, pounded into our thick skulls over and over before they are used as a plot device: Don't clog that filter, or everthing will blow up!
Don't turn off the coolant to that doohickey!
That contaminant destroys the microthingies (I wonder if anyone will use it to destroy the microthingies?) There's more, but I'll leave it at that. It was a fun book and an enjoyable read, but it wasn't the new Andromeda Strain.
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn¿t this movie called ¿Tremors?¿
Review: First off, I accidentally read two sentences in the front sleeve, and then I read the excerpt before page 1, and I immediately knew what the problem was, and how the problem would be solved. Unfortunately, Crichton decided to spend half the book building a mystery that is answered on the front sleeve of the book. The mystery falls flat, as the main character thinks his wife is cheating. Of course, that is not true, but it takes Crichton a heck of lot of time to get to the point. His "insights" into Silicon Valley are pretty much an extrapolation of stereotypes. About 140 pages into it, he finally starts the darn book as the main character gets to Nevada. It's a finally action packed, fluid, and fun, despite the fact that it feels like a blatant [take] of the movie Tremors. But hey, it was a good movie. Just replace worms with nano-particles, and you've got the same thing. Then, in the ending, it gets truly surreal with the typical hack ending. The last twenty pages are pretty much a yawner. His classic fluidity, and the 100 pages of action are what makes this book somewhat enjoyable.
Without a doubt, one of his worst books. Timeline and now this. It seems like Crichton's career is just about winding down. Maybe he and Tom Clancy can move in with other Al Gore, MC Hammer, Michael Jordan, and other has beens.
Rating: 
Summary: Nanoscare
Review: Red Herring magazine predicted a nanotech backlash as a top ten trend for 2003. Allusions were made to Jurassic Park, and its associated scare. Why not visit Foresight Institute's website, and their guidelines for safe development of nanotech/nanoscale science? David Forrest wrote some guidelines back in 1988 and is associated with IMM. Why throw away the upside? Work to limit the downside and maximize the upside. Enjoy the book, inform yourself with Foresight's mission, and try and limit Red Herring's prediction. Have fun, because its going to be a rather long haul to robust commercializtion.
Rating: 
Summary: Nanotechnology by Ratner and Ratner
Review: Prentice Hall's Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea is a perfect read in conjunction with Prey by
Michael Crichton. It expands readers' knowledge of Nano - its benefits and why its going to be one of the biggest breakthroughs of the 21st century. The ISBN of the Nanotechnology book is 0131014005.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Techno-Thriller
Review: This is yet another Crichton book one can gulp down in a few hours. In Prey he takes many themes dealt with over past books and mixes them all to give the reader a superb thriller. Prey is a little Andromeda Strain a little Jurassic Park and a little something new. In the end Prey is more than the sum of its parts and most of all its a superbly entertaining read. Once again Crichton latches onto a topic many people think little of then he brings up the nightmare scenario we should all work to avoid. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept but fell apart later
Review: I loved his earlier work, but this one even though a great concept really fells apart in later part of the book, you can actually out run airborne nano particles, an okay book, not a great one.
Rating:
Summary: nano-nano
Review: Better than his previous couple of books (Timeline was just awful), this novel tackles nanotechnology, evolution and genetic optimization. Those are heavy-duty subjects but Crichton makes them seem easy and fascinating. As a teacher, he did a good job. What the book is really about is how small and simple elements that obey very few rules can evolve into a very complex organism. This same subject has been thoroughly explored recently by Stephen Wolfram in his encyclopedic treaty, A New Kind of Science, (definitely not a novel!) about using extremely simple computer programs to solve extremely complex problems. (Am I the only one to pick up on this, or have others seen it also?) As a novelist, however, Crichton is painfully inadequate. His character development is pathetic. I don't understand it: an obviously extremely bright guy who has even produced/directed some good movies who just can't write about people? Maybe he's just bored with that aspect of novels. On keeping the plot going, though, he did a good job. It's definitely a page-turner.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Start, but ...
Review: ... ultimately a disappointment. When I started reading it, I couldn't put it down for an hour or so. I empathized with the narrator, and couldn't wait to see where the plot was going, and for Crichton's grand ideas. (Albeit sometimes strangely uninformed ideas - or perhaps, more likely, plot-useful fictions, e.g. the charming but scientifically hollow notion that apes can acquire language a la "Congo" (see "The Creation Hypothesis" for a succinct, devastating analysis of ape language research); dinosaurs "evolving" useful survival traits; etc.) No matter how shaky the science behind them - and some of the science has been very shaky - his ideas are always interesting; "Timeline" was chockful of fascinating ruminations, and I expected no less here. Suddenly it was over. The story is short and very localized, centering on half a dozen throwaway characters. The threat starts out as seeingly insurmountable, then becomes somewhat silly in its progress. I was reminded of "Mount Dragon," but seemingly shorter, hurried, and smaller - a "Mount Dragon" Lite. Before you know it, it's over, and you're looking at the cover binding to see if some 100-odd pages have been removed. Some technical terminology (the obligatory "fractals", for one) is tossed in, but doesn't really go anywhere useful. There are a couple of huge plot holes which allow the threat into the wild. The scenario supposes a level of nano-engineering that is quite fantastical, but which, like "Congo's" talking gorilla, would be forgiveable if the story were more meaty. I wouldn't even buy this one in paperback. Used even.
Rating:
Summary: Prey are elephants, when you're Godzilla
Review: Oh boy! You can imagine my excitement when I finally purchased a copy of "Prey" -- the book that the local chapter of Hopeful Homosexuals of Guatemala has titled "...a true coming out of the closet novel for both the protagonist and the villain." The daisy chain formed by Cross, Cooper, and Samson is top-notch, and the fur really flew when Patterson decided to throw in a few mice into the mix. WOW! But despite all this excitement, something was missing...something that I'm sure all readers of "Four Blind Mice" was left asking: did each mouse know that there were three others, and hence he was not special? Maybe this question is best left unanswered, but I for one would've given it the fifth star if Patterson tied this knot.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but George Bush would enjoy it
Review: And that's not to say the President can only handle these types of books. I mean hey, some people would be surprised if he were this advanced. Personally, I think he's a Tom Clancy kind of guy, and given that he has the power to make those plots into reality, I don't blame him. Me? Well, I prefer lounging in front of some more solid fare. Take Mr Willy's House of Pancakes for instance. In that book, Mr. Willy decides to sell the House of Pancakes to a major developer. If that's not what you're after, then maybe you should just compromise and read Prey. Now, strictly speaking, it's not a novel because a novel is a book written by authors who are writing for their own personal enjoyment, in the small hope others may enjoy their work. Mike stopped doing that before he started writing. That makes this drivel. Speaking of drivel, how many of you have been to Toronto recently? I know it's not the world's most exciting city, but few people realize that it the fourth largest city in North America. Bigger then Chicago. Plus, I live here. And dude, that says something where I come from. So seriously, you're welcome to stay with me. I could show you around, and if you like the place, heck, come and live here. Of course, you'll have to put up with insufferable Canadians who are about as arrogant as they are small minded, but that's OK, they're also meek and easily side-lined. At the end of the day though dude, it's all about ganja and relaxing enough to realize that the little things in life take up too much of our time. Words to live by man.
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