Prey

Rating:
Summary: A peak into our powerful and dangerous future
Review: 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:
Summary: High Tech, simple language
Review: I have come away feeling that I read a good novel. Not great, just good. Prey is a high-tech novel, and though Crichton had much explaining to do, he did so in an entertaining fashion. You don't feel like you're at a college lecture here, he tells a simple story of technology gone wrong.

The nanotechnology is hard to understand at times, but as for story-telling content, the novel succeeds well. Crichton is not wordy. The story is simple and flows quite well. Although it has its tense parts, I was never really on the edge of my seat. The most entertaining parts were where the nanoswarms figured out how to take the shape of...well, read and find out. I finished it quickly and feel satisifed I bought the hard cover to add to my collection. I also woud not be surprised if his book found itself in a screen writers hands. It is a perfect story for a movie--short, few characters, cool special effect possibilities.

If you're a passing reader, I'd recommend picking it up and the library or waiting for the paper back. If you want GREAT Crichton, pick up Jurassic Park, Lots World, or Airframe.

All in all, good book. He uses the idea of nanotechnology well, though this story could have been more grand.

Rating:
Summary: Crichton Delivers
Review: Just when you think Michael Crichton has written his best work, he comes up with an even more fascinating topic.

I have been interested in the possibilities of nanotechnology since the late 80's when I read a book by Drexler called "Engines of Creation". Crichton has taken this idea and coupled it with some of the latest ideas in Computer Networking theory to produce an exciting, fast-paced, nightmare of a book. I read it in one day. I especially loved Crichton's editorial comments explaining the scientific concepts including actually providing the code that the programmers where concerned about.

I'm just grateful that Crichton continues to aim his books at his most loyal audience. Those who actually "get" what he's talking about. Its refreshing to read Sci-Fi that is based at least partially on some scientific premise rather than the more commercial "And then it happened Automagically!" approach.

Rating:
Summary: Crichton takes on new ground in Prey
Review: When I first started reading Prey, I noticed something that I'd never seen in any of the other Crichton novels I've read. He immediately plunges into the character of Jack Forman, an unemployed computer programmer and current "house-dad" who is beginning to suspect that his wife was having an affair, writing in the first person. By using the first-person perspective, he makes the character more real by directly stimulating a reader with the thoughts and emotions of a single character, something he hasn't tried in any of his other books that I've read. A reader sees the growth and development of Jack as he has to further deal with the new micro-camera swarms that are being developed at his wife's start-up company Xymos when he is called in to review some of the computer code at the company's Nevada fabrication plant.
In terms of the science topics discussed in Prey, Crichton does a marvelous job of introducing and tying together genetics, nanotechnology, and computer science into the race against the rapid swarm evolution within the text. As always, he takes many pauses to inform a reader to the meaning and importance of many scientific terms involved in the book. For those less ignorant to the material than others, the reviews can get a little cumbersome.
Overall, I thought Prey was a strong read. Here's to an amazing writer who always does his homework. (if nothing else, his three page biliography at the end of the book clearly shows Crichton's dedication to his work)

Rating:
Summary: Good but ending feels rushed
Review: ...Mr. Crichton needs to write books, not screenplays. "Prey" begins with a lot of promise (compared to his last 2 dismal outings). Good and interesting characters, background information that helps the story instead to halting the flow and a very interesting mystery. Then, about halfway into the book, it suddenly becomes yet another standard Hollywood screenplay. The characters become flat and lifeless; every 5 minutes there is a new desperate chase scene (they didn't work in Jurassic Park II, they didn't work in Timeline, but whoever bought the movie rights wants it, so Michael writes it). The final battle and resolution is very empty and hollow and the motivations of the bad guys (see spoilers below) is completely lacking (but with plenty of room for a sequel Hollywood!). The science and characters are interesting the action and plot is pure tinsel town.

Mr. Crichton certainly has enough personal wealth these days that he should be able to stand up to his editors and publishers and write the book he wants to write instead of what will sell in Hollywood. The first half is a good as anything he has ever done, the second half is exactly the same anything he has done in the last 5 years.

I can't help but feel that he was pressured to publish this book before he had really worked out the details of the ending (see spoilers) and the weak ending undermines the great work done leading up to it.

...

Rating:
Summary: Typical Crichton, but nonetheless a good read
Review: Crichton's basic theme throughout most of his fiction is that of runaway technology and how easily it could happen. When we're talking Jurassic Park, Timeline, or even Sphere, we can give this lip service and go on about our business of enjoying the tale and hoping for a movie, not taking the ultimate possibility of this stuff actually happening very seriously. With these caveats Prey is a nice, solid, fast read, not as detailed as Clancy, and not as inspid as the Cat Who mystery series. I agree that the plot is somewhat simple. If you don't understand what is about to happen within a few pages I would submit you're not paying a bit of attention. The 'surprise' ending isn't; and really that's OK.

The real issue here is that it would be a shame if people take this book seriously enough to stifle nanotechnology research. Just to put some scope to this, the US spent $116 million on nano research in 1997. In 2003 that figure is $710 million. Worldwide 2001 was $1.5 billion. There already exist the usual suspects who don't want anything technological done at all, for fear it might change something. As a result we have the ironic situation of the governments of starving African nations refusing food because it has been ever-so-slightly genetically altered. The odd thing is we've genetically altered plants and animals for the last 20,000 years. We've just used the engine of nature to do it. My cocker spaniel is a descendent of wolves. (Yes I know nano is not genetics, but it's the same idea.)

Nano has the potential to great things and be a help to us in our lives, in health, the environment, and in energy consumption. Yes, let's be careful, but also admit we are not going to stop technology. The key thing is to guide it with discipline to help us, and also guide our over-active imaginations with the same discipline to act reasonably as we pursue nanotechnology to bring about beneficial results.

Rating:
Summary: A peak into our powerful and dangerous future
Review: 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:
Summary: Strong start....disintegrated like the nanobots in this book
Review: I have been a loyal Crichton reader for a long time and have read all his novels except timeline, but I have to say that I was disappointed with this effort. Here is why I feel this way.

Pros: As in all Crichton books, there are bright spots. The Nanotechnology presentation and artificial intelligence programming ideas are very very interesting and well presented. The underlying story of the main character's family life that leads into the main plot was surprisingly interesting well developed (perhaps a little over done even for some).

Cons: The plot and development in Prey was surprisingly weak for a Crichton book. After reading the first half of the book, the book seemed so very promising and intriguing. But, as if Crichton suddenly lost interest in the project, the story fell apart. Not to give too much away about details in the book, the problems and conflicts presented in the book had disappointingly easy solutions. (the "Nest" section of the book read somewhat like a teenage action comic--cheesy.) Although the characters were in life threatening situations, I rarely felt any urgency in the book. The deaths in the book were also uneventful (unlike Jurassic Park) because you do not feel much for the peripheral characters.

Overall, it was a pretty fun read, but I was very disappointed that this Crichton novel's plot and especially ending was so uncrafted.

Rating:
Summary: "Andromeda Strain" Revisited
Review: If you don't have time to read Crichton's new novel "Prey," drive over to the neighborhood video store and rent "The Andromeda Strain," a 1970 movie based on Crichton's early novel of the same title. The story lines are essentially identical-virulent agents are released into the atmosphere and wreak havoc on hapless humans in their paths until the agents are (presumably but not definitively) destroyed. The old story features alien biological microbes that continually mutate through a deadly pathogenic form into a benign form that escapes from the lab and disappears over the ocean, while the new story features molecular level machines engineered through human nanotechnology. The old story has the malevolent agents intentionally brought to earth via a military research satellite while the new one has them intentionally released from a laboratory in an attempt to force their evolution into a form desired by the researchers. If there is anything new in "Prey" that was not in "The Andromeda Strain," it is the contribution that corporate greed makes to the near-destruction of humanity.

The resurrected three-decade-old plot still plays well in its new attire as a fun story intended for nothing more than escapist reading. Crichton does include an introduction that attempts to give the novel the appearance of a social commentary, warning that humanity may be developing technology that it is too ignorant to control. So what's new? Humanity did that back in the 1940's with its ill-starred development of nuclear weapons. Certainly, there are novelists writing in the science fiction genre who provide outstanding commentary on the human condition. Zenna Henderson (author of "The People") comes to mind as a prime example. Crichton, however, is not one of them, nor does the bibliography (an unusual addition to a sci-fi novel) turn "Prey" into a serious examination of technological versus social progress.

Underneath its veneer of social commentary, and despite its repetition of a thirty-year-old story line, "Prey" emerges as a simple excursion into a brief but entertaining fantasy adventure. After something of a slow start, the story begins picking up its pace until the reader is fairly running along with the unfolding events. Now and then, a repetitious comment does appear, and the occasional commentary on algorithms and nanotechnology research does put on the brakes, but by and large the story forges ahead at a seldom-slackening pace.

The ending is not totally satisfactory. Whereas, "The Andromeda Strain" pretty well assures us of the natural destruction of the mutated microbial cloud, leaving only the smallest doubt in the mind of the viewer or reader, "Prey" leaves quite a few loose ends flapping about. We are left wondering if our hero/protagonist "Jack" is entirely rid of the infesting nanogizmos, if his children have rid themselves of the little buggers, how his sister even got exposed, whether Mae has the good news that her smile suggests, ands where the heck Bob Woodward is to expose all of the corporate evildoers (at least those who haven't died) on the front page of The Washington Post. Look, real life is full of loose ends, but when we read an escapist fantasy like "Prey," we want those ends nicely tied up at the end. Oh well, the book should make for a marvelous "grade-B" movie script, and I'll probably even pay to see it-but not at theater prices. This will be one more movie that will have to come out on cheap home video before I'll spring for the admission price.

Rating:
Summary: My First Michael Crichton Book
Review: Prey is the first Michael Crichton book that I have ever read and it certainly brought my attention to his work. I can be absolutely sure that this won't be the last of his books that I will read.

In this book, Michael Crichton masterfully blended science with futuristic technology to create a suspenseful thriller full of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. I simply could not put the book down. Prey showed the potential of humans to advance very quickly in technology, but it also showed the dangers of it. Even with today's advanced technology, some inventions can still have faults. With this in mind, the story Prey shows that these faults can be deadly when applied to "intelligent" machines.

Prey is about a swarm of nanoparticles that were originally built to be used for medical research and military reconnaissance. They were very easy to control, except for the fact that high winds could disrupt the structure of the networking nanoparticles. Because of this fault, funding for the project ceased. The leftover particles rampaged out of control as they continued to evolve. They could reproduce, learn from experiences, and kill. It had been programmed as a predator and it was fulfilling its goals as a predator. The story follows the main character, Jack Forman, on his mission to find the origins of the renegade swarms and destroy them.

This book was very entertaining, but I was disappointed by the ending. Although it had a terrific climax, the conclusion left me sitting with a dull feeling. Nevertheless, this book is a great work and I highly recommend it to everyone that likes sci-fi/ thriller books. However, I must say that it should be geared toward adults, due to the vulgar language.