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3.0 out of 5 stars
A great state of Nano Tech update, a story dissapointment., Jan 21 2003
This refers to the unabridged Audio book. The premise is great. The research and tech updates are first rate, thorough and easy to follow. The story dissapoints with literally too much action packed into too few days for any believability. One hair raising escape after another. The lead character, a middle aged, Mr Mom, out of work programmer with three small children who doesn't exercise has no less than 6 death defying escapes from the nano's and their henchmen in one day - each causing wounds, bruising, etc... he just keeps on going. The reader's style is slow and tired - I guess because he's dictating all this first person the night of the final day. The tapes have way too many 10-15 second pauses that are irritating. I've read or listened to everything Crichton has published. This is not his best work... it could have been.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Long time since you read a breathtaking novel? Read this., Dec 7 2002
Why dont most people like sci-Fi novels? especially Greg Bear and Arthur.C.Clarke, because they concentrate more on science rather than entertainment. Michael Crichton is the only author who is not handicapped by this habit. One thing that is really good about crichton's novels is that you will never keep the book down in the middle. This time too, MC has not let us down. The book guarantees 100% entertainment. For those who fel that reading novels is a waste of time. I would advice you to read any MCs books as you will learn a lot about the subject than by reading a couple of scientific journals. "Prey" concentrates on AI, genetics and Nanotechnology. After 1/3rd of the novel, the pace picks up a speed that you would never have imagined. This is definitely not one of MC's best novels, but definitely he gives you more than you would have expected from the book. My advice is, get the hard back and have a nice time.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and Interesting - but a rehashed plot device, Jan 8 2003
The story goes as follows: Jack, a computer programmer who worked on grouped processing is out of a job. His wife Julia has an executive position with a company that is using Jack's programs to develop nanotechnology spy tools for the government. The technology comes to life, goes berserk, and Jack is called in to figure it out because he understands the program. With a few interesting but highly implausible twists (as if the whole thing isn't somewhat implausible) Jack ends up saving the day, but in doing so kills his wife who has in part caused the mess. I enjoy reading Michael Crichton novels because he usually teaches you something about science. What I find more interesting about Crichton is that he seems stuck on certain notions, namely Chaos Theory. Perhaps it is true that nature is uncontrollable (to a degree at least) and that, try as we might, we cannot predict what life will do, but how many times can you use this as a plot device? This was the entire story to Jurassic Park I, and II, and III. He does make an interesting point about psychology and how individuals may be very insightful of the problems facing other people but are usually pretty bad at understanding their own psychological problems. Overall the book was interesting to read but not my favorite Crichton novel.
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