Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanz... read full description
reviews
Sep 16, 2010
Alex
rated it: 
NEXT BY MICHAEL CRICHTON: I’m still trying to figure out how this manuscript landed in the hands of an editor and actually got the go ahead to be published in time for Christmas. I can’t help but think about all those dads that are going to be so disappointed on December 26th when they crack open the book and find a collection of plot lines with confusing characters and stories that seem to go nowhere.
In Prey and State of Fear, Crichton did what he does best in providing a well rese More...
In Prey and State of Fear, Crichton did what he does best in providing a well rese More...
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Dec 16, 2009
Jeffrey
rated it: 
Next by Michael Crichton is a ridiculous, silly book. But I bet a lot of people said the same thing about Brave New World, Dune, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, and 1984 when they came out. No, Next can not hold a candle to these science fiction classics, but it is the same kind of book, and it is poignant for its time. The fact is, Crichton writes satire, and the general perception of him does not accept this. Next is both silly and excellent. More importantly, I
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Jan 15, 2008
Rick
rated it: 
So I was, like, really broke towards the tail end of last month. But, you know, broke or not, I still needed something to read - I was just going to have to content myself with one of those trashy, $7.99 paperbacks. And, lemme tell ya, pickings are slim.
So I got a Michael Crichton book. I'm very ashamed. More so because I actually, well, liked it.
Crichton, I think, resonates so well with middle-of-the-road audiences because his takes on science and technology tend to More...
So I got a Michael Crichton book. I'm very ashamed. More so because I actually, well, liked it.
Crichton, I think, resonates so well with middle-of-the-road audiences because his takes on science and technology tend to More...
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Nov 28, 2008
Kathy
rated it:
This was riveting! The book is about all of the possibilities of gene therapy and genetic engineering and it blends fact and fiction in clever ways that leave the reader with the unnerving sense that some of the fictional story lines are probably happening somewhere in the world right now. It also gives a strong sense of just how uncontrolled this field is and what ethical questions arise if a person allows a company to "purchase" their cell line...or a scientist decides to insert hu
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Mar 31, 2010
Thom
rated it:
I finished NEXT last night, having taken two months of bedside reading to move through it leisurely. I also read several of the reviews on this web site. I wonder if those who complain it "has no plot" actually finished the book. Crichton DOES pull together his disparate plot lines in the last few chapters.
Its important to keep in mind, as one reviewer pointed out, that Crichton is a satirist. Here he mixes his serious material with raw comedy, going way over the top at time More...
Its important to keep in mind, as one reviewer pointed out, that Crichton is a satirist. Here he mixes his serious material with raw comedy, going way over the top at time More...
Aug 01, 2007
Damhnait
rated it:
I had been boycotting Michael Crichton since his unhelpful muddying of the waters of the climate change "debate" in his next-to-last novel which included a personal message to his readers that he didn't believe the issues were really human related at all. Read the IPCC report, you ignoramus. However, I was stuck in an airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, having finished every novel in my bag and with the prospect of 12 hours of airplanes and airports ahead. The novel selection in the airp
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Jul 05, 2007
Chris
rated it: 
It's not very often that I experience self-consciousness while reading a book. This book inspired that kind of feeling in me by its being so poorly crafted that I felt absolutely philistine. I'm not sure if Crichton just had a bad writing streak, or if my tastes in reading have moved on - but his most recent book, Next, was an astounding disappointment.
Next focuses on the potential that present day and up and coming genetic technologies may have upon our society and way of life. A ca More...
Next focuses on the potential that present day and up and coming genetic technologies may have upon our society and way of life. A ca More...
Jan 25, 2009
Kim
rated it:
I haven't read many good reviews of this book so I went into it with pretty low expectations, which I think helped. The biggest problem with this book is that it has no plot. Most chapters are only a few pages long and in most chapters new characters are introduced. There are a few recurring characters, but mostly we just get snippets. What we're looking at is what the world would be like if genetic engineering was successful and commonplace. What would happen if we could really put human g
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Oct 04, 2010
Gerald
rated it:
I'm giving the five stars not because of how it is written, but what it's about. Crichton was trained as a medical doctor before he was a novelist. And he died of cancer recently at a relatively young age. I am supposing he wrote this book after he was diagnosed. He knew there could be all kinds of ways of treating his disease that have not yet emerged from clinical trials. He was certainly angry at the medical establishment, at the research community, at Big Pharma, and at the government's poli
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Aug 17, 2008
Rachel
rated it: 
Michael Crichton's Next is a tense thriller that makes the reader quite nervous. The fact that Crichton is well known for his well-researched books, and a glance at the bibliography, makes me feel a bit uncomfortable about genetic engineering in science today. There are several good characters, but it's mostly about introducing as much shocking reality as possible. You begin to think, what if this is really happening? The characters pull you in and make you wonder if this is the fate that you w
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Jul 21, 2008
Andrew
rated it:
This is classic Crichton. He picks a controversial topic (in this case Biotech/Genetic Manipulation run amok (or even science in general)) researches it meticulously, and writes a chilling, thought provoking, highly readable story about it. BUT, I have some reservations...
PROS:
1. If any topic that Crichton writes about interests you, buy his books and read the bibliography section in the back. He is one of few novelists that I've read that has done such extensive research More...
PROS:
1. If any topic that Crichton writes about interests you, buy his books and read the bibliography section in the back. He is one of few novelists that I've read that has done such extensive research More...
Dec 17, 2008
Danni
rated it:
I'm giving Next four stars, but my rating doesn't really reflect the literary "quality" of the book. The four stars come from my love of the subject matter and Crichton's skilled handling of it. As for the story itself, it's definitely entertaining but it seemed to become unwieldy due to its large cast of characters. Some of the sub-plots were deftly intertwined, but a couple of them seemed awkward and unnecessary. But the star of this book isn't the storytelling - it's the subject
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Jul 12, 2007
Danielle
rated it:
The research culture was adequately and somewhat accurately sensationalized by Crichton in Next. I enjoyed the Bellarmino character who is obviously supposed to be Francis Collins. Though, I do not know if Crichton intended to criticize Collins per se or if he merely used Collins as a basis for commentary on religion vs. science, or rather the marriage of the two. Most of the science was dead on, but some, such as the Burnet family harboring the EXACT cells extracted from Frank Burnet's billion
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Dec 11, 2008
Kersten
rated it:
This is classic Michael Crichton. I love his stories and how he intermingle science within a fictional novel. The story deals with the ethics and stories associated with bio genetics. There is a long cast of characters and the author ties them together in the end (which is probably a little too far fetched). However, it is a great way (for me) to get lost in an amazing world that Michael has a way of putting together. I am sad that he has passed away and will no longer be able to gift the w
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Jan 17, 2009
David
rated it:
I love the way that Michael Crichton takes seemingly non-related parallel story lines and brings them all together in the end. Being a scientist, the topic of this book was interesting to me and I liked the book. I could really do without the profanity in the book... the F-word being his word of choice. I must say that Crichton sure did exhaust it's usage... as verb, noun, adjective, and maybe even some new ways to use it. I had to laugh when on page 370, one of the characters, "shouted and
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Mar 29, 2009
Jerry
rated it:
A really great scientific/slightly futuristic thriller-style novel that gives you an insight into the dog eat dog world of genetics and biotechnology. The way all the stories intertwined was entertaining, and the book was obviously well researched, although the scientific language was easily understood. My only negative criticism is that the abundance of characters, chronologies and narrators was occasionally difficult to keep track of.
The book has a great moral (well, several) that More...
The book has a great moral (well, several) that More...
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Aug 03, 2011
This book makes an attempt to bring moral and legal issues to the forefront yet fails to do so adequately. Still, Crichton (as always) has researched his story ideas and anyone can read (see his bibliography) those materials to gain a better understanding of transgenetic species, gene therapy and genetic patens.
Crichton makes a personal plea at the end of the book to stop the rampant commercialization of gene therapy and open the doors for better public access. Especially in cases where pati More...
Crichton makes a personal plea at the end of the book to stop the rampant commercialization of gene therapy and open the doors for better public access. Especially in cases where pati More...
Mar 05, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 01, 2009
Margo
rated it:
It was late at night and I didn't have a book to read. I went to Walmart and couldn't find a Dean Koontz book that I'd not yet read. So, I started browsing.
Hmmm, Michael Crichton, author of Jurasic Park - that was supposed to be good? Right?
So, I grabbed the book NEXT and read it. Every time I set the book down, I asked myself, "Why the heck am I reading this stupid book?" The answer was because I didn't have anything else at the time.
This book was More...
Hmmm, Michael Crichton, author of Jurasic Park - that was supposed to be good? Right?
So, I grabbed the book NEXT and read it. Every time I set the book down, I asked myself, "Why the heck am I reading this stupid book?" The answer was because I didn't have anything else at the time.
This book was More...
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Nov 21, 2008
Michael
rated it:
Pretty awful. Several concurrent story lines with too many characters to keep track of. None if it is interesting. Much of it is simply not believable - from the science to the characters' actions. For instance, there is a bird in the book who can speak intelligently like a human. At least 5 characters in the book encounter this bird and have conversations with him and recognize that he is doing more than just parroting previously overheard stuff but don't realize that this is remarkable. I don'
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Nov 17, 2011
Shannon
rated it:
Fast paced story with a ton of subplots that plays like a popular soap opera of your choice. Topics range from legal battles over human tissue (including the right to have bounty hunters go after the descendants of said tissue), transgenic apes, one transgenic parrot (that talk tough if provoked), biotech espionage vs. competitors, gene patenting, and a lot of angry people. There's some scientific info woven into this tale as well but not too much yet I still learned about some new things like c
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Nov 02, 2011
Elmwoodblues
rated it:
I first read Crichton's 'Andromeda Strain' when it came out in paperback, so this may have been nearly four decades ago; at the time, the term 'multimedia' meant little more than a book with some pictures in the middle.
I remember distinctly the bending of the rules that was the type-font of this story, with text that took on a pictoral role, enabling a kind of voyeuristic thrill to an already-exciting story.
I saw the author's name in reviews on and off over the years, always h More...
I remember distinctly the bending of the rules that was the type-font of this story, with text that took on a pictoral role, enabling a kind of voyeuristic thrill to an already-exciting story.
I saw the author's name in reviews on and off over the years, always h More...
Aug 24, 2011
Suzanne
rated it:
This book follows the story of a bio-genetics research team, using human genes to produce many strange phenomena. There are several plots laid out in the scope of the story, and the different characters are all involved in difficulties resulting from the gene research.
My favorite character was Gerard. He was injected with human genes when he was a chick and grew into a transgenic parrot. He can mimic any sound and remember everything said. When his owner, Gail, hears him repeating the d More...
My favorite character was Gerard. He was injected with human genes when he was a chick and grew into a transgenic parrot. He can mimic any sound and remember everything said. When his owner, Gail, hears him repeating the d More...
Aug 16, 2011
Dan
rated it:
I have always found Michael Crichton's writing to be very preachy and heavily saturated with a political agenda, trying to force feed his opinion on a touchy subject down the readers throat, but usually it is accompanied by a decent story. This time Crichton must have figured with less story he could put in more of his personal thoughts, and he did just that. Now I am not saying that Crichton did not have some interesting or valid points, which he did, but they could have easy been expressed in
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Aug 03, 2011
Tony
rated it:
I am a big fan of Michael Crichton and this was one of two books of his that I hadn't read yet (the other is Prey). I really enjoy his writing style, he had a way of keeping you reading and draws the reader into the story. Although his books usually have an incredibly complex story his style, with short chapters and lots of breaks in the narrative. makes the book a quick read. It is deceiving, maybe it's the 'just another small section' mentality that speeds you along.
Next is,once again, a very More...
Next is,once again, a very More...
Mar 30, 2011
CD
rated it:
"Next" is serious monkey business from Michael Crichton.
The first thing you should know about Michael Crichton is the dude can tell a story like few others ever have. Not unexpectedly, this holds true with his 2006 book, "Next." You also should remember that he was six-feet-nine inches tall. I'm not sure what that factoid has to do with a book review but any time a person reaches such an impressive physical stature and doesn't play professional basketball, it should More...
The first thing you should know about Michael Crichton is the dude can tell a story like few others ever have. Not unexpectedly, this holds true with his 2006 book, "Next." You also should remember that he was six-feet-nine inches tall. I'm not sure what that factoid has to do with a book review but any time a person reaches such an impressive physical stature and doesn't play professional basketball, it should More...
Mar 02, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
I’ve been reading plenty of books in the 18 months or so since I last posted a “book blog” entry. I’ve been a lazy blogger. I admit it.
After waiting for my number to come up for this book on loan from the library, I began reading “NEXT” late Thursday night. Actually, I only read the introduction and then went to sleep. Then I picked it up the next afternoon. This book became my Friday night date, and I finished it Saturday morning.
“NEXT” is a well-timed book about genetic eng More...
After waiting for my number to come up for this book on loan from the library, I began reading “NEXT” late Thursday night. Actually, I only read the introduction and then went to sleep. Then I picked it up the next afternoon. This book became my Friday night date, and I finished it Saturday morning.
“NEXT” is a well-timed book about genetic eng More...
Dec 23, 2010
Jim
rated it:
Crichton is one of my favourite fodder writers. Like a blockbuster movie, and he's written a few of them, you know what to expect. Lots of action, fairly one dimensional characters, simple plot lines signposted from page one and sprinkled with a "this is kind of believable" dust that keeps you hooked. I did feel that even Crichton had skim-read his research books on this one though, and that maybe even he wasn't as comfortable with gene related science as he makes out. I can believe th
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Jun 26, 2010
Review by Sannya:
This is officially my favorite book. I remember reading the first few chapters before but at age 13 I did not comprehend much of those. My sister tossed it at me the other day because she was cleaning out her library and remembered that I had wanted it. It took me two whole days to finish but it is one of the best book I have had the privilege of reading in a while. Michael Crichton…you probably know he wrote Jurassic Park and State of Fear, but did you know he was a genius More...
This is officially my favorite book. I remember reading the first few chapters before but at age 13 I did not comprehend much of those. My sister tossed it at me the other day because she was cleaning out her library and remembered that I had wanted it. It took me two whole days to finish but it is one of the best book I have had the privilege of reading in a while. Michael Crichton…you probably know he wrote Jurassic Park and State of Fear, but did you know he was a genius More...
Apr 30, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
THE PLOT:
The premise of the story is that the US government provides billions of dollars in funding to research facilities who are then "in bed" with wealthy corporations. The relationships are a relatively transparent warning from Crichton about the dangers of linking profit with the pursuit of knowledge.
The very brief plotline involves several of these antagonists trying to make money at the expense of the genetic consequences. Jack Watson has been described as a More...
The premise of the story is that the US government provides billions of dollars in funding to research facilities who are then "in bed" with wealthy corporations. The relationships are a relatively transparent warning from Crichton about the dangers of linking profit with the pursuit of knowledge.
The very brief plotline involves several of these antagonists trying to make money at the expense of the genetic consequences. Jack Watson has been described as a More...
