Next by Michael Crichton

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Michael Crichton

3.49 · Rating details · 59,028 Ratings · 2,802 Reviews

Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park, comes an astounding, eye-opening look at the world of genetics as it’s happening now, told as only Michael Crichton can tell it, with lightening fast pacing and thrilling chases.

Welcome to our genetic world. Fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future—it’s the world righ ...more

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Paperback, 537 pages

Published October 28th 2008 by Harper (first published November 28th 2006)

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Nov 02, 2007 Alex Telander rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2006

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 researched book w 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 researched book with a riveting and thrilling plot, thought I felt the latter a little heavy handed with a viewpoint I didn’t necessarily agree with. Compared with Next, I seriously wonder what happened? The book seems barely half finished, even though if runs on for four hundred pages. There are around five to seven plot lines each with their own vague characters that the reader has to struggle to keep straight going on in their own seemingly inane direction. Near the end of the book a few of these plot lines cross over forcefully at the author’s hand, and then the book ends and the reader is left wondering where the rest of the book is. What happened to the basic rule of a story? Instead of a beginning, middle and an end, the reader gets a weak infrastructure of a beginning, with part of a middle which suddenly ends!

Combined with this is the overarching philosophy of this novel (which I hope Crichton doesn’t subscribe to himself) where every person is one who sees life only for personal gain, to be rich, and feel constant pleasure. The women are always bombshells to be used and discarded, while the characters in general will stop at nothing to satisfy their pathetic personal whims.

As for the learning portion of the novel – with Prey it was the risk of nanotechnology, with State of Fear global warming – Crichton is very heavy handed in the risks of gene therapy and engineering, running the gamut from talking (and by this I mean with extensive vocabularies) parrots and orangutans, to the risks of human cloning, to bounty hunters trying to kidnap and steal tissues from innocent people who simply happen to possess the same DNA as a family member who had his cells declared property of UCLA in a court of law. While Crichton is trying to make the blatant point of “Watch out, this is what can happen,” it comes off as over-the-top farce and tomfoolery. And if it wasn’t made clear for you, he ends the novel with his note about how patenting genes is bad, as well as a list of other matters involving gene therapy, followed by a bibliography, just to show he did the work, supposedly

It is sad really, for I’d hoped Next would be the return to the great author who gave us truly brilliant novels like Jurassic Park, Sphere, and The Andromeda Strain, but Next can’t really be considered an actual book now, because of its failure in the rules of a novel on so many levels.

If you liked this review, and would like to read more, go to BookBanter. ...more

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Apr 22, 2007 Jeffrey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 lear 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 learned quite a bit from reading it. I did not know that genes can be patented, human tissues can be used in any way by whomever happens to end up with them, and that gene testing results can be hidden in such a way that deaths have been covered up because they were "trade secrets". Crichton shows the extreme possibilities of these insane laws. In Next, a man has a gene that could be a groundbreaking cure, but when the company that has the patent for it is sabotaged and loses all its samples it believes it is within its rights to hire bounty hunters to track down this man's daughter and grandson and surgically take some of their genes since they are the company's property. This is just one story that intersects the others in Next (Oh, by the way, there is a transgenic chimpanzee-human in the book). Will it happen? Probably not. But do we only produce children in test tubes like in Brave New World? Have we colonized the moon like in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress? And while surveillance gets scarier and scarier are we actually being watched all the time like in 1984? No. Satire, by definition, is trafficking in exaggeration to warn people about where we are going. Crichton might be mentioned more frequently in a list that includes John Grisham and Danielle Steel, then with the likes of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, but he is a satirical science fiction writer, and a pretty good one. His popularity and high quantity output is making people think he is for thirteen-year-old boys only. He is better than that. Give the man a chance. Start with Next. ...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Gerald rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 ...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, audio, hoopla, library, medical-thriller

Oops! Finished this yesterday and forgot to review!

I enjoyed this book even though it was a bit spastic. Basically, Michael Crichton learned everything he could about the state of gene research and politics and combined it into a series of fictional stories to make separate points. Some of the stories ended up crossing and some did not. If you read this, don't expect any cohesion, just appreciate the anecdotes within.

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Jan 06, 2013 Scarlet rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: didnt-quite-get-it, waste-of-time, put-me-to-sleep, unintentionally-funny

1.5

Next is a very well-researched book. And that’s the only good thing I can say about it.

The characters were too many and too unmemorable; I forgot nearly all of them as soon as they were mentioned. The stuff on stem-cells and genes and biotechnology was excruciatingly boring. The story was over-exaggerated, silly and unintentionally funny. A swearing chimpanzee and a transgenic ape who goes to school?? Are you kidding me??

I’m still trying to figure out why I read Next instead of Jurassic Park. ...more

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Nov 17, 2011 StoryTellerShannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-reviewed, fantasy-scifi, my-very-best-reads, owned, thrillers

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 ...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Natalie Vellacott rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Occasionally, I pick up a book completely outside of my usual genre just to see what others are reading and what's actually out there. Plus, a local charity shop sells 3 books for £1! I'm obviously aware of this author due to Jurassic Park.

Offensive content aside, (I'll come back to that), this was a page turner. I noticed that other reviewers found the numerous sub plots and multiple characters confusing. I was also worried about that at first, but I found that the key was to stay fully immerse Occasionally, I pick up a book completely outside of my usual genre just to see what others are reading and what's actually out there. Plus, a local charity shop sells 3 books for £1! I'm obviously aware of this author due to Jurassic Park.

Offensive content aside, (I'll come back to that), this was a page turner. I noticed that other reviewers found the numerous sub plots and multiple characters confusing. I was also worried about that at first, but I found that the key was to stay fully immersed in the book, and to read it in as few sittings as possible. Although, when starting the chapter I didn't always remember the characters being referred to, it was quite easy to pick it up from the details. However, I wouldn't recommend reading this a chapter a day....

The book deals with the dangers of humans meddling in genetics from all different angles. We have a chimp who can talk, feel and reason and could virtually pass as a human child, but for his abundance of hair. A parrot that also talks and has high intelligence. An experimental gene that makes people mature quickly. A company that obtains a court ruling that it owns the DNA (genes) of a man who has an extraordinary immunity to cancer. A man whose bones have been stolen in the grave for research purposes...

The author has created a world where genetics have gone haywire as things that wouldn't even have been thought about twenty years ago, are actually happening. People are playing God as they experiment with lives and the consequences are unknown...A scary prospect, even more so when the sources at the end of the book, in the author's note, document cases where some of these things have happened in the real world!

As a Christian, I liked that the author highlighted the dangers of messing with these things. Although, he was speaking about it from a mother nature point of view. I agree that there are things that should not be tampered with. Some of his scenarios seemed far fetched or unlikely. However, we know from books like 1984 that we can never say never....

The language was seriously offensive throughout with a lot of strong swearing and blasphemy. There were sex scenes that I skipped over as they were explicit. There wasn't too much violence. I didn't like that every male character was sleeping around despite mostly being married, as if this was and is the norm. Nor the way the men were lusting after all the women all of the time and being loudly vocal about it. Perhaps, this is what happens in some segments of society but I'm sure it's not the case everywhere! At least, I hope not.

So, what did I learn from my diversion into secular science fiction? That popular authors have to write R rated material to keep an audience entertained. That a lot of readers wouldn't bat on eyelid at the content as it's become commonplace....

I can't give this more than two stars... ...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Rick Monkey rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 play to the common man's fe ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 ~Bellegirl91~ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: my-books-i-own, michael-crichton, books-i-m-stoked-for-highly-anticip

RTC

So I got this in a book haul and so excited to read this! it may not have many great reviews and here's what I say about those who say they don't like Crichton or give 1-2 star ratings and would think me weird.....

description

I FREAKING LOVE AND MISS MICHAEL CRICHTON!! the ONLY reason I think sooooo many people gave/give up on him or rate so low is because of all his science talk. yeah, it's boring I get it and I DESPISE science but he still manages to put in a thriller and an actual story and set you up ...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Stefan Yates rated it liked it

Shelves: general-fiction

This was not necessarily a bad novel (I still rated it right around average!) but suffice it to say that it is the worst Crichton novel that I have read thus far. I think where Next fails is that Mr. Crichton tried to get too many storylines going in order to have them all running simultaneously in an effort to show a more grand scope to his issues of possible problems with genetic research.

The main problem here is that many of the characters became washed out and meaningless. There is just so m ...more

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Sep 14, 2014 Santhosh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The later few Crichton novels seem to have a higher vision and intent than to only entertain; they also seek to educate and encourage debate. To that end, Next throws light on areas such as the government's policies on intellectual property rights for genetic discoveries, the absurd practice of patenting entire genes (and all uses and interactions that genome may carry out with anything else - in all of mankind) and diseases, what exactly constitutes cell ownership, and the moral grey areas such The later few Crichton novels seem to have a higher vision and intent than to only entertain; they also seek to educate and encourage debate. To that end, Next throws light on areas such as the government's policies on intellectual property rights for genetic discoveries, the absurd practice of patenting entire genes (and all uses and interactions that genome may carry out with anything else - in all of mankind) and diseases, what exactly constitutes cell ownership, and the moral grey areas such as the ethics of genetic engineering, stem cell research and genetic therapy. For example, I never thought about the impact that publishing a deceased's genetic information would have on their relatives and descendants with respect to insurance companies using the said info.

The one irksome aspect is the high number of characters that keep getting introduced with plot lines of their own, with some of them made to cross over forcefully at Crichton's hand, who sacrifices pace in the narrative head so that he may bring to light the many different facets of the subject. In one of the interviews included in the ebook version (note: the two interviews and an essay by Crichton are all excellent), Crichton weighs-in: I think there were two considerations. One was that I was unable to overlook the structure of the genome as we are now starting to understand it, and how individual genes interact with other genes, or may seem to be silent, or we don’t really know what they do, or sometimes there are repetitions that are not clear to us, and it struck me as an interesting idea to try to organize the novel in that way, even though it’s not what one ordinarily does. The second thing that was driving me was the notion that there are a great many stories of interest in this area, and they’re all quite different in terms of the legal and ethical problems that are raised in the field, so I wanted to do a number of different stories.

The story, though it moves along quite nicely, doesn't really have a meaty enough middle to it (well, except for Gerard, the talking African grey parrot, who's a riot), and is more a device for the larger intent and theme that Crichton has in mind.

So, as a novel, I wouldn't rate this one too high. But as a book, it's quite a good read. ...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Kathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 human genes in ...more

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Jun 20, 2013 Sanjay Sanghoee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Fantastic book. Immensely futuristic even as it shows you what is actually happening today. The fact that transgenic animals have been created for decades was an eye-opener. The book clearly has a viewpoint on genetic engineering and there is an author's note at the end which is a must-read. Highly recommend this to anyone who is looking an intelligent thriller, even though the book is also satire.

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Mar 20, 2009 Thom Dunn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-own-hardcover, sf-earth-is-room-enough, sf-science-fiction, sf-genetics

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 times.
It might have he ...more

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Aug 01, 2007 bendyroad rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Nobody

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 airport shop w ...more

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Feb 18, 2015 Rashmi Banerjee rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 swor ...more

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Mar 27, 2014 Jennifer rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-other

The Good: A fantastic premise, as always, from Crichton. Fact based, with completely terrifying implications, Next takes science today to that "next" step. If furthers things just a bit more, the ramifications of which give the readers a lot of troubling thoughts to consider.

The Bad: Crichton lost me at the money. Apparently, if you mix human and monkey DNA, a monkey will be born with human vocal capabilities. A monkey that you can pass off as a child with a hairy birth defect and some impulse c ...more

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Dec 11, 2008 Kersten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 world ...more

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Oct 14, 2016 Timothy Urges rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Reading this was like watching a badly written television series. Crichton tried way too hard to be sensational. Disappointing.

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Aug 29, 2012 Tim Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed

Michael Crichton revisited the world of genetic engineering in his novel _Next_. Steering away from recreating extinct organisms (namely dinosaurs, as in his _Jurassic Park_ novels), he looked at issues of genetic engineering as well as how the legal world and the culture relates to it, issues that are relevant today. Some parts are scary, though more in a sickening death-and-taxes-that-could-really-happen kind of way than an edge-of-your-seat-oh-my-goodness kind of way.

Lots to dissect in this b Michael Crichton revisited the world of genetic engineering in his novel _Next_. Steering away from recreating extinct organisms (namely dinosaurs, as in his _Jurassic Park_ novels), he looked at issues of genetic engineering as well as how the legal world and the culture relates to it, issues that are relevant today. Some parts are scary, though more in a sickening death-and-taxes-that-could-really-happen kind of way than an edge-of-your-seat-oh-my-goodness kind of way.

Lots to dissect in this book; let's look at the two main plots to begin with. One plot revolved around the saga of Henry Kendall, a genetic researcher who years ago mixed his own DNA into chimpanzee DNA. He thought the fetus - as most transgenic fetuses ended up being - would either die in the womb or otherwise die soon afterwards and he would have something for a research project. Owing to a series of events he lost track of the mother, the mother gave birth, and the transgenic animal - the humanzee - survived. Harry, who left the lab, assumed the animal had died but was given a heads up by a former colleague that his humanzee, dubbed Dave, was going to be euthanasized. Bad enough to put down an animal (that was after all the result of an illegal experiment), it got worse; Dave is sentient and can speak. Harry basically smuggled the animal out of the lab and did his best to keep him safe and then give him some kind of life.

The other main plot revolved around a both chilling and perhaps insane saga. It seems a man by the name of Frank Burnett had cancer and underwent some experimental treatment. Frank recovered, but not thanks to the researchers. It turned out that Frank's own body could manufacture powerful cancer-fighting components, and those components were valuable. Without informing Frank what was going on, his doctor/genetic engineering entrepreneur Rick Diehl was obtaining numerous samples from Frank, developing a cell line in the lab for genetic research and later commercial purposes, and building an entire profitable company around this.

This being the day and age it is Frank sues of course. Why can't he get a cut of the immense profits? Don't they at least need his permission? Incredibly, in court Frank, represented by his daughter Alison lost. The company, BioGen, it is ruled owned those cells. Any cells that Frank lost during the hospital are considered waste material and he lost ownership rights to him, and when Rick patented his findings from studying those cells, Frank lost any chance to ever make any profit from that cell line.

Frank was about to give up and go home after losing the court case when an unscrupulous and shady character comes up with a proposal; what if BioGen were to "accidentally" lose all of those cell lines in their labs and off-site storage facilities? If Frank went into hiding, another, second company could come, extract cells from him and this time cut Frank in for a share of the profits.

Well Frank of course agrees, but that is where it gets interesting. Faced with a devastating financial blow, Rick and BioGen need those cell lines. They get a court order for Frank to show up and give more samples - after all, BioGen "owns" Frank's cells - but he is a no show. However, they know that Frank has a daughter and a grandson, and they go after them, hoping to extract cells from them, viewing those cells as "stolen property." Easily the most action-packed of the plotlines, it was quite entertaining.

Crichton does not limit his exploration of the world of genetic engineering, culture, and the law, to these two story lines and has several unrelated or marginally related subplots and one-shot chapters exploring various other issues, including issues relating to patenting entire species of wild animals, when hospitals make a profit from the body parts of deceased patients, and the rights of anonymous sperm donors in a world of DNA testing. Though generally interesting, they didn't always relate to what I viewed as the two main plots and one of these plot lines was better as an intellectual exercise and didn't do much as entertaining fiction.

I found that the book ended a bit too neatly in some ways, as too many seemingly unrelated plotlines converged at the end, including one with a wise-cracking transgenic parrot by the name of Gerard. The writing though overall was good and I liked how he portrayed most of the characters.

Unusually for a work of fiction, Crichton included a list of conclusions he reached from his research for the book. An appendix detailed five suggestions to avoid some of the insanity he had just portrayed, namely stop patenting genes (that one he went into at length), establish clear guidelines for the use of human tissue (particularly with regards to donor rights), pass laws to make sure data about genetic testing is made public (he stated that some researchers have tried to prevent data about patient deaths resulting from genetic therapy getting into the public media, claiming such information is a trade secret), avoid bans on research (he wrote that they can't be enforced anyway), and rescind the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act (legislation which ended up seriously blurring the line between academic research and private industry and producing too many scientists motivated by personal financial interests in their research and results). He also included an extensive bibliography with comments on each book or article. ...more

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Mar 01, 2018 Danni The Girl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was recommended to me by my Dad, I'll always read anything he gives me.
I read this a long time ago, I remember it being very scientific, so at times I did struggle to keep up and understand what was going on, but I remember it being brilliant.
A guy working with a monkey trying to find a cure? I will definitely have to re read this but I remember it being good

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Dec 06, 2016 Jason rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Science runs amok when introduced to the profit motive.

This is a work of fiction, but firmly rooted in the possibilities of today. Genetic capitalization, that is the name of the game and Crichton spins multiples stories that all revolve around how the progress of science can be (and likely already is) used and abused for capital gains. In a world that has seen the proliferation of drug commercials, sky-rocketing drug costs, and morally ambiguous legal decisions regarding big pharma, much of wha ...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Jenni Lind - Bookcetera Reviews rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was a very random purchase in Hoboken, NJ while waiting over two hours for the next train to upstate New York to visit a friend. I’d read a few books by Michael Crichton and this one was on sale for $7.00 (hard cover) so I grabbed it.

Next delves into scientific advancement. What is wrong, right, and where the line between them is largely overlooked. Medical related, of course, the story follows individuals as they face the consequences of things like genetic engineering, DNA decoding, ...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Chris rated it it was ok · review of another edition

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 cautionary tal ...more

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Jan 01, 2012 ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, mysteries-thrillers-suspense

This could have been a thrilling book, really, but it definitely isn't! Crichton picked a very interesting topic (genetic engineering) but failed to make a coherent book out of it: a chaotic plot, uninteresting characters, disjointed storylines that are woven together towards the end of the book but don't make much sense, an ending that left characters and situations unresolved (not to mention the cuttings about the evolutionary fate of blondes?!)... "Completely brilliant", it says on the front ...more

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Jan 10, 2009 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Aug 05, 2008 Kandice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Anything monkey, gorilla... right up my alley.

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Apr 17, 2017 Manuel I. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I thought this read was good for several reasons. The character development was interesting in a simple way. The plot and story line were both comical and impressive for the fact that the story's premise is just as much feasible as it is exaggerated for the dramatic purpose and entertaining, intriguing effect! A bit disturbing when we consider the scientific, moral and ethical extremes that it portrays! All in all I would recommend it for those of us who enjoy S.F., action, scandal and drama. Th ...more

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Apr 12, 2017 Steve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, ebooks

Somehow I've avoided reading any of Michael Crichton's books until now. Not intentionally, mind you. I just haven't done it.

I'm afraid I'm probably hooked. I'm going to have to read all of his books now. The creativity and natural writing style in Next drew me in and didn't let go throughout the entirety of the story, which is a bit long, but doesn't feel like it at all.

The story focuses on several different aspects of genetic research and genetic engineering from various angles involving legal, ...more

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May 04, 2018 Jenni DaVinCat rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was not my favorite Crichton book, unfortunately. I have found with Crichton, when he relies too much on deep explanations of either the science or politics behind whatever the main topic is in the book, I tend to lose interest. In this book's case, it was not only waaaaay too political but it had an extremely large amount of characters, and many of them really had no bearing on the story other than to introduce an example of a gene law or something of that nature. It was very hard to keep ...more

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About Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton

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Michael Crichton (1942–2008) was one of the most successful novelists of his generation, admired for his meticulous scientific research and fast-paced narrative. He graduated summa cum laude and earned his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1969. His first novel, Odds On (1966), was written under the pseudonym John Lange and was followed by seven more Lange novels. He also wrote as Michael Dougla ...more

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