Next

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction - is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars or test our spouses for genetic maladies. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes.

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.

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The abridged version of Next,

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©2006 Michael Crichton (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers

Fabulous

What impressed me the most about this book was the amount of research that went into it. Some thought the author was preaching but I am certain that he was trying to show the possibilities of using trans-species and making them slaves. I admit that it takes a person who is educated in the sciences to really appreciate this book. Perhaps the author could have "spoken down" to his critics but then he would have been criticized for that too. Try to read the book again. He has shown us what is really happening behind our little perfect worlds, as well as predicting what "might" happen if we continue to let diseases etc. be owned by corporations.

This was my first book by the author and it won't be my last.

Good... but not his best

I've read all of MC's books and he continues to amaze me with his intelligence. He usually puts together a good story backed by some pretty solid data. This book however had too many story lines and was a little hard to follow. All-in-all, I would still suggest it. It's an interesting story, lots of good science, and some good opinions. It's just not up to his standards.

Not what you'd expect

In a quite unusual manner for Michael Crichton's literary heritage, the novel does not folllow a single narrative - rather than that it consists of a collection of parallel threads, some of which meet up at some point or another, mostly with only minor points of vontact between one another. They all however follow a single theme - overuse of power, ethics and legislation in the genetic industry. While not exactly a courtroom drama or a tale of corporate crime and espionage, the novel comes very close to both. Overall, the wealth of presented concepts is astounding and overwhelming. It is only a shame that all threads are not more thiclly weaved in relation to one another, and they don't provide a common denouement, although the ending is kind of satisfactory to the reader.

A little disjointed

This book seemed a bit disjointed. I kept waiting for the different storylines to come together, and it wasn't until much later in the book that some (not all) actually merged. Those storylines were fairly good and actually made me connect with some of the characters, like the storyline revolving around Dave and Alex/Jamie that converged.

It felt like it was trying to be a book version of a Quintin Tarantino movie and didn't quite do it. If you're looking for a good Michael Crichton book to read, listen to Prey or State of Fear.

excellent adventure

loved it, was a fun adventure. opened your mind to some possibilities. can happen too

Next

It is a great book, OK narration
a worth while read with interesting social implications.

Good Moral to the Story

At times, I had to force myself to listen to this story. The book is a novel written in the context of a non-fiction subject. Some of the situations seem outrageous and the reader makes some of the characters sound stupid. Why does the reader use a "California Surfer Dude" voice for a character that earned a PhD, has the initiative to start his own company and owns a Porsche? The book is 4 stars, but the reader knocks it down to three stars. The commentary at the end of the book pulls everything together. Ultimately you feel that you have learned something.

A fun book

This is am entertaining book but not one of Crichton's best. The reader's performance is good hut not great. i expect to listen to the book again in the he future.

Ignore the reviews!

I am glad I ignored the reviews and listened to this book. I quite enjoyed it. No, it's not an edge-of-your-seat thriller like Jurassic Park or Prey, but I never lost interest, and it wasn't annoyingly preachy like State of Fear. It is many stories intertwined, which seems to bother some readers, but I had no trouble keeping track of the characters and the stories came together in the end.

If you're just looking for thrills, look elsewhere, but if you want a thought-provoking AND thoroughly entertaining science-not-quite-fiction book, then don't be deterred!

Too Close to Being True

After reading my first book by Michael Crichton, (Timeline) I begin to love his way of making you think of the possibilities. In Next, He unsettles our scientific side of life by pushing our controversial buttons in almost every area of Genetics. Being a born again believer in Christ I no doubt have strong convictions as to where science is taking us. In this book, Michael Crichton reveals the the key components that govern science and technology: money and morals. It seems that we are so close to encountering many of these issues that if this had been written ten years later, it might not be considered fiction.