Next - BookWyrm

No cover — Michael Crichton: Next (2007, Harper Collins Publishers)

Paperback, 512 pages

English language

Published Aug. 19, 2007 by Harper Collins Publishers.

ISBN:: 978-0-00-724100-2

(1 review)

Welcome to our genetic world. Fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future—it’s the world right now. Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blonds becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only four hundred genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? 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 and to 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 …

Welcome to our genetic world. Fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future—it’s the world right now. Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blonds becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only four hundred genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? 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 and to 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….

The future is closer than you think. (source)

21 editions

Antolius reviewed Next: A Novel by Michael Crichton

Review of 'Next' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

A collection of loosely related short stories clumsily cobbled together.

Good:
Raises valid concerns about genetic engineering and US patent law.

Bad:
Most characters appear morally wrong for no good reason. It detracts from valid criticism of corporate wrongdoers if all characters are adulterers & chauvinists.
Ending is unbelievable.
There's almost no narrative structure to the novel.
* It should have been an essay.