Prey
By Michael Crichton
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- Book Reviews
Considering how annoying I find Michael Crichton's writing style when I
start reading his books, I still like them and finish them in rapid
time. Why? He puts enough technological research into his novels to
keep an armchair scientist interested and his stories are entertaining,
if totally predictable and prosaicly plain. Stenislaw Lem wrote an interesting
piece
about the how the American science fiction field lauds itself
undeservedly as a
result of it's inbred inward-looking perspective (with the exception
perhaps of
Philip K Dick.)
All of Crichton's books that I have read read like screenplays.
This begs a chicken
and egg question. Did his style lead to easy and frequent
implementations as Hollywood movies, or did his successful transitions
to Hollywood movies lead to him to seem to write with a movie
screenplay in mind?
As anyone who has read his novels will know, Crichton likes writing
stories about progresses in science combined with corporate and
individual greed that puts the world
at risk. The world is then saved by another scientist using his
knowledge of
science - sometimes the scientist has family problems that get
resolved at the same instant that the world is saved. It is an
effective if tired formula for good pulp fiction and Hollywood
movies, but I repeat myself.
Nanotechnology was first been mentioned by Richard Feynman in
1959, so it is not that new
an idea. But it has been making progress in the last ten years.
"Andromeda Strain", "Jurassic Park", "Timeline" and "Disclosure" are
other
Crichton books and movies that I have read or watched and liked, yet
still squirmed at the style and
plot.
Prey is based around nanotechnology but otherwise follows the same
formula. The book
is written in the first person as a way for Crichton to teach the new
technologies to avid readers. Or at least that seems to be the case.
Much of the book is an exposition on nanotechnology and computer
programming (particularly in the areas of distributed processing and
artificial intelligence.)
"Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater," published in 1971 contained a
similar plot of science in the name of progress gone out of control -
in particular the "microscopic threat," be it bacteria, virus or
nanotechnology. This is a particularly scary and thrilling plot device
because
the reader can imagine being preyed upon by a threat that they
cannot see. And, because it is a new science whose very existence is
kept a secret in order to control a company's corporate image when
the invention goes awry, the victims could never anticipate or
understand what happens to them.
It gets 1 memorability point out of 5 because I don't think I'll
remember it after a year, and it was read for fun. It gets 1 motivating
point out of 5 because I don't feel motivated to do anything by reading
it.
See Who
Owes Us The Truth? for more about Michael Crichton.