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  • The Terminal Experiment

  • By: Robert J. Sawyer
  • Narrated by: Paul Hecht
  • Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (532 ratings)

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The Terminal Experiment

By: Robert J. Sawyer
Narrated by: Paul Hecht
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Publisher's summary

An experiment has gone terribly wrong. Dr. Peter Hobson has created three electronic simulations of his own personality. One will test life after death; another, immortality. The third one is the control unit. But now all three have escaped from Hobson's computer into the worldwide electronic matrix. And one of them is a killer.

Robert Sawyer has won many awards for his science fiction, which is praised for its blend of high-tech mystery and suspenseful pacing.

©1995 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2003 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

  • Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1995

What listeners say about The Terminal Experiment

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    177
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    47
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting Listen

I have listened to quite a few from Robert Sawyer and found them all very interesting. This story is a good choice as well. It is not as captivating as some of his other titles (such as Flashforward) but it steadily gets the job done. I like the fact that Sawyer always discusses some relative technology and has a solid gift of presenting his sci-fi take on this technology without bombarding the listener with unnecessary information. This sci-fi light approach makes his books easy to listen to, even for the non-scientific person who is looking only to be entertained while driving. I would also mention that it did take me a little while to get comfortable with the narrator Paul Hecht. Having listened to many other narrators who seemed more contemporary and animated, his very deep and professorial tone took a few chapters to adjust to. Overall, solid buy if you like technology and don't overthink its applications!!!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Are your moral choices bound?

Part (not inconceivably far in the future) sci-fi, part murder mystery.. with a sprinkling of morality (and what ifs...)

Most summaries you will come across talk about the character's striving to "capture/reproduce" a soul - and the choices (or rather inevitable paths) that distinguishes life and the afterlife.

I see this as a study of morals... what would you do if you were "you" but immortal or incorporeal. How would this change your relationship with others.. the world.. your morals and self beliefs?

Peter Hobson (main character) wants to study life after death so creates copies of his own personality (captured with advanced sensor and stored on a computer):
- one is a control,
- one simulates immortality and
- one simulates incorporeality

Unfortunately, they "escape" and one of these "souls" starts to murder people in Peter's life. All clues start to point to Peter..

We follow Peter's quest to track down the killer and are introduced to what we may wish to do, but are bound by our imposed morals, ties to our corporeal self and fear of mortality .

Would you actually kill someone if you could not be caught.. if you were immortal.. had no physical body..

I have to recommend this - it was one the books that brought me back to sci-fi and I originally bought to read. I could not put it down and finished it in a weekend - am excited that it is back as an audible book.

It is one of the few books I am happy to come back to again and again - and the other is Ends Game (by Orson Scott Card)

NOTE: this was originally a serial in ANALOG magazine under the title "Hobson's Choice".


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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

fa

Please see review from David, from Glenview, IL; he's said it very well. Only thing to add: I hesitated about this listen because, judging from some of the publisher's comments, etc, I feared the religious overtones might be strong, obnoxious, and pro "intelligent design." I was very wrong! This book is full of ideas, debates about ideas, and great fun. If you like great sci-fi (as opposed to fantasy -- when will they stop being lumped together on the shelves!) I believe you'll enjoy this read.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting set of story angles

This book covers many disparate topics from religion (existence of a soul) to determination of when someone is actually dead - for organ donation purposes. The technology discussed moves between things long gone (technologically speaking) to things that have not been done. The concept that one could record one's self and store in on the internet, turn it on and have a discussion with your self is kind of interesting. The fact that there are limitations to that recording vs the physical experience is not surprising.

The story carries well although a little weak on the ending. The reading is good and captured my attention. Overall a great performance.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Cool sci-fi

Really interesting concept. A little out there, but still easy to listen to and hold my attention.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fast pace and really worth a listen!!!

Fast pace worth buying, January 23, 2010
By Barbara Lane "Audio Books only" (Sydney Australia)

Dr. Peter Hobson, scientist discovers that there is a current in the brain that escapes at the moment of death he chooses to interpret it as the soul. Of course, this discovery opens all kinds of discussion from the most scientific to the most extreme religious groups.

When he and an old Muslim schoolmate and friend decide to create simulations of his brain to test their theories on the soul. They put it on the computer and find that cannot be eliminated despite all their high tech knowledge. With three simulations loose on the Internet they do Peter's deep thoughts, things become frightening and desperate.

Add to all this Peter's dilemma over his wife's infidelity and you have a futuristic mystery with drama, stress and ethics problems thrown in. This is a thoroughly entertaining story. A fast pace story, it is also thought-provoking and intelligent.

It's a great story. Run and buy it!!!!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful questions, facile answers

Great exploration of what a mind is, but unlike most great sci-fi, he provides his own answers. Some of those answers, such as the existence of a soul, have no logic and close off discussion.
The worst reader/narrator in 50+ audiobooks I've listened to: monotone, no emotion, and lots of sounds provided by dry mouth sticking to itself.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Kept me reading to the end, where it let me down.

Good characters and a high-tension plot, very cohesive story. The end, however, was a bit anticlimactic, much like other Sawyer works. Still, it's not like I want that part of my life back or anything. Meh.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good

Sawyer is one of my favorite authors. This was a good story, not his best but still liked listening to it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Slow. Sleep Inducing

This book is almost a meditation, especially the epilogue. The main plot point is an interesting idea as far as the sci-fi goes, but it is written as a relaxed conversation with almost no exciting scenes. It is not a hard driving tale told to make your eyeballs spin. It was hard for me to get through without my attention wandering. The police investigator Sandra’s investigation proceeded too perceptively, almost as if she knew all the plot points beforehand. The protagonist’s figuring out who the murderer is also too contrived. I’m not sure what the AI part of the story had to do with the main plot idea. The two did not seem to be related. The reader reads the story as written, as a relaxed conversation, almost a meditation. Sleep inducing.

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