The Terminal Experiment

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

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

A look at transhumanism

In this novel, Sawyer takes a foray into transhumanism as the protagonist seeks to determine the significance of the newly discovered "soul wave", which leaves the body at death. Coupled with one of Sawyer's trademark characters, a scientist who's been badly hurt emotionally, the novel is both thought-provoking and entertaining, as well as astonishingly prescient given the decade in which it was written.

Four stars, easily.

Will make you ponder life’s big questions

The story was another home run for Mr Shaw and his use of AI in the future sense. This gave me plenty to think about while listening to this audiobook. This is the second book that I have listened from the author and both made me question a lot of things that are today unknown.

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!!!!!

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.

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.

Incredible

Absolutely perfect. This was quite simply one of the best books -- sci-fi or otherwise -- I've read in a long time. Yes, there's a fascinating sci-fi plot involving the creation of digital simulations of the protagonist's brain, and they stir up a fascinating mess that will delight any lover of intelligent science fiction. But it's the complex, fully fleshed-out characters, lightning fast pacing and genuinely compelling writing that got to me the most, which is why I strongly recommend this book to lovers of great novels as well as to lovers of great sci-fi. While not a deeply devoted sci-fi fan myself, I do enjoy science fiction novels, and I think the few dozen best books in the genre are as good as the best books of ANY genre. But sci-fi gets a bit of a bad rap among mainstream readers, because it does seem like far too often the "sci" gets in the way of the "fi," particularly in the hands of less skilled practitioners, making some of them feel more like interesting textbooks than thrilling novels. But The Terminal Experiment manages to do both, and I find that to be very rare. When it all DOES come together in one book, like it does here, it more than repays your time spent reading it, re-reading it, and writing long recommendations to fellow readers in hopes that they, too have been looking for just such an ideal book. Very highly recommended.

Interesting, logical and warm

Actually, the subject is really impressive and interesting. Moreover, The story is incited you to consider what is life, what is human and what drives morality with exciting and warm ways. Furthermore, it finished very pleasantly and logical according to storyline. Performace is good, Narrator's voice is deep and read it one by one which makes easy to understand for foreign people.

Who knew?

I've owned this book for a while and finally decided to go ahead and 'get it over with' - it did seem to start a bit awkwardly, but whether the writer warmed up or I got used to the pace of the writing - it soon became impossible to put the ebook down and walk away! Excellent, excellent. Not my usual fare, but I highly recommend it. If you want a synopsis, read the other reviews . . .

A SciFi Dectective Story

It's hard to believe a story of only software programming, when on TV you can enjoy stories of the posi-tronic brain inside DATA on Star Trek-TNG, or holligrams of special rooms allowing whatever your imagination can think of, so you could create stories a person can go into and be a part of that particular story created. All the laws of Issac Asimov are in place so nothing can go wrong? But, in the end something happen and it still does!

So where in time are the pioneers of AI in software RD (Research and Development) to make the future happen as in Star Trek or other SciFi similar to a perfect so called future? It's ironic even in the future these well made products can still (by accident?) can kill you!

To me, this is the story of the pioneers. The people who meant well, but did not think of the little things in life that are dismissed. In the end the mistakes created only caused greater destruction. In the end, it's those mistakes that cause learning to occur. But, this time the price of the mistakes learned - were too high?

As in any SciFi plot it's the mistakes we the reader wish to hear or read about and even though death did occurred it was not enough to create a judge and jury. Nobody goes to prison and the book seems to end too soon? Since I'm not a vilent kind of person, I'm extremely satisfied that the book ended this way so I could let my mind fill in the gaps.

It's a pretty good book for me. So enjoy your healthy lives and "KAPULACH"! It's always a good day to DIE!

a good book, full of ideas, but bad narrator

Where does The Terminal Experiment rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

it ranks in the middle of my history of reads, may be in the future this will change, but in the 20+ books that i listened to on audible, this is in the bottom 10, because of the narrator more than the story,

What did you like best about this story?

the author has a lot of nice ideas, they were new to me, and dare i say enlightening, I keep reading about the religious point of view about the book, but I can barely see it. it's light and might be needed sometimes now when we are all questioning everything

How did the narrator detract from the book?

this is the worse part, despite being a very good sound, and a pretty good actor, it was awful how the narrator kept gulping while reading, I actually heard the drink he was drinking, I'm not talking sipping, he was GULPING. i almost stopped listening to the book many times, almost 10 times because of that, and listening to him taking deep breathes reminds you of a sinking man who is trying to take his last breath. It was pretty disgusting. But the story kept pulling me back.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No Spoilers

Any additional comments?

The book is good, if you don't mind the annoyance from the narrator, get it, other wise get the paper copy or the kindle version.