Next

From Michael Crichton, the #1 bestselling author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, comes a devilishly clever, breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and genetic ownership shatters our assumptions.

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.

Good story genetics affects human life

Multiple storylines does make it a bit confusing at times. The end of the book is exciting and entertaining. It goes down both scientific and political consequences of genetics. Transgenetic animal characters were very enjoyable.

Too Political Not Enough Story

Michael Crichton is an awesome storyteller, who towards the end of his life got way to political and forgot to try to tell entertaining stories. Next is one of those latter books unfortunately. This book is basically a rant about the idea that Genes should not be patent-able. So it's an oddball collection of events and characters that underscore this idea. The stor(ies), while kind of interesting, are not very coherent, and then at the end of the book we are treated to one of his rants in an epilogue. It's too bad that the author who brought us so many great books like Jurrasic Park and Timeline lost his way like this. I don't recommend this book.

Highly recommended

Maybe I listened to a different book than those who hated "Next", or maybe I was looking for something different than they were. Personally one of the things I most enjoyed about the book was the multiple related plots. To me it was like watching a "Seinfeld" episode. I also like the fact that in this novel Crichton injected alot more humor than is typical for him. I thought the tone of the novel was like that of many of John Grisham's where you we see the thinly disguised vanity and greed that get the characters involved in all kinds of trouble. I thought the characters were accurately portrayed.

If you are looking for an entertaining read and are not afraid of trying a different story approach give this book a look.

Oh, and I also thought the narration was well done.

Negative reviews can’t comprehend point of the boo

All the negative reviews missed the point. The book was VERY interesting if you are intelligent enough to realize the implications of gene editing in real life. Negative reviewers wanted some flashy non realistic action thriller sci fi- this book is about a real, albeit less extravagant threat to our bodies.

Insight into a world of genetic misbehavior

This is an interesting and at times very entertaining look into the possible scenarios of genetic manipulation. There are so many lines of story going, though, that you could get lost in the complexity. Overall very eye opening and entertaining. It makes you think twice about where the genetic research could take us.