2006, Harper
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 blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? 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; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime.
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 Good: A fantastic premise, as always, from Crichton. Fact based, with completely terrifying implications, Next takes science today to that "next" step. If furthers things just a bit more, the ramifications of which give the readers a lot of troubling thoughts to consider.
The Bad: Crichton lost me at the money. Apparently, if you mix human and monkey DNA, a monkey will be born with human vocal capabilities. A monkey that you can pass off as a child with a hairy birth defect and some impulse control issues. The fact that this monkey was able to fool more than one person in this book was just ludicrous. I had a hard time taking anything seriously in the book after that.
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