Next by Michael Crichton is a terrifying tale of scientific research around genes, terrible human greed, and how those two things create many very dangerous situations when mixed together.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Next by Michael Crichton –
My goodness… for this one, I just need to leave the book’s description here:
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 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 …
Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions, and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.
This book had been sitting on my shelf for over a decade and I’ve just now been able to finally experience this story. I listened on audio and my goodness… Between the premise of this book overall, the fact that I was listening to it rather than reading a physical book, and the state of the world with AI right now, this was a bit surreal.
The thought of a gene patent is WILD. Learning that so much of this is lightly disguised versions of things that actually happened is terrifying. Listening to this cautionary tale while AI runs rampant was chilling.
The element with the perma puppy made me laugh! My kid had been obsessed with Boss Baby, so that theme hit with me and gave me a much-needed laugh during this listen.
I will also add, that I listened to a version of the audiobook that had a lovely interview with the author, and I would highly recommend trying to check that out!
My Final Thoughts on Next by Michael Crichton –
Sci-fi horror fans that enjoy absolutely frightening areas of science with killer plot points that are chillingly too realistic, you’ll LOVE this. I was so unsettled by this read. I can’t stop comparing this with the current AI things going around and it makes me feel so sick.
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