As some of you have grown to know, I love the writting of Michael Crichton. Some of his "biggies" were ER (a television show about a hosptial) and 2 books that got made into movies: The Andromeda Strain, and Jurasic Park. This is the third book of his that I have read, all 3 being page turners.

This book is about genetic research...about crossing various animals with each other. A repeating theme in all his books is how humanity can make a discovery, partial one actually, proceed to experiment and generally make a mess of things. So in this book there are no shortage of interbred species and the results are hightly intelligent but not really ready for the "normal" world. The funniest is Gerard, a Parrot with human genes grafted on who not only talks but tells ya what an idiot you are. There is also an organatun that regularly cusses out the explorers that happen on his territory.

As usual Michael has lots of footnotes, and what appear to be actual news stories. I followed this book up with some internet research finding some very interesting things about the genetic experiments that mankind has indeed tried, whether they have done all that the book talks about or not.

Bottom line is 1. I love this book. 2. I would love to hear from someone who actually knows something about genetics to see how far-fetched some of what he says is. In truth I am not sure it IS that farfetched. Of course the part that I have no doubt whatsoever about is that humanity will find a way to mess up whatever finding we make.

Read this book!! Like all of his other books, it is an easy read while presenting some very challenging and difficult to understand concepts. How he manages to keep those two strains in balance is beyond me, but he does.