Rating: 
Summary: A Book for all times
Review: This book is able to plunge you in the nearby future so as in the last past. Is difficult nowadays to think as a Middle Ages man, Micheal Crichton is able to do that. I am waiting for the movie version. Thanks Micheal.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Excellent reading. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love Micheal Crichton and can't wait for his next work !
Rating: 
Summary: Absolute junk.
Review: This ill-conceived and badly written trash doesn't deserve comment. I'm using this space to alert discriminating readers to one of the best, and long-neglected writers in the English language. Patrick O'Brian. If your tastes run to history/adventure, wedded to literature, read his seafaring tales in the Aubrey/Maturin series. You'll not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeline - Slow Start, Great Finish
Review: I was over 50 pages into Timeline, complaining that if something didn't change soon I was going to drop the book on the shelf and forget about it. It had been uninventive, predictable and -- in my opinion -- poorly written. On page 91, the book reached that pinnacle event when I said "Wow!" and knew I wouldn't be able to put it down. It never became great, but for a lover of science fiction and history Timeline was worth reading despite the slow start.Timeline begins with a company in the New Mexico desert called ITC. This company seems to be connected to the a mentally disturbed old man found wandering in the desert. The man speaks in cryptic rhymes, something about "quantum foam," before he suddenly dies from cardiac arrest. In the old man's affects is an architectural drawing of a monastery that hasn't existed since the fourteenth century. The old man, the monastery Sainte-Mere, and ITC would seem unconnected at first, but it just so happens that ITC is sponsoring an archeological dig in France where this monastery once stood. Led by Dr. Edward Johnson, a group of young graduate students are trying to uncover the town of Castlegard, Sainte-Mere, and the castle La Roque. Crichton draws some very two-dimensional characters at first, but through the course of the book he continues to flush them out, making some of them quite interesting. Chris is a young man, always falling in love, whose specialty is mills of the 14th century. Andre is a tough, rugged sort whose love of the era has led him to live his life learning everything about the time period (including the languages). Kate, a tough architectural history student with a penchant for mountain climbing. Her ability to hang from heights comes in handy when studying the tops of crumbling chapels. Everything is going well for the archeological team until representatives from ITC show up and demand that the project be accelerated. Things have been moving too slowly for the company, and their stockholders demand results for their continued support. Dr. Johnson returns to the States to argue his position and soon disappears. The students don't know what to do in his absence. Then they uncover a startling discover beneath the ruins of the old monastery: a plea for help in the good doctor's handwriting. As always with Crichton, the science in the science fiction is very important. While some people may be put off by his tangential discussions regarding quantum mechanics, he is acutely aware that many of his readers are not science fiction fans, so he tones down the "geek factor" as much as possible. He does his best to avoid the technical jargon and uses simple metaphors to explain some very difficult concepts, including why time paradoxes cannot occur. Unlike Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs were the most important characters, science is merely a vehicle to this story. It is evident that Crichton is either genuinely interested in 14th century France, or he loves doing research. His eye for detail is fascinating, ranging from hygiene and customs to architecture and industry. I found myself wondering if Crichton had written Timeline merely to utilize this wealth of information. In truth, Michael Crichton made several writing mistakes that a beginning author could never make and still hope to get published. His story opens on characters who bear no relevance on the rest of the novel. The first 50 odd pages do little to advance the real story. In hindsight, I think Crichton would benefit from a good editor. Nevertheless, Crichton manages to take science (and science fiction) and blend it into a mainstream story that will appeal to fans of history and time travel.
Rating:
Summary: Michael Crichton's best novel yet!
Review: Michael Crichton's most recent masterpiece, Timeline, is one of Michael Crichton's best novels yet. Timeline goes into the past, into the dark and gloomy middle ages about twenty years into the Hundred Years War. Timeline is extremely exciting and adventurous and will definitely be made into a movie like the rest of Crichton's novels. This novel is a little slow at the beginning, but when a team goes back in time to the 1300s to rescue a man, action comes instantly. This is the turning point to when you realize this novel is extremely well written. At this point action starts pouring on especially when two of the group members get bumped off right at the beginning when the group goes back in time. I would recommend this book to people who are science fiction fanatics. If you liked Jurassic Park, The Lost World or in fact any of Michael Crichton's books, I guarantee you will enjoy this masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best but still worth buying
Review: This novel is an enjoyable romp for people who love historical fiction. "Timeline" is rich in vivid recreactions of medieval life, it's the best book I've read since the "The Triumph & the Glory" last Christmas, and that was way back in the 1900's. Crichton has always been one of my favorite writers and didn;t let me down with his latest.
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Summary: Sure makes a long drive faster
Review: I borrowed the book on tape from a friend to make a tedious drive I do once a month more interesting. Unfortunately, the drive R/T is only 7 hours long - not enough to finish. So I find myself frustratingly listening to 10-15 minute snippets around town. Okay, so it's not "great literature." However, it *is* engaging, interesting, very vivid, and extremely well read. Makes me wish I had to make that drive more often so I could find out what happens next.
Rating:
Summary: Wow - what a page turner
Review: It was evident after the first few pages that Mr. Crichton had done serious research on this book. The action was amazing, and the concepts that the book touched on and the historical aspect definetely make this one worth reading. I'm interested to see what Hollywood's feeback will be.
Rating:
Summary: Another star from Crichton
Review: Timeline was another exciting adventure from Michael Crichton. He is a great mind who has a very interesting ideas, ie. faxing people to parallel dimentions. Timeline was not his best but it is a must read for Crichton fans. I enjoyed it immensely.
Rating: 
Summary: hmmmmm....
Review: Entertaining story...yet overdone in many ways. It evolves into a total action movie, with one action sequence after another, and too many James Bond type improbable escapes and incredibly lucky breaks...basically not something you would expect from Crichton. Also, scientifically the concepts were cloudy at best. My 2 stars are for idea.
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