Rating: 
Summary: Great book; Lanham rocks (<--bonus!)
Review: Timeline is a book I highly recommend to read for people interested in physics. I
am sure, though, many people without a scientific background will still enjoy
reading the book just as much as I did.
The story is based on a group of historians going back in time through a
"quantum foam wormhole". Michael Crichton does a great job explaining the
physics at the beginning of the book and even my physics teacher said it was
the best explanation he ever read. Crichton soon distances the story from the
physics, though, and concentrates on the plot.
The novel is interesting from the beginning on and I even found it way
better than Jurassic Park. The critics agree and Crichton uses the first three
pages of his book, quoting nearly every big newspaper in America with praises
for Timeline.
The scientists travel back to middle age France in search for their
professor who was sent back earlier on. Several incidents hinder the group from
coming back and force them to a struggle to survive.
The novel contains everything including high-technology physics with
"world-"traveling and even historical broadsword fights and a roustabout
tournament.
No matter how fast you read you are going to be mad at yourself that it
can not be twice as fast and the temptation to peak forward some pages is big.
Overall I can highly recommend this book, to everybody.
Rating:
Summary: An Eye to Cinema. Thesis: The Entertainment Age
Review: Dr. Crichton can't help but write with the cinema in mind. Although these characters weren't as full as some of his others (or am I confusing Goldblum with Malcolm again?), his thesis comes through loud and clear: We're done, generally, with struggling to survive and now what do we do with our time? We stimulate ourselves. I enjoyed the trip back into the so-called "dark ages" also. Apparently well researched, as the good Dr. is wont to do.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, great action
Review: ...I have come across many books where the story immediately turned me off in the first few pages. After reading Timeline, I think I may have come across a very good non-classic. As with most of his stories, Crichton starts off at a small pace but by then end it is hard to not keep turning page after page. Starts off by an unexplainable death, moves to college people in France at an archeological dig then moves to a scene where the characters find themselves in an all-too familiar scene. Traveling to the Middle Ages and back, Crichton's taste for detail gives the reader a very clear sense of the enviroment of the 1400's. The science involved is so-so, but who cares? This isn't my physics textbook, it is a very well written story with gripping adventure. A must read for all.
Rating: 
Summary: A movie script in book form
Review: I'm not quite sure about this book - how to rate it, I mean. In the beginning it has all the elements of a good sci-fi thriller with a slow build-up gradually revealing the truth. Then after a while, the main characters take off on their time journey and it becomes all medieval action. And we are talking action in its purest form - Indiana Jones style. The people does not get five minutes without at least one of them being in some sort of mortal peril. It is entertaining to read, but the pace is allmost too high for a novel this size. But for a movie-script it will be ideal, and I suspect that the author may have had that in mind when he wrote it. As always Michael Crichton has done his homework as far as the research in the medieval times goes. He draws a picture so masterly detailed that you can almost sense how it would have been back in those times. Another thing that demonstrates that he is in fact a high class author rather than just a script writer is the way he manages to make his characters 3-dimensional. We really care about, what happens to those people. The plot is focussed at the action, thus the main characters meet only important people like lords, knights, ladys and bishops. The ordinary peasants and workers are present, but not interacted with - they are only extras. The sci-fi part of the book is the bad part. The research (as far as you can research something like time travel) is poor and the scientific image is close to ridiculous. This is a sharp contrast to Jurassic Park, where you were left with a feeling like "Hey, this could be done.." after reading the book. Books about time travel sooner or later has to face some paradoxical questions, and here Crichton skates through everything like an elephant in a glass house. His solutions are easily some of the most stupid ones I have ever encountered in a time travel novel. H.G. Wells did it better than this... This book gets zero for its sci-fi part and five for its medieval swashbuckling part. I cant wait to see the movie, but I will check out my brain at the door.
Rating:
Summary: What happens if you find medievl knight DNA in amber?
Review: I have thought about it and I have considered it and have decided that "Timeline" is not Michael Crichton's time travel book about the Middle Ages, it is his book about the Middle Ages that involves time travel. This is not simply because the list of bibliographic references for the history of the Middle Ages is ten times longer than the list of scientific references, although that is certainly another compelling little bit of evidence. The main thing is that if you are going to tell a time travel story, why pick the Middle Ages? Is this simply some sort of homage to Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" or could it be that Crichton is simply interested in the Middle Ages? Well, it could be both, but I am leaning towards the latter. Certainly I learned more about Medieval times from reading "Timeline" and checking out some related reference books on my own, that I ever did from history class. Of course, that was back in those enlightened times when we called this period the "Dark Ages." The plot is basically standard action serial, with lots of cliffhangers, twists and turns. It is a fun read without pretensions towards much else despite the mini-lectures on quantum mechanics. As I said, the fun here is in learning about life way back when and if you are not interested in arcane forms of warfare, then "Timeline" is probably not for you. (Yes, I agree with Crichton's argument that in these post-modern times, people are trying to abandon their sense of history.) The science of this book is, of course, way over my head, and if does not make as much sense as getting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes trapped in amber, I am willing to go along for the ride. After all, I have sat through "Somewhere in Time" more than once and that is time travel based on Professor Harold Hill's "think" method. Besides, readers will see lots of similarities in terms of the arrogant rich guys behind Jurassic Park and ITC. You might come for the techno-adventure, but you will stay for the history lesson.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawner!
Review: This is not a good story. It seems to be a self-absorbed attempt at self-administered therapy for Crichton. It seems that he is simply trying to generate cash to pay for his notes that his therapist assigned him to keep.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing for Crichton
Review: Having read many of Crichton's books, Timeline was a complete disappointment. The characters were unbelieveable, and failed to properly develop during the story. I had a difficult time in developing any sympathy for any of them - good or bad. In fact, when a character or two was killed, I knew so little about them that it was difficult to care at all. They were more "props" than characters. The time travel technology portion was interesting and presented well, but within the context of midieval Europe, their continual "running from the bad guys" wore very, very thin. The plot overall was rather transparent, with no surprises, either beginning, middle or end. Sphere, Jurassic Park, and The Adromeda Strain were much better books, more entertaining, and easier to get through. This book was definitely nowhere near his best.
Rating:
Summary: A Science Fiction Time Travel Historical Thriller
Review: My title says just how I would characterize this book. I really enjoy historical novels. This one was combined with the urgency of a thriller, and a plausible-enough senario for time travel that the reader can accept. This book was a bit different from Chrichton's other books, but still an excellent page-turner. If you have enjoyed Crichton's other books, or if you enjoy historical novels, you should enjoy this one too.
Rating:
Summary: One of the better Crichtons
Review: Even though the book is in the typical Crichton formula, (team of scientists suffering at the whim of an brilliant but tyranical techno-capitalist), this is a satisfying read nontheless. The action is packed, the characters great, the hypothesis amazing. His take on what we read about history and what may have actually happened should be a book in itself and is the humor that drives the story. I'm a history buff and I enjoy reading this authors work. It was highly entertaining to see Crichton's obviosly brilliant mind go to work on this subject. You can tell that the author had fun writing this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Formula that Works, mostly
Review: A lot of Michael Crichton's books follow a recognisable formula: Take a real cutting edge technology and stretch just enough so that it becomes fictional without losing plausibility. Add an obsessive corporate head who values profits and progress over people. Mix in a handful of academic professionals of varying specialitites. Place in a dangerous situation, garnish with detail, and serve. In _Timeline_ the formula results in a book that is fast-paced and very readable, offering a blend of science, history and action that is visually stimulating and intellectually interesting. Hard science fiction buffs will like the detailed explanation of the theory and technology behind time "travel," while those geared more towards historical fiction will find a wealth of detail about the 14th century. My main criticism of _Timeline_ is that the characters are somewhat two-dimensional. The bad guys are strictly that, without any redeeming or sympathetic qualities, whereas the good guys seem to be characterised mainly by their abilities. This makes the action fairly predictable, e.g., the rock-climbing architect invariably spends a lot of time scaling castle walls and the expert in medieval armament gets in a lot of sword fights, etc. There is also not a whole lot of subtlety or intrigue; action is the name of the game. Sometimes I did not exactly find this plausible. Granted the 14th century was a dangerous time, but I often wondered at the readiness of the natives, as it were, to strike first and leave questions out of it entirely. A few plot elements were left hanging and a few characters who you think will play major parts simply disappear, never to be heard from again. Still and all, this is an entertaining book that is hard to put down once you've started.
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