Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating read. Edge of your seat suspenseful!
Review: At 260 pages, this is a fairly short book. Short or not, this book packs a wallop! I could not stop turning the pages. Crichton knows how to build suspense and develop characters. I found myself emotionally invested in the characters and I enjoyed reading about the scientific aspects as well. As with most Crichton novels, this is about science gone haywire due to unforeseen circumstances. This formula could easily become tired and worn, but Crichton always applies this formula from new and interesting angles. In this case he details how a patient is implanted with a device for controlling violent seizures. Not long after, the patient learns to control the device which sends him on a homicidal spree. The doctors who implanted the device are in hot pursuit leading to a dramatic and nail-biting ending. I recommend this book to anyone who is a Crichton fan or anyone looking for a quick, fun-to-read, sci-fi thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: The age is noticable
Review: First written in 1971, The Terminal Man is one of Michael Crichton's very first novels. As an avid reader of Crichton's books, I found it interesting to see how his style has changed, and it certainly has. The different time period gives the book an awkward touch. Fans of Crichton know that he includes top of the line technology in each story he creates. The Terminal Man is no different. However, times have changed. Dime-size computer chips are no longer an oddity, and it's strange to hear them referred to as so. To those who have read Jurassic Park or The Great Train Robbery, The Terminal Man will seem slow. Indeed, it is. The reader will be well through the first half of the novel before the story picks up and the action begins. This means that the first half of the book is generally an introduction. It's not unreadable, but it's a bit difficult to stick with. Unlike his other works, The Terminal Man has few complexities. There are no side-stories, no backgrounds on characters, and few technological explanations- usually so common to Crichton's writing. This makes the story easier to read, but at times you'll find you really could use a little more information on some of the main characters. It's like coming into a movie 15 minutes through. You get the gist of what's going on, but you know something is missing. It is an interesting read filled with a good deal of suspense to keep the reader going for a while. But it doesn't compare to his later works. Only purchase this as an insight to the author's early career, try not to expect another Jurassic Park.
Rating: 
Summary: Taut thriller
Review: Harry Benson is delivered to University Hospital by the police, who will be watching him throughout his stay there. He's charged with assault and battery, and the only reason he's being allowed to keep his surgical date is that the experimental procedure should - if all goes well - correct the cause of his violent seizures. Or so the surgical team and the hospital's administrator believe. But Benson's psychiatrist, Dr. Janet Ross, isn't so sure.
Although this taut thriller seems meant to caution us about the dehumanizing perils of the computer age, which was just dawning when Crichton wrote it, I found it most interesting for its depiction of physicians by one of their own. By making Janet Ross female, the author casts her as the "outsider" through whose eyes we readers can see the other doctors' specialty-related foibles. Had the book been written later, this wouldn't have worked as well; but in a 1972 world it's an excellent device. By the time you reach the last page, you'll know more than you may want to know about the minds of those who take care of you when you're most vulnerable. A terrific read!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I don't know why everyone overlooks this book. Michael Crichton is a gifted novelist and film writer, and "The Terminal Man" is probably his most cinematically-minded novel.
This is the gripping story of a man named Harry Benson, suffering from a mental disorder that causes him to have violent seizures, resulting in injuring or even killing people around him. An experimental cure is designed, involving implanting a machine into his brain to control his impulses. Of course, the whole experiment goes awry, and Benson escapes into the city.
This might not be Crichton at his absolute best (Andromeda Strain and Disclosure are slightly better), but "The Terminal Man" is essential reading for any Crichton fan. A few of the technical details are outdated, but we all still like watching Star Wars, right? Pick this up; you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: captivating
Review: I loved this book one of my favorites. if you like any of crichtons other books you will love this one to.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Riveting!
Review: I recently picked up a used copy of this book not because it was written by Michael Crichton, but because the story sounded interesting. To be honest, I've never even read a Michael Crichton book until this one. I have been a computer network engineer and database developer for more than 12 years, and have worked for 16 years in hospitals (Pharmacy, Information Systems, etc...) So, with that background, I found this book even more interesting and appealing. One of the reviews says that this book is "Riveting." I can't find a more precise word to describe this novel. This was a real page-turner for me. I love to read but, unfortunately, do not have a lot of time to do so. I finished this entire book in one week; I couldn't put it down. If you have an interest at all in thrillers, medicine, or computers, or combination of these, definitely pick up this book and give it a read. Granted, while the technology and medical practices in the book are dated, the book focuses on neither of these. Crichton succeeds in constructing and developing two main characters (Harry Benson and Dr. Ross) whose lives are intertwined throughout the book. Crichton is definitely a master story teller and this book, again as dated as it is (1972 or so), is a perfect example of how Crichton excels at story telling (plot, character development, setting). Crichton's writing is concise yet descriptive. In one scene, he describes the operating room in which Benson gets his surgery. In only a limited number of very concisely written paragraphs, Crichton gives the reader the whole rundown of the operating room. He paints a thorough descriptive picture, but in as few words as possible. He is definitely a master storycraftsman. I highly recommend this book -- you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Man into machine
Review: In a tightly written novel, Michael Crichton explores the world of psychosurgery and how a pioneering experiment on a badly chosen subject goes disastrously wrong. Harry Benson is a computer scientist living a quiet, uneventful life until he was involved in a devastating car accident on the freeway which left him brain-damaged and psychotic. Now he suffers from increasingly frequent episodes of psychomotor epilepsy during which he explodes in violence. A hospital team has developed a treatment that they think may help him: by implanting electrodes in his brain, they can short-circuit a seizure before it starts and prevent the violent episodes. But Dr. Janet Ross, Benson's psychiatrist, and her mentor, Dr. Manon, have serious reservations. Benson's psychosis has caused him have a morbid dread that machines are taking over the world. Having a micro-computer implanted into his brain may cause him to feel that the doctors have turned him into a machine. Harry isn't going to like that. And when Harry is upset, all kinds of unpleasant things can happen. In "The Terminal Man", Crichton explores a theme was the focus of his later best-seller "Jurassic Park": just because a scientific experiment can be done doesn't mean it should be. The doctors at Benson's hospital are gung-ho over this experiment; they've been looking for a subject to test it out on and Benson seems perfect. But Benson isn't a laboratory rat; he's highly intelligent and learns how to control the micro-computer implanted in his brain cells until soon he's having almost continuous stimulations. At this point, he tips over, and the ensuing mayhem proves that Ross's worst fears were more than justified. "The Terminal Man" suffers from Crichton's trademark lack of characterization; his characters are cardboard cutouts who don't really engage us; we aren't interested in them as people. But he's one helluva storyteller, and he knows how to explain scientific complexities to lay readers in terms that make the whole thing comprehensible. (I've always thought Crichton would make a great high school science teacher for that very reason.) His annotated bibliography at the end of the book includes thirty-six references for further reading in psychomotor epilepsy, and six for electronics. Well, most of Crichton's readers aren't neurosurgeons or rocket scientists, we're just looking for a good book that holds our interest; and on this score, Crichton delivers.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: Michael Crichton's The Terminal Man is the first book I've read in its entirety in quite some time. Though it was written in '72, it's a timely story. The subject--doctors trying to "fix" a problem through medicine and surgery--is still relevant.
Harry Benson, the protagonist, is a computer scientist who, after an accident, starts having blackouts and violent seizures which cause him to strike out at people. After being charged with assault, Harry is brought to Los Angeles' University Hospital under police guard. In an experimental operation, Dr. Roger McPherson of the hospital's Neuropsychiatric Research Unit wants to put electrodes in Harry's brain which will send out electrical impulses to control Harry's seizures. However, Dr. Janet Ross, Harry's psychiatrist, objects because she thinks that Harry is psychotic and that the surgery won't help him. The surgeons, John Ellis and Robert Morris, go ahead and do the operation anyway.
Harry comes out of the surgery in good shape, but he soon learns how to control the electric shocks which are stimulating his brain. Dr. Ross realizes that Harry is actually causing his seizures in order to experience the shocks. Harry escapes from the hospital in an orderly's uniform and goes on a murderous rampage, with the hospital staff and the Los Angeles police pursuing him. As his seizures increase, Harry becomes more violent. He fatally beats and stabs a friend of his, a topless dancer, in her apartment, and he attacks Ross, his psychiatrist, in her kitchen. Later, Morris, one of Harry's surgeons, sees Harry at the Los Angeles airport, where Harry has assaulted an airplane mechanic. When Morris tries to get Harry to come back to the hospital, Harry smacks him in the mouth with a lead pipe. At the end, Harry comes back to the hospital and demolishes the main computer. There is a tense standoff between Harry and Ross. It ends only when Ross, who had found Harry's gun on the computer room floor, fires it at him. Harry dodges the shot, but he slams into the computer's printer and winds up on the floor with a fatal chest wound.
All in all, The Terminal Man is a good read. It's an action-packed story that will keep you guessing about what will happen until the end. It's not without its flaws. Since he has a medical background, Crichton gets technical in his stories, and I think some people who aren't doctors might be intimidated by the medical jargon in the novel. Also, the main characters--especially Janet Ross--curse a lot more than I'd like. I don't think a doctor, in real life, would be very professional if he used some of the words I read in the novel. Still, in The Terminal Man, Crichton has fashioned a solid story with great characters. I'm glad I picked this one up.
Rating:
Summary: Informational and Interesting
Review: Terminal Man is based on Michael Crichton's knowledge of Psycology and also has a mysterious twist to it. A man with a serious condition has violent seizures and becomes more hostile and physically strong because of it. He is taken to the hospital where he is surgically implanted with a device that attempts to regulate his brain functions, but afterward, things take a turn for the worst when he escapes. This isn't one of Michael Crichton's best, but it is a good read, I recommend this to anyone in the anatomical field.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting....
Review: The Terminal Man is a pretty old novel, but it stills stands the test of time. This novel came out in the 70's, and some of the events in this novel seem a little far-fetched in those times, and kind of understandable in these current times.
Harry Benson has violent blackouts where he attacks people and does not remember what happens. So when Dr. Pherson decides to operate on Harry Benson to stop the blackouts, he plants a soft of pacemaker for the brain to stop it. The operation goes successful, but Harry Benson is soft of a paranoid individual who thinks that computers are taking over the world. Harry is a programmer, so he has that kind of thought running through his head. The operation has proven successful with chimps, except that they snatch out the wires, so this is their first time doing it on a human. The sort of pacemaker is about as big as a pack of cigarette's and is implanted in his shoulder. The thing works as sending shocks to the brain where it gives off sort of like a good signal. Then something goes wrong. Harry now knows how to get the good shocks by himself, and escapes from the hospital. Now they are on the lookout for him, it is then that he tries to kill one of the female doctors who worked on him, and kills a stripper who brought him earlier a black wig and a couple of other things. He kills her also. While on the lookout for him, he sneaks back into the hospital and hides in the basement to destroy the huge computer they have there. Eventually he is found and killed. Though the novel is pretty old, some of the things discussed in this novel are actually real. There is a sort of device that is to help people with depression like the same things discussed in this novel. This is a good novel, short, but it still worth reading.
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