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: A masterfully written novel
Review: Harry Benson is a patient with brain damage that causes him to have violent seizures. When Benson has these seizures he is capable of committing the grisliest murders without thinking twice. The Neuropsychiatric Research Unit at the Los Angeles Hospital believes it can cure Benson's seizures with an operation to put mind-controlling electrodes in his brain. Unfortunately, the operation is unsuccessful and Benson escapes from the hospital to go on a rampage.
Michael Crichton is at his best in the Terminal Man. As the plot builds, this book becomes extremely fast-paced and suspenseful, which I found very enjoyable. Crichton leaves you hanging on his every word as Benson runs loose on the streets of LA with several members of the hospital and the entire police force chasing after him. Terminal Man is an extremely well written book. The plot of the book is much like Congo, another book in the Crichton series, with its exciting plot and big ending. I thought this was one of the best books Michael Crichton has written.
Rating: 
Summary: A quick read.
Review: Though this book is a good and quick read. It is not up to the standards of Crichton's other books. But still better than many books out there. The Terminal man does keep your interest. This is an old time Sci-Fi story. You can tell that Michael Crichton did research on Psychology and the technical aspects of the age. Giving the story some semblance of fact. The story follows Harry Benson over a five day period. He is brouht into the hospital to undergo expermental surgery to try and supress his violent behavior. The hospital preforms brain surgery that consist of the neurosurgeon inserting electrodes in the brain. The electrodes are designed to sense when an episode is about to be triggerred, and stop it with soothing electrical pulse. But things do not work out exactly as the Doctors plan. The story starts out slow. But it does pick up the pace. Though you can predict how the book is going to end. You will want to finish it. Though written in the early 1970's, the story could be taking place today....I actually would place this between 3 and 4 stars.
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: The Terminal Man, by Michael Crichton
Review: After I read the book, I felt a lot smarter! I expected the book to be all words and no action, but gee, I was wrong! Lot's of thrilling and unexpected scenes. Harry Benson is a physcomotor epilectic who with violent seisures is operated on as a stage "3" patient. The Terminal Man, by Michael Crichton, is truly an exellent book! I liked the book because it moved fast, and the ending was not as obvious as that was expected. I recommend this book for anyone from grade 7 (12-13age) and up. 5 Stars. Summary~~ Harry Benson, a physcomotor epilectic, has commited several crimes during his seizures. Drs. Morris and Ellis attempt to stop a seizure by inserting an electrode to stimulate parts of his brain before a seizure occrurs. This book takes place in the early 1970's in Los Angeles.
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: Not up to par
Review: This wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't nearly have the intense drama of the others I have read from Crichton. I was not on the edge of my seat, unable to put the book down. Unless you have read most of his others, hold off on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Entering The Terminal Man Discussion
Review: I would like to respond in a friendly way to Barbara Serini's November 3, 2003 review of The Terminal Man. Thank you, Barbara, for recognizing that my June 18, 2003 review was mostly positive. Yours too was positive, pleasant, and very thought provoking. First, I should say that Michael Crichton's The Terminal Man is one of my favorite novels. Ironically, however, there are many other Crichton novels that seem better researched and better crafted (for example, Crichton spent some 20 years combing over a good ending for Sphere, and Jurassic Park went through several early drafts before arriving at an "adult" 3rd person objective perspective from which to tell the story). To me, The Terminal Man is an early Crichton novel, and it is a sci-fi novel of the kind a person growing up in the 40s and 50s might have seen in the old Ace-Double sci-fi series or magazines like Analog and Astounding Science Fiction. These were great pulp-style science fiction magazines, and the stories represented there reflected that "pulp" mentality where the emphasis most often was on plot rather than fact or accuracy. I, for one, love those kinds of stories, and wish there were more of them (check out my website for publication news on my The Colorado Sequence, a novel very much informed by that Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Who Goes There?/40s&50s-pulp style sience fiction mentality). I think that's the class that The Terminal Man belongs to; novels where the emphasis is on fun rather than fact. And an entire generation of writers and moviemakers (from Michael Crichton, to George Lucas, to Stephen King, to Speilberg's Jaws-Close Encounters-Indiana Jones era) was informed by that kind of 40s and 50s style pulp science fiction. While the ideas in Crichton's The Terminal Man do have some degree of believability I think his later novels (Rising Sun, Jurassic Park, on up to Prey) exhibit a better balance of factual believability alongside great storytelling plots. Thanks for the insight and for making me think, Barbara. Yours,
Stacey Cochran
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Decent for an out of Date book on old Technology
Review: The biggest problem I had with this was the ending. It reminded me of the ending of "An American Werewolf in London." You know, Boom with gun" falls, the end. I would have liked a little more closure...more on what had happened to the characters and stuff. Other than the out of date technology it was pretty good for the short book it is. Pretty good idea. His Timeline and Eaters of the Dead are still his best.\ though.
Rating:
Summary: The Terminal Man
Review: I David, have grand mal epilepsy w/ 2 brain surgeries. The Terminal Man easily got me intrigued to how Crichton displays it. I am a big fan of his works, but this specific one made me disappointed in his sci-fi novels. Since this was written in the early 1970s (I think 1972), I wasn't surprised at the many rumors/faults about this condition.
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