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Summary: The Study of The Human Brain
Review: THis book is about Harry Benson, a man who has violent disruptions when he's angry. So he's taking to the hospital and put in electrodes that send soothing pulses to Benson's brain. But somehow Benson escapes the hospital and goes on a killing spree. After Benson kills, beats, and [abuses] several women the hospital employees set out to capture him-even if it means killing him. Although this book has only 261 pages the action and the characters are always great.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Dissapionting
Review: After reading Jurassic Park, I was eager to read this one. Big mistake. It sounded good and was reviewed great too. But it was terrible. If you like SLOW books, you may like this one. I sure did not, though. I give it two stars just because of the ending.
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Summary: Excellent Sci Fi
Review: For a book written at its time, it is almost like prophecy the things it mentions about computers. It most definately makes you think (and fear) about computers and what it can do to our society.I have a big complaint that books written about computers are often way off the mark (ie, The Net). But this one does extremely, extraordinarilly well. A fast read that is hard to put down. This book has made me a Michael Crichton fan. I'm excited to start reading his other works.
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Summary: That Craazy Guy, Harry Benson!
Review: The Terminal Man is here to get'cha! Harry Benson is one whacked out dude -- he's got a computer hooked up to his brain, and that computer doesn't much like the world we all have to live in. The Terminal Man is the quintessential potboiler, man, and I highly recommmend it to anyone who likes an entertaining read. I will say the little blurbs on this most recent mass-market paperback release of Crichton's classic are silly. "Crichton makes the unbelievable believable" says the Washington Post. One wonders if they took these quotes from other Crichton novels and pasted it here because The Terminal Man is the most absurd novel in Crichton's oevre. That is not to say, it isn't entertaining -- entertaining is _all_ it is. But believable? Yeah, if you believe Chewbacca and Han Solo really exist maybe. But The Terminal Man is great fun. It doesn't have to be believable -- in fact, taking it seriously is not so much the novel's fault as the fault of an uptight reader, I'd say. Crichton laid the blueprint here for Stephen King to take up in The Shining, and the similarities between the drooling, mad Harry Benson swinging a fire extinguisher ax and King's Jack Torrance doing the same at the end of The Shining are remarkable. Critics have so not gotten Crichton his whole career, and I think that's a shame. Part of it is Crichton's fault sure, but part of it resides in the fact that certain readers insist his fiction is "believable" or "unbelievable" -- serious social commentary, or entertainment pastiche. What bugs me as a young novelist is that critical opinion can't seem to accept an inherent value in the purely entertaining. The Terminal Man is an entertaining novel, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes entertaining fiction. If you want fact, go pick up a copy of the AMA monthly journal. If you want fiction, pick up your copy of The Terminal Man today. Stacey
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Summary: Has Time Been Kind To This Book?
Review: Some would immediately say no. I'm not so sure...
It's true that 'The Terminal Man' is over 30 years old. Many parts of the book show those 30 years, but surprisingly, the book holds up well. Harry Benson has blackouts, during which he commits violent acts. Of course he can't remember any of it. Several research scientists believe that they can help Benson with the aid of computer technology. They operate on Benson and all goes well...for awhile... Crichton has a lot to say about man vs. computer and much of it is dated. But in 1971, people were pretty uptight about where computers might take us. (I guess some still are.) Even though the book is dated in places, these are the things Crichton does well: Believable characters, good tension, believable and UNDERSTANDABLE science, and a plain ol' good story. 'The Terminal Man' is more than just a blast from the past, more than just a cute little relic from a time when we knew next to nothing about computers. It's a legitimate thriller that still has a few thrills left.
Rating:
Summary: Dated, and uninteresting
Review: I was a big fan of Crichton, especially in my high school years. Many of his books effectively combine science, philosophy, and action. This one does not. The fears it attempts to play on are largely no longer relevant in our society. The scenario it presents seems extremely unlikely, even when compared to the scenarios in books like Jurassic Park. None of the characters are well developed. Even 100 pages into the book I found myself flipping back to the first few pages in order to try to remember who was who. The story is highly formulaic, and the reader can more or less guess everything that is going to happen. It is amazing that this book has not been made into a bad film, considering that it feels like it was written for the screen, much more so than, say, Sphere (which was a great book, but a horrible movie). At any rate, The Terminal Man is an easy read, which you will finish in a few days if you so desire, but you won't come away with any new ideas, and it will not be tremendously entertaining. Even bad Crichton is better than many authors, and there are some good passages in the novel, but not nearly enough. The worst Crichton that I have read.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun, fast read
Review: We follow the character of Harry Benson in "The Terminal Man". Harry has a medical problem where he blacks out and turns violent. To help him, Doctors decided to put a computer in his brain to send soothing waves to him to help him settle. But what happens when he learns to control the computer? This is Michael Crichtons second book under his real name. It is pretty short, I read it in one afternoon and it was able to keep me reading. I found that the ending was a bit lame, but other than that, I wanted to know what happened next and then more, throughout the book. It is a fun read that will keep you company on a boring day of snow or rain. I gave the book three stars mainly because of its length and the ending. I thought Crichton could do a bit better.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is probably the best book I have ever read. I found only a few dull parts in the book. Most of it was exciting or very interesting. This is definetly one book that you should try.
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Summary: Crichton Does It Again
Review: This book deals with the topic of man vs. machine. A new type of treatment is tried on patient Harry Benson, who suffers from horrible seizures. After the operation everything seems well but then takes a horrible turn for the worse.
This book will have you from the start. Crichton gives you all the facts which make this book seems even more real because you realize this could actually happen. He uses fancy terms but makes it easy enough for all to understand.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a detailed look at how the brain fuctions. A suspenseful masterpiece.
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Summary: thin story
Review: After suffering brain damage in a car accident, Harry Benson found himself prone to blackouts in which he violently assaults anybody unlucky enough to be near him. Drs. Morris, Ellis and Macpherson - elite Psychiatric researchers at an LA area hospital, had already developed a unique form of treatment called "Stage 3" - implanting electrodes I into the damaged areas of Harry's brain, programmed to head off the electrical impulses that make Harry violent by stimulating them in advance. Of course it doesn't work. For one thing, the accuracy of the electrode placement and the revolutionary nature of the treatment means that small errors have major consequences. Then there's Harry himself - a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence (this book was written around and set in 1971; had the phrase "cyberneticist" entered wide use by then?). In every way, he realizes and warns, computers are outstripping mankind, and are taking over the world. Actually, it means that there's an underlying logic to Harry's fits of violence. When, after the surgery, Harry finds himself addicted to the stimulation (and he learns to supply that addiction with plenty of negative vibes), he breaks out of his hospital room (because he faced prosecution for at least one assault at the time of his operation, Harry was essentially a patient/prisoner), setting off a violent nightmare for the doctors who treated him. Only Janet Ross, a psychiatrist who doubted the wisdom of Stage 3 and openly argued against Harry's selection for it (Harry's paranoia against artificial intelligence reflected an underlying behavioral problem independent of his specific neurological condition). Harry is no helpless patient - his actions like the hospital escape show advanced planning - and the doctors responsible for turning him into a machine soon feel the brunt of his violence. This was an especially thin book, showing how dated it is. The story breaks down into the operation, the interface (when the doctors decide which electrodes will work, in response to what stimulus and how powerful, and then throw the switch) and the ominously titled "breakdown".) It's a neat story but one that has few surprises. This is especially a problem when the point of the story is that we're becoming a race of computerized people - but the main characters are already walking computers for the most part, devoid of much feeling or depth. Only Harry's character, for his psychosis, really comes alive, and that isn't until after he's been wired. Crichton has some other cool ideas - like the one about the brain originally being an extension of the nose: the idea of a the brain as a complex thinking mechanism governed by a sophisticated cerebral cortex is relatively new in human evolution, and when it's damaged, the shark brain kicks into gear. This was light read, something I finished in two days.
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