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Summary: Timeline Book Review
Review: The book Timeline is a very well written book in my eyes. I have read Crichton's Sphere and I am working Prey. This was a very interesting book in that combines both history, quantum physics, and quantum mechanics. Now anyone who can cobine those three things that are very diffenrent and do it well is a very good author in my eyes. I must say Michael Crichton has a very good thing for keeping you opn your toes through every page of the book.
The storyline of the book is that a man anda woman are driving to New Mexico and out of nowhere they see this old man who likes he is drunk and trying to walk.What they don't understand is that he is out in the middle of the desert without a car anywhere in sight and here he is walking around in what looks like very old clothing that is also very heavy in the hot desert sun. The reason he is out there is because he didn't follow the rules at ITC, where he works.
ITC is a scientific company that specializes in traveling to other universes using quatum mechanics and quantum physics. There is also a group of students out in France whose Professor went to this company in hopes of going back and seeing the Medieval era, which is what he is studying.
The professor was told not to move away from the machine when he got there and he did. Then, his students get called to go back and find him because that is what they know, The Medieval era. I am not going to say the end because that what you are supposed to do. Go read the book and find out!!
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Summary: Timeline
Review: I thought that Timeline was a very well written book. In this book, Chricton would go into great detail. I could really understand what was going on because it drew a picture in my mind. My favorite part of the book is when the big battle is going on and they are trying to get out of the 14th century castle. In this scene there is a lot of action. The castle is afire while men are fighting all over the place. Some of the men are burning in quick slip an oily substance that burns when water mixes in it. After they see the man burn they run down a staircase and to the drawbridge. Here Andre Market decides to stay with his future wife. He also stays to keep the drawbridge down so that his friends can get to the time machines and go home.
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Summary: Great ideas, plot ect. but poorly executed.
Review: Timeline is over-rated, period. Yes, it has a great plot with the quantum wormhole, which I was very interested in, but overall it was poorly executed.
It starts out with a few archeologists revealing a medival castle and monastery in France. For some unknown reason they were being sponsored by a large technology company called ITC. One day the head archeologist dissapears and there is some rumors going around the excavation site that it had to do with ITC. The company speaks up and brings the other head archeologists over to their headquarters in Black Rock, New Mexico. On the plane they are told that their professor is stuck back in the medival times, and in some sort of trouble, terribly done might I add (the employee of ITC on the airplane talks to them about quantum physics like they are physicians).
Eventually they get stuck back in time with the professor, surviving every single problem Crichton throws at them (knights, seductive women, phsyco warriors, ect., just the usual), and have to get out with the professor alive.After about 30 close encounters with people that should have killed them the first time, they get the professor and get out, leaving one behind because he ALWAYS wanted to be in the middle ages. The same guy that stayed in the medival ages ends up marrying the seductive woman somehow, even though she managed to kill 2 husband princes before she turned 30. Note: the only well done part after page 150 is the very end. So read the first 150 pages and read the last page right? Wrong, drop this book and read The Andromeda Strain, a much better novel by Crichton.
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Summary: Todd's Review on Timeline
Review: Timeline by Michael Crichton has been one of the best books I have ever read. It is full of action, war and scientific concepts. I love this book and recommend it to any of the people who are looking to buy it and read it. You will enjoy this book so much that you will want to read it over.
Michael Crichton is one of the best authors around. He makes movie scripts, writes books, and writes screenplays. The book Timeline is also a movie rated pg13. I have not yet seen it but it looks good to me. Hopefully it will be as good as the book.
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Summary: Much Better than the Movie
Review: I must confess that I have watched the movie before reading the book. The movie is entertaining but fall short of being a believable story. In fact, the author devoted more than one third of the book explaining the background of the technology involved before the first "time travel" took place. The movie is very much Holywood type and the book offers much entertainment to the readers. It is full of suspense and full of actions. You should be forewarned that there are quite a number of discrepancies between the book and the movie. If you do happen to enjoy the movie (like I do), you will certainly enjoy the book for it contains much more actions and background. If you don't enjoy the movie at all, there is a high chance that you will enjoy the book because it delivers what the movie cannot. As compares to the other Michael Crichton books, I still enjoy the Jarasic Park series the best (and "The Prey" the least for it is not at all a believable story). Hence the four stars.
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Summary: Great Read, Small Book
Review: I loved this book, and highly recommend it, but don't bother to buy the pricy paperback size hard cover edition of this book that Amazon sells!
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Summary: One of Crichton's worst
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I thought the idea was amazing. Crichton has a way of writing about science fiction and making it seem really believable. He did it with Jurassic Park and did the same with this. But once you get past the concept of the ability to travel in time, the book goes downhill. The characters in the middle ages are contrived and unbelievable, and the characters from the present are predictable (as is the ending). Even the description of the Middle Ages did not seem believable. In the end, I get the feeling that Chrichton took a really good idea, but rushed through the plot to get the book printed.
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Summary: Timeline
Review: In this action- packed novel, the medieval past is combined with the newest technology of modern day. This fast-paced adventure begins when a man is mysteriously found in the middle of a hot Arizona desert, babbling incessant nonsense. Police authorities and hospital staff are puzzled when the man suddenly dies. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, archaeologists are at a medieval castle site in the beautiful France country-side. All of the workers feel fortunate to have hands-on experience with fascinating history. However, they soon become suspicious of the corporation that funds their research. What exactly are their motives? One of the professors is abruptly taken from France to the headquarters, and then disappears. The archaeologists are all unaware of what is going until they make a shocking find. Soon they too are whisked off to the corporation headquarters in Arizona. The lab there is making amazing discoveries in the world of quantum technology. The corporation, called ITC, found that there are multiple universes and there is a way to travel to those other universes, even those that are in the past. Before they know it, the archaeologists find themselves in medieval France hoping to save the professor, who disappeared into that universe. Before long, they must fight to save their own lives and make it back alive. In order to achieve this, the group of archaeologists goes on a quest to uncover secrets many are vying to learn. Armed only with their expertise and knowledge of the past, they must avoid sharp arrows, trained knights, and ambitious nobility who will stop at nothing to gain power.
Crichton did a wonderful job of combining science with history, and he entertains as he enlightens. However, I found at times quantum technology was not clearly explained, and I was frequently confused. There were a few pieces of Crichton's story that did not fit completely together in my mind. Despite this, the book was a gripping adventure that was hard to put down.
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Summary: Timeline
Review: I have to say that Timeline is by far the best science fiction book I have ever read. It ties together history and science in such a fasinatiing way that you stay interested through out the entire book. The first few chapters are hard to grasp because most of the text is setting the scene for later chapters but as the book continues you are gradually pulled into the pages and it is almost imposible to set down. After the "boring part" is over the book moves on the the fasinating parts of the "secret lab", ITC.
Allthough alot of things in the book confused me and at times i found my self pausing to think about everything that had gone on in previouse chapters, it was over all a very well writen book. The twist and turns in the book keep you at the edge of your seat waiting for what will happen next, but the true scientific posibilities keep a great balance and the book stays realistic with an imaginational blend.
The book takes alot of turns but starts out with a very simple but important scene. A couple finds a man in the dessert and there are very strange things about this guy. Well the couple picks him up and learn that he work at this "secret lab". The lab has kept things "under raps" and no one really knew what went on in the lab until just reciently. Things are getting out because things are going wrong.
This novel is full of adventure, history, and science. I think everyone should read this book wether your interested in science or not. It has so much interseting things weaven into the pages that no matter what your interested in, you will enjoy it. I think if you can get past the first few chapters, any one can learn from this book. It is very intersting and fun-filled. Timeline is definitly a great book to read and I recomend it to everyone.
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Summary: Timeline Review
Review: Timeline has got to be one of the best books that I have ever read. I have to admit, at first, I wasn't too interested in ready a science fiction book or a book that was centered around the Middle Ages, but as I started getting into the book...I couldn't put it down. I would find myself reading late into the night, but still not wanting to go to bed because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. This had so many twists and turns that I don't even know how I kept up with it all. But, sometimes I would find myself skimming back through the book to recheck things to make sure I was following right along with what was going on. I love the way the book started off with the mystery of the man in the desert. That whole thing, I think is what kept me reading. I wanted to find out just who the man was, why he was there, why he died, and what he had to do with quantum technology. The one thing that puzzles me about the whole book is quantum technology. I know they explain the way it works throughout the book, but what I really done understand is HOW!!! I mean, it's easy to understand what they are trying to do with the "time machine" (which people have tried explaining to me as not necessarily being a time machine)...but I really don't see how all this technology works. I guess that it's easy for someone who enjoys science and understands it easily, but that's certainly not me. People always say that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. And I'm sure for this book...that will be the same case. I don't think there is any way for the movie to be any better than the way Michael Crichton has portrayed the characters and the plot of timeline. I, for one, can not wait to see the movie. After reading Timeline, I think I'm going to begin reading some other books by Michael Crichton. If he can do this great with writing a book about the Middle Ages and science, then the rest of his books have to be just a good...if not better! Even though that it was complex at times and I wasn't exactly positive as to what was going on, I enjoyed this book far more than any other book that I have read lately. I would definitely have to recommend this book to everyone. You may be like me and not have any interest whatsoever in science fiction, historical fiction, and so on, but this book is worth it. I never thought I'd hear myself saying that I ever enjoyed a book like this...but boy was I wrong. However, I suggest this book for teenagers and adults. There is some language used that some younger people should not be necessarily reading. So after taking the time to read all these reviews and you still don't want to take the time and actually read Timeline...you seriously don't know what you are missing out on.
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