Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking Philosophical Fiction
Review: The characters were believable and the details were tended to so well. It was engrossing.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking, interesting and believable throughout
Review: I saw the First Immortal in the bookstore and thought it looked interesting, but I didn't have enough money on me to get it, so I decided to seek out Halperin's first book instead and was quite happy I did. It really was an engaging book that held my interest, and it raised some interesting questions about morality and what we as a society would choose when faced with the ability to identify truth absolutely. Well worth a read.
Rating: 
Summary: TERRIBLE and thats the TRUTH!!!!!
Review: Shallow, simple and silly. Gives good sci-fi a bad name. Characters are not just 2 dimensional, they are 1 dimensional, like stick figures. The main characters are ALL noble, super-successful geniuses, with selfless ambitions to save the world. (The also are great looking, popular and have great complexions). Plot dimensions are few and far between. All of the world's present and future problems fade away due to the pervasive effects of insanely great software running on the next generation of Wintel computers. Of course Bill Gates' alter ego saves the world and becomes super-duper rich and famous. We selected this book for our book group based on Amazon Raves. Oops! Maybe this should have been published by Marvel as a comic book.
Rating: 
Summary: Droning, unbelievable, and painfully annoying
Review: This book drones on for a terrible tale of the life of a superman. It's about the world's greatest genius who comes along and saves all of us idiots from destroying ourselves. It is the story was an angel of a man in public and private, save for one incident. The incident - murder - which is attributed to saving millions of lives, so even when he's bad he's good! No, a horrible book that annoys more than anything. However, a very creative look at the future, and a great book - for a first time author.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazingly naive
Review: The book is packed with references to information and human sciences making it detail-rich but is hardly profound. I believe that lying is part of the culture. Our lives are full of small lies. It begins with a "good morning", "what a nice tie" and ends up with things like "I value your opinion" or "you are a nice fellow". Not being able to lie would make life horrible: "I don't care about the day you'll have", "I hate the color of your tie. It does not fit with your sneakers anyway", "I don't want you to express your opinion because you have proven they're worthless". We would have days as miserable as Dilbert's. Personally, I don't want most of the others to tell me what they think of me and I don't want to hurt them by expressing my feelings for some of them. Social life needs some polish to smooth its wheels. Without that lubricant, how life would be possible? Of course, my fellow american comrades (I work in an international company) do not agree with my feelings while most of my european colleagues share my opinion. We all agreed that the importance of the truth depends on the culture. I believe that this book is too USA-centered. It is obvious that there are some serious problems in US society. To generalize the solutions to the whole world proves that the author is not aware of the cultural and social diversity that make the world so rich. Trying to level all this diversity by exporting the US solution to high crime rate looks totally ridiculous to european eyes. Living in a country where the crime rate is so low that all capital crimes are on the front pages of the newspapers, I was deeply repelled by the idea of a swift and sure death penalty for felons. I can hardly consider civilized a country killing its citizens (or others...) Terminating the murderers would hardly solve the problems since the source would not be eliminated: poverty, poor lifestyle, day-to-day living, harsh social conditions, racial discrimination! ... every single factor that pushes individuals to crime. Making crime impossible in such a society without solving the other problems would have a terrible impact on its poorest citizens. I feel then that Halperin missed the whole point, providing solutions to fight the effects and not the causes of human problems by not taking enough distance from its subject. What about a Moral Distress Detector? A machine that would detect severe cases of despair and call help? Would not that be more human? More effective in the long term? Let's think about it. Let's think out of the box.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I've Ever Read
Review: This is a true masterpiece of work, combining the hero and the villian. Halperin's predictions for the future seem as probably as the present. Never before have I been so enticed to read as I was with this book. The Truth Machine questions the very soul of our society, and will make you ask yourself the many questions that could lead us into the future. A truly breathtaking first work by Halperin.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, but fails to deliver
Review: Instead of developing the main premise, that of a society governed by a truth machine and its consequences, the author chose to focus on the personal life of his main character. Unfortunately, the personality of the scientist never progresses beyond that of the 5 year old, leaving the reader with a flat one-dimensional character.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting, believable, educational, important.
Review: Halperin has changed the future by releasing this "meme" on the world.
Rating:
Summary: What a cool concept!
Review: Halperin's views of the future are very entertaining and even very possible. This was one of the most entertaining and educational books I have ever read. I may even read it again just to read into the technology more. My Dad recommended this book to me. My Mom got mad because instead of going to bed, I was always trying to squeeze out a few more pages. My favorite book used to be Atlas Shrugged, but The Truth Machine took over.
Rating:
Summary: this book makes you examine the world in which we live.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I've been reading many science fiction books to help me escape my real world, but the Truth Machine not only helped me escape my real workd but also examine it from afar. It also explores the possibilities of technology and brings up the question, "How much is too much." This is actually a book I've discussed and reccommended to many people. And it was reccommended to me to begin with.
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