Rating: 
Summary: Oh......My.......God!
Review: This has to be the best book I have read in a very long time. Michael Crichton so easilly and simply takes you directly into the world of which he creates. He is a master at work, who skillfully makes you want to start reading, and never stop. This story is no exception to his mass of great hits. Perfectly tuned, there is the perfect balence of understandable science, and plausable adventure, with perfect acuracy to his story. If I could find even one, tiny mistake in this, I would rate it as only four stars, but out of both times I read it, I couldn't find one. A great read, and definately a great buy. ... Please take mostly everyones advise, and read it!
Rating: 
Summary: quantum physics
Review: Loved the book! My question is "Is quantum physics that interesting or is it Michael Crichton that makes it seem so?" One of my favorite parts is how is the use of the Yankee-Met basball game as a means of explaining one's inability to change the past. You'll have to read the book to understand this! Met fans may not want to though!
Rating: 
Summary: Wow, another Michael Crichton screenplay
Review: Another made for a movie book. I think Michael Crichton is getting lazy and doesn't want to bother turning yet another book into a screenplay so he seems to be starting with the screenplay and fleshing it out slightly to make a book. MC's strengths have always been the science in the books and this is no exception. You get a fairly good tutorial on quantum mechanics and how it might be used for time travel. His weaknesses have always been the characters and on this one he is at his worst. By the end of the book I really don't care if any of them make it back. The characters are basically a rehash of "Jurassic Park". The evil industrial genius / rich guy, the soulless technicians and the heroic academics. The plot is also thin and fairly predictable. I almost didn't bother to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Michael Crichton Does it again!
Review: Timeline surpasses all other books with its uniqeness. The book is really entertaining. You can picture everything in your head. The story has great action and adventure. It also provides some Medevil History. I recommand this to everyone I know, although the swearing and violence ( wich i might add it is very detailed) it is a adventure book you will never forget. I can't wait till the movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Now this isn't a great book. . . .
Review: Although absolutely concurring with the first review, I would like to add my own thoughts regarding this book: Bland. Dry. The reason I picked this book up was because it was a bloody New York Bestseller, and the critics were raving all about it. Well guess what. I'm not raving about it. I've thought alot about giving this book such a low score but I'm sure of it: this is only a mediocre book, definetely not worth the praise it got, and the only reason it was so popular was because it was written by Michael Crichton. Maybe the reason I didn't enjoy that much because it was placed in medieval times and medieval books GENERALLY TEND (Too bad italics can't be used on Amazon reviews!), to be boiled down, unsophisticated versions of fantasy books. And because fantasy is the main genre I read (yeah, i read other fiction like sidney sheldon, ann rice, etc), Timeline did nothing to entertain me. Deathsmith "Books are good because they're always there for you, because they never go anywhere," Joel Gadica, 2001
Rating:
Summary: A DAZZLING , HIGHLY IMAGINATIVE, AND ABSORBING BOOK...
Review: This book is an absolute page turner. It opens with one of the most absorbing first chapters I have ever read. An elderly man is found wandering in the desert, speaking in rhyme. There is something not quite right about him. The hospital to which he is taken discovers that the anomalies do not end with just his speech. Something is very wrong with him. Highly inventive and compelling, the reader is reeled in hook, line, and sinker, right from the get go. A wholly plot driven book, make no mistake about it, the story revolves around a highly secretive, technological corporation, ITC, headed up by a megalomaniacal, young genius, who is tooling around with quantam physics in a way that has never before been done. Our genius is spearheading a project that is truly cutting edge. Of course, he is not doing this for the betterment of mankind. He is doing it simply because it will ultimately result in mega bucks for him, if all goes according to plan. Alas, the best laid plans often go awry. Cut to a group of dedicated historians who are involved in an archaeological dig, located along the Dordogne River in France. Their project, the ultimate restoration of a fourteenth century, feudal town, is very generously funded by ITC. Now why would a technological giant such as ITC be funding such a project? This is the basic premise of the book. The use of quantam physics is applied in such a way as to access the past. Here, a group of historians find themselves with the chance of a lifetime. They can actually enter fourteenth century, feudal France and experience it themselves. There is quite an adventure in store for them. Their reason for doing so, however, is not research. They are actually on a mission to rescue their chief historian who had ventured into fourteenth century, feudal France, using ITC's technological application of quantam physics. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, however, he found himself mired in the fourteenth century and unable to return to the present, as originally planned. What happens to these intrepid historians wil captivate the reader. Well written and thoroughly researched, those who, like me, love science fiction, as well as historical fiction, will, most likely, enjoy this book. As a devotee of medieval history, I was entranced by the historical detail contained within the novel. I also found the book somewhat reminiscent of the sci-fi television series called "Sliders", in which the concept of quantam physics is utilized in order to slide into parallel universes. All in all, this well written novel makes for riveting, escapist entertainment. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found that I simply could not put it down!
Rating:
Summary: Timeline
Review: Great book with non-stop action. Read it from start to finish without putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Promise of the Past.
Review: Bob Doniger is one of the richest men in the world. A brilliant physicist, he has accumulated his wealth through the start up and sell-off of several companies. ITC is his current machine, by which he is researching his next big money maker: discovering the past. For years ITC has been secretly developing a time traveling device through the use of quantum physics. However, this time travel is not what most of us think as conventional time travel. There is no past, there is not future. There are only an infinite number of parallel universes. These universes can be traveled to, through holes in the "quantum foam". ITC also funds many historic sites throughout the world. Through these sites, Doniger hopes to build his future cash cow. People start to ask questions though, and ITC comes under some scrutiny. Professor Johnston is one of the people who start asking question. He is a historian trying to restore the many castles along the Dordonge River, along with some of his students. This site is of particular interest to ITC and he wants to know why. He travels to the ITC headquarters for some answers, but ends back up at the Dordonge. The only thing is, he's in one of the parallel time streams. Andre, Chris, Kate, and Stern are asked by ITC to travel to the same time stream and rescue Professor Johnston. It is an operation full of risk and uncertainty, and they only have 37 hours to complete it. Crichton once again uses his writing prowess to craft an entertaining novel. Like all of his novels, it is well researched and filled with information. I find it similar to watching McGuyver. Though it's there for entertainment factor, you actually learn a few things from it.
Rating: 
Summary: For the poolside
Review: I liked it. The plot is fast, and it kept me turning the pages. For the lovers of true medieval history, try more erudite, academic books (e.g., Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror), but for those with a hard-to-capture attention span, this is a fun read for the summer. Take with you to the pool; take it with you to lazy summer picnic, but don't take it with you to the stodgy history professor. Crichton has good imagination, and the book combines a healthy dose of sci-fic wistfulness with passable historical reconstruction. As a graduated history major from Yale, I have absolutely no objection to such fictional history telling.
Rating:
Summary: Just didn't like it
Review: Generally speaking, I fully enjoy well-written scifi books. Crichton is undeniably among the top dozen or so contemporary scifi writers. However, Timeline was a major disappointment. Paper-thin characters, a silly premise, and an endless chase scene are all that can be said about this book. In spite of a promising start, with lots of intriguing hooks to keep you going, the book rapidly disintegrates into a senseless, shallow description of the good guys escaping from the bad guys. Sorry, I just can't recommend this book to anyone interested in good, solid, intellectual scifi.
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