Timeline (Unabridged)

Rating:
Summary: Suspensful but very violent
Review: This is a great book. As always Mr.Crichton doesn't just make up the theories and facts but carefully researched them before writting them down. This book is hard to put down and not booring. I am surprised to see a lot of bad reviews on amazon by assure a future reader that the reviews are nonesense and that this is one of the best books of the last decade and Michaels personal best of all time. Still this book may be too violent for some readers and I recommend you at least be 12 years old to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not the usual "crichton good"
Review: I really expected a LOT more from crichton. His usual combination of science and adventure can be found in this book and makes it very compelling and a (VERY) fast read. The problem with this book is that the storyline is not believable. For instance, if the story is not about time travel, how come things done in the past have an affect on the present? There are many gaps in the story, not something usually seen in crichton books. I was a little disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Simple entertainment
Review: I have always seen Michael Crichton as a kind of pulp fiction writer for scientists. His writing is a bit bland and his characters remain one-dimensional (Crichton has a habit of referring to his characters by their last name). His stories are fun as long as you expect simple entertainment. Don't pick up his books expecting poetry or insights into the human experience. His trademark style is explaining relatively complex scientific ideas in order to advance his plot. Many of his stories take place on the paradigm shift of a particular scientific field. In Jurassic Park it was genetics and cloning; in The Andromeda Strain it was microbiology (or something along those lines); in Sphere it was extraterrestrial intelligence; and in Timeline it is time travel (I forget the scientific jargon for it). It is similar to Jurassic Park in some of it's plot points and is therefore a little predictable at times. The story concerns a handful of archeologists who travel to medieval France using high-powered equipment. The action gets off to a good start but is not spectacular. The most interesting parts of the book are the little side plots about the possible effects of time travel. Board members discuss how to market their discovery by recording historical events and they find that their historical figures are different from what they expected. The plot is otherwise predictable but is also entertaining as a simple book for the beach.

Rating:
Summary: Timeline - Very Disappointing
Review: I found the book very disappointing. The idea was too similar to Jurassic Park for comfort (ie secretive hi-tech company meddling in things it does not fully understand) and the plot was tedious and repetitive. Not recommended, which is a pity as Michael Crichton's books are often very exciting

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Summer Read
Review: One thing about Michael Crichton's books is that you learn something new every time. In Timeline, you get a crash course in life and death in 14th Century France. Our heroes venture there via an ingenious time travel device to rescue thier comrade. Of course, things go wrong quickly and the rescue proves a bit more difficult than expected. A page turner, definitely.

Rating:
Summary: Connecticut Yalies in Lord Oliver's Court (?)
Review: Michael Crichton's "Timeline" is an adventure story featuring modern young historians who are transported to medieval France; a setting whose inhabitants hold values and assumptions not widespread in millenial America. As with his other works, Crichton shows respect for the reader's intelligence by offering up - at the layman's level - a plausible scenario by which space-time travel might be possible. And, beyond the nailbiter pace of the action, he succeeds in relating a sense of the lives and habitats of fourteenth-century France. Wm. F. Buckley, no doubt, will be swelling with pride when he learns what Yale's hands-on history people were doing centuries before Harvard was even founded. The rest of us may content ourselves feasting on a delicious adventure marinated in revisionist history and spiced with the latest technology from twentieth-century physics. Those who enjoyed Mallory's book on King Arthur, say, or "Jurassic Park", should consider a whirl on the roller-coaster of "Timeline."

Rating:
Summary: TIMELINE
Review: I HAVE READ A SMALL EXCEPT FROM THE BOOK,AND FOUND IT TO BE AN EXCITING STORY.I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED STORIES THAT DEAL WITH TIME TRAVELL.AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO FEELS AS I DO THANK YOU.

Rating:
Summary: Crichton plays Turtledove on Turtledove's Ground
Review: Crichton knows how to tell a good story, so that you're sorry when it's over, and he does so here. However, the linkage between the 20th Century action and the 14th century action isn't as clear, the ending is a bit disappointing, and overall, the book is just too short. That's right, too short. There isn't room for the kind of textural development that this sort of book really requires, the kind that Harry Turtledove excels at. You won't be disappointed in this book, but if Crichton had worked a little more it would have been great instead of simply good.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Crichton!
Review: Just enough technology and history to enjoyable learn quite a bit! Authoritatively makes a stance on history and explores possible future technologies. No unrealistic or implausible scenes in the whole book. Reads just like his movies.

Rating:
Summary: Blending of Fact and Fiction
Review: Science fiction based on fact and set in the not too distant future is a hallmark of Michael Crichton. The story will entertain readers who enjoy science fiction adventures as well as those who enjoy period pieces set in medieval Europe. The science is based on enough fact to make the story interesting. The story itself moves quickly, and keeps you in suspense. There are some holes in the company owner's character, which do not make sense except as representing a steriotype; but that is minor criticism of an otherwise fun, fast read.