Doug Pensinger wrote:
> And speaking of (lite) books, has anyone read Crichton's Timeline?
> I thought some of the ideas behind the book were kind of cool - the discussion
> on quantum mechanics was informative for the novice and I found the
> archeological stuff to be interesting, but it seemed like the last 3/4s of the
> book was one continuous silly assed chase scene. It's too bad because I
> really think he could write a good SF novel if he wasn't thinking movie
> rights.
>
> Doug
As a COMPLETE novice (high school physics over 20 years ago) I found the quantum
mechanics difficult at worst and distracting at best. I had no idea how much of it
is real and how much of it fiction - I often wondered if physicists wouldn't be in
the same position while reading it.
I certainly got the same impression that it started out as grand idea with a good
story, but somewhere along the line it got messed up - I had been thinking a time
deadline had been imposed on him to just get it finished and out, but your idea of
setting it up for movie scripting is probably more accurate.
It's a pity his good SF concepts (Terminal Man, Sphere etc) were written before he
was doing his best writing (Disclosure, Rising Sun), and now it's all mass market
fodder....
Russell Chapman
Brisbane Australia
