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StocksAtBottom.Com Book Reviews

Next
by Michael Crichton

You read Crichton for one reason, and one reason only. To take in an enormous amount of knowledge on whatever subject he chooses to cover in a highly entertaining novel type format. You have to be amazed at just how much Michael Crichton has to go through to put together a novel. He is as you are probably aware a graduate of Harvard Medical School, although he never practiced medicine.

His far ranging mind, and ability to focus it like a laser on whatever subject he is covering, is without equal in the publishing world. He can take the most difficult esoteric knowledge, and put it into a novel format. He makes it look like it's the easiest thing in the world to absorb. This ability is absolutely uncanny. In this novel "Next", Crichton is taking us deep into the world of biotechnology.

Now this is a world I thought I knew about. I have been an investor in biotech deals for several decades now. I have put together biotech venture capital deals as well, and I have invested in the industry from day one, when Genentech was created. What's going on here? Crichton just recreated my entire knowledge framework.

He puts you front and center into this fascinating world. You've got murder, intrigue, corporate espionage, university researchers with little to no morality, and ordinary people showing tremendous ethical structures. He's got worlds operating within worlds, and if you like scandal, well the whole plot of the book is scandalous.

Here are just some of the notions and concepts you will become knowledgeable about when you read NEXT.

· Just who owns your BODY PARTS?

You would think this is a slam-dunk easy to answer question but it's not, as Crichton points out. It's possible in our society that you might have some very unusual genes in you that are super effective at fighting cancer. Under certain conditions, the medical industry believes it has the right to hunt you down, and forcibly take biopsies of your body. By the way, if you are not available, they will go after your children, and grandchildren.

· Who do you think OWNS the GENOME?

I personally found the following to be extraordinary, even unbelievable. Let's say some researcher up at Harvard, or the University of Chicago discovers that a certain gene causes Alzheimer's disease. The University can go to the US Patent Office and take out a patent on that specific gene. It literally means they own the gene that causes Alzheimer's. They can now develop a test for Alzheimer's based on the gene, and literally charge anything they want for the test. If the test cost a $1 to make in reality, they can charge $5,000 or $10,000 for the test.

At the moment, every researcher in the country is in the process of taking ownership of different genes using this format. Over 2000 different genes have been patented out of the 35,000 that we know about in a human being.

You know what's even worse? The university can just sit on the gene for years, and do nothing with it. This also means that no other researcher or university in the country will work on that gene because someone else owns it via a patent. All work on Alzheimer's disease would SUDDENLY STOP. Frightening isn't it?

· ETHICS isn't what it use to be?

Michael Crichton is a medical doctor by background. This means he's very precise, detailed, and doesn't shoot from the hip. What comes across very clearly in this book is that the ethical structure or lack thereof in science, medicine, and research in general is not different, higher or lower than in any other profession or endeavor. You find just as many amoral people in science and research that you find hanging around Las Vegas at 4AM in the morning.

I found it difficult to believe but Crichton makes a compelling case on this topic. He interweaves it beautifully in the book, and it's not to be missed.

THE REAL DEAL

Crichton is an extraordinary author. I couldn't wait until the end to see if, and how he was gong to be able to pull all the pieces together into a coherent, compelling story. The real purpose of every book he does is to get the details of the subject he is studying out to you, the reader. You just can't believe the knowledge of biotechnology that you are going to walk away with when you are done with this book. He even gives you a bibliography at the end to help you with further study if you should so choose.

A very cute and useful technique that he uses is to place one or two page news items every 20 or 30 pages with stories that for the most part have actually appeared in the news. This is done to give further creditability to the stories he is trying to weave throughout the book.

The author even dug up the history of Joseph Stalin, and Adolph Hitler trying to mate human beings with gorillas and monkeys decades ago in an attempt to create superior soldiers. The science that Crichton relies upon has been verified, and it is true. If this type of book is your cup of tea, you are not going to find anything better. Crichton has outdone himself this time.