Gordaen's Blog

More than a month ago, I finished The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton. It is a book about a violent man who undergoes a medical procedure to cure his seizures and eliminate his violent tendencies by implanting electrodes directly into his brain. It was originally published in 1972, so I was especially interested in the technological differences that 35+ years make.

Technology around the various medical fields is always interesting to me, but neurotechnology is absolutely fascinating. There is a bit of talk about the technology in this book, but it’s not particularly heavy, so you don’t have to worry about it getting in the way if you aren’t interested. There is a fair bit of medical terminology in the book though, and there were times when I felt like Crichton was showing off the vast amount of research he did for this book. As if he discovered some interesting nugget of information and couldn’t stand to not have it in the book.

The Terminal Man is a good book, but it’s not exceptionally great. Some of the philosophical questions that it raises were probably very relevant at the time it was originally published, but “brain pacemakers” aren’t quite as cutting-edge as they were, and people have come to accept and rely heavily on technology in their daily lives. Bottom line: If you’re interested in psychology, neurotechnology, or Crichton’s other books, you’ll probably like it.