14-6

This book was, to me, a big departure from the other Wyman Ford books I've read, in that he didn't seem to be a major character in this one. I suppose the major character here was the AI that was developed for a NASA mission that went horribly wrong during a test, in which the AI panicked.

Since I worked with computers beginning in the 1980s, when I first built my own from surplus parts and reject bare circuit boards, I'm probably a harsher critic for a book such as this because I know how things work. But I'm also pretty open-minded about what might be possible, so this was only a small part of why I didn't like this as much as the others in the series.

I think the author may have been trying to explore a little about the difference between a human mind and a computer mind; I've read other books about this, where people were able to transfer all their memory to external storage, like a backup, and then if something happens they can be restored. In some book, there were bodies developed for this, and a person might even change sex. This turns out to be an interesting solution to things like sexism and racism, etc. It also leaves open the possibility to make copies of yourself, each of which has lived the same life up to the point of backup.

But this story didn't get that sophisticated. It was simply a story about an AI that became very human-like, which has been done before, most notably by HAL in "2001 A Space Odyssey" or PKD's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (perhaps better known by the movie name "Blade Runner"). To me, this story didn't hold up as well as the others, especially technically - like in this book, there were places where the program has the ability to be trapped in a computer when the power was abruptly stopped, without being saved and restored or escaping to the power grid where there is no computer at all, only generators that are being controlled by computers, with no direct connection.

Aside from the AI issues, the story was interesting, but not really very sophisticated. It was interesting enough to keep me reading, but not really that satisfying in the end. ( )

Proving, yet again, that he can write anything, Preston pulls off a top notch exhilarating, science packed thriller. Inexorably drawn in by the hope of the project, the reader slips slowly into horror at the inevitable. I hate spoilers so I'm not writing details. This one is well worth the read. ( )

Interesting twist with what can happen with artificial intelligence off the leash. No. 4 in the Wyman Ford series, an ex-CIA agent. Quick read, plot pulls you along. ( )

The Kraken Project is a SciFi book that preaches too much to the readers. It is not up to the adventure and suspense of Douglas Preston's books. The story was almost silly. There were brutal murders, stock exchange explanations, sad adolescent, political figures who came and went out of nowhere, false arrests, an autonomous computer program that talked, chases, and so forth. Consequently, only three stars were given in this review. ( )