A Novel on Genetic Research: It's 'Fiction, Except for the Parts That Aren't' - Knowledge@Wharton

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mathematical parrot. A Dutch-speaking orangutan. A chimp that can pass for a boy, albeit a singularly stocky, fuzzy one. These are the otherworldly characters--and provocative thought experiments--that anchor best-selling author Michael Crichton's most recent novel, Next.
Trained as a physician, Crichton has made a career out of futuristic fiction that takes scientific possibilities to their logical and often terrifying extremes. The Andromeda Strain (1969) tells the story of a plague caused by an extraterrestrial pathogen. Jurassic Park (1990) explores the ethics of cloning by way of a theme park populated by genetically engineered dinosaurs. State of Fear (2004) entertains the possibility that global warming is a manufactured crisis crafted for political gain. In Next, published in November 2006, Crichton takes up genetic engineering again, this time from the vantage point of the law.
Next weaves together several storylines in order to trace the complex and confusing interplay of scientific innovation, legal loopholes, moral limits and economic opportunity. In one, bounty hunters pursue a little boy who has inherited an unusual cell from a grandfather who once unwittingly signed away the commercial rights to his tissues. The ...

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