The Footprints of God by Greg Iles Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Footprints of God
Book Review: Religion and artificial intelligence
Summary: 4 Stars
Since the earliest years of Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence has been heavily speculated upon.
Robots are of course one of the natural progressions for this, and the same goes with computers. After all, you can't really have a robot without a computer; it's kind of like having a human without a brain.
They just have to go together. In the case of humans, we can't survive without our brain, and visa versa, however, with robots, the computer can exist outside the robot... eh, never mind.
The interesting thing about Greg Iles The Footprint of God is that it deals with the creation of the worlds first and most powerful Artificial Intelligence.
And the novel also delves into an aspect of society that many people find uncomfortable... the mixing of religion and science.
As is the case, I can't really go into too much detail about the novel because that would end up giving away some spoilers, and I loath to do that.
The story revolves around Dr. David Tennant, a man hired specifically to be the ethical heart of Project Trinity, the group tasked with the creation of this powerful computer system.
The problem is that his friend and co-worker recently died of a stroke... but he knows it wasn't a stroke, the man was murdered. He just doesn't have any way of proving this fact.
And, there is also this little problem... He keeps having visions, always brought on by his bouts of Narcolepsy.
Once again, I can't go into any details about these visions, as it would give away far too much when it comes to the plot of the novel.
Between his visions, and his knowledge, he finds himself on the run from the NSA, the group responsible for the creation of the Trinity Project.
Caught up in this race is his psychiatrist, Rachel Weiss, who harbours a secret of her own, and who wants to believe what is happening to Tennant, but her training keeps standing in the way.
The novel is a race, one of keeping a single step ahead of those who want to stop him from revealing what he knows to the world. Paranoia runs rampant in the book and for good reason.
I'll say this; it was very fast paced and quite the thriller. I had a hard time putting it down, even when it got into the whole religion aspect. I'm not big on religion, as those who know me understand.
Still, despite this, the book had a very unique take on religion and things that cause one person to turn away from god, and another to embrace their faith.
The whole aspect of the artificial intelligence was also a unique take on the time honoured plot device. Something that I've never seen before used in a book, and it was quite refreshing.
Of course, as one would expect, the book comes to quite the explosive climax that had me sitting on the edge of my seat as I read the events that led up to it.
I also liked how the novel ended. Again, I can't say anything without giving away hints that would lead you, the reader, to guess at what happened.
Worth reading, no doubt about it. I will probably look for Greg Iles other novels and pick them up to read in the near future.
4 out of 5
Book Review: COMPLETELY INVOLVED
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first Iles book, read it about 18 months ago. Thank you Alex for turning me on to this great writer. It was a deep introspective read about computers and the end of time as best as I can remember. I found it very interesting and one that you can't wait to get back into. Not a quick read also not part of a series - so it was a great one to read when starting with this author.Book Review: Not a thought invoker but more of a fast paced film script
Summary: 2 Stars
Although several people refer to this novel as thought provoking, in my opinion it is more of a fast paced film script type of book like the Da Vinci code. Personally, it did not invoke any deeper thoughts than 'why would the NSA hire someone to guard the projects' ethics and then tries killing him (which is rather unethical)', or 'why does Tennant suddenly gets the strange urge to go to Israel (instead he would have been safer if he let Weiss take all decisions after it bcame clear that his brain was cloned...).
Also I think its a bit cheap and rather simplistic to elevate a novel by having it spin around the 'best-of-the-best' (i.e. team of Noble laureates, a mega capitalist/technologist, barbaric throat slitting militarist, a US president, the most secrative organisation in the world just to name a few). Real writing skills are demonstrated by taking ordinary people and have them develop in a lower key story, but this would be another genre.
To me Iles belongs in the row of novelists that tend to be Umberto Eco wannabees, such as Dan Brown and the likes. All in all a bit cheapy and too overly hyped as 'thought provoking'. It is although a page turner, but the most scary thing is in my opinion that some of the aspects around governments hunting innocent people are true.
Book Review: Another bad author
Summary: 2 Stars
There must be 40 "My God"s spoken in this book. Characters are one-dimensional and similar and exposition so obvious that this might as well be a blueprint for bad writing. Characters explain everything in this book to keep the story moving along, with exchanges such as "My God, you mean the computer is alive?" "Yes. And if it gains consciousness, then, well, My God." Etc Etc.Book Review: It was Bad, REALLY BAD
Summary: 1 Stars
It's not too often that I buy a book and fail to read it. I forced myself about 1/4 of the way through, then gave up. It was tedious & very lack-luster. Before I tossed it into the trash, I skimmed through parts at the end, and the ending itself. I don't want to present any spoilers here, but let's just say, I read enough at the beginning to realize that the ending was very lame indeed. This book was really bad. I would not recommend it to anyone.