The Footprints of God by Greg Iles Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.01 You Save: $7.98 (100%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Footprints of God
Book Review: What a great book
Summary: 5 Stars
For a long time, I have been looking for a book that captured me with its first pages and made me not want to put it down. I thought perhaps I had lost the ability to experience that. I have read books that I enjoyed but none of them elicited that feeling.
I purchased "The Footprints of God" and "True Evil" by Greg Iles hoping they would be good books but not expecting too much. I have been pleasantly surprised. Not only do I enjoy his writing style but the way he presents the story captured me from the first pages. I never wanted to put this book down and when I did (out of necessity), I couldn't wait to get back. Thank you Greg Iles for helping me rediscover that. I can't wait to read "True Evil."
Book Review: A Long Trail
Summary: 4 Stars
Footprints of God starts off fast endearing us to a man torn between the death of his family and now his closest friend, who was at the cusp of an invention unlike anything seen, raising the suspicion that his death may not have been natural. During the serendipitous course of inventing, a discovery may have peeled the fabric of truth of Nature to reveal the proverbial footprints of a Maker of this Universe we live in. As such those involved with this mysterious invention begin to have inexplicable ailments that maybe illuminating deeply rooted events and experiences-- notably Holy events--that reside in all human brains but are locked until broken free by a controlled radiation of this novel Machine. The Machine, then, wants to follow in the footprints of its Maker. In all this, it is up to the reader to decide if the Human--by way of a protagonist--is the Machine, or the Maker, or perhaps both.
The book is a little longer than it should be.
Book Review: Thought Provoking
Summary: 5 Stars
What if the human race engineered a machine so superior that it rendered humans obsolete? Isles tackles this problem handily in this novel about a computer that is capable of taking over the world because not only can it accomplish all the usual computer tasks (control the Internet, crunch numbers, etc.), but it can also think like a human and is therefore subject to human limitations (emotional response, rash judgement and the like). As Isles explores the human psyche and how human desires and behavior affect the world around us, you find yourself wondering about the existence of God, the beginnings of the world, and the possible ways the world might end. Definitely a good read, even if you don't necessarily agree with the analysis.Book Review: The Iles of Man
Summary: 4 Stars
Greg Iles' Footprints of God is a taut page-turner that has much competent high-tech research backing it up. Unfortunately, there were research lapses in three areas: First, the reference to Robert Oppenheimer, the top nuclear scientist of the Manhattan Project, being "persecuted for years for his opposition to (Edward Teller's) hydrogen bomb." Actually, Oppy was mainly opposed to the technical aspects of the H-Bomb production, not its moral aspects. His being persecuted and stripped of his high security clearance after the McCarthy witchhunts was mainly the result of his having known communists earlier in his career, and having misled investigators about it. He was done wrong, yes, but after his public career was ended he headed for Princeton, to the Center for Advanced Study where Einstein had presided.
Second, every ambitious novel will have a bad patch of flawed reasoning. This one occurs on page 359 (hardcover):
"And the miracles (of Jesus)? Walking on water? Raising the dead?"
"Jesus was a healer, not a magician. Those stories were useful to those who built a religion around him."
Well, Duh, and Duh again! Sure "those stories were useful," but at least 25 of Jesus' miracles were healings. So was he also not a healer?
Third, on page 454 we get a reference to "the Antichrist predicted by the Book of Revelation." Well, actually the Antichrist is only predicted as such in the canonical books of John 1 and 2. Too bad those "long nights discussing philosophy and religion" mentioned in the Ackinowledgments didn't catch that.
Nevertheless, this is a mind-bending, thought-provoking epic that tells us all what adversities might happen in the future from the artificial intelligence forces developing around us. For that reason, it is highly recommended reading.
Book Review: A.M.A.Z.I.N.G
Summary: 5 Stars
i compared this book with michael crichton's timeline and i have to say, this book rocks!!
both books are about quantum physics but iles made it more interesting and easier to understand..
the story line is just amazing, you keep living on eventhough you're actually dead..
i guess that's the theme of today's technology; cheating death
eventhough the book was a bit long, iles has a way of writing that if you left out one single sentence, it's just plain unacceptable and you'll probably end up not understanding the whole story