BKTRMEXP.RVW 951129 "The Terminal Experiment", Robert J. Sawyer, 1995, 0-06-105310-4, U$5.50/C$6.50 %A Robert J. Sawyer %C 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299 %D 1995 %G 0-06-105310-4 %I HarperCollins %O U$5.50/C$6.50, 212-207-7520, 212-867-4610, fax: 212-207-7222 %P 333 %T "The Terminal Experiment" A medical researcher "records" himself into a program, and then "edits" three copies to produce an "afterlife", "immortal" and "control" version in order to explore life after death. As usual, things go horribly wrong, but in the end everyone (more or less) lives happily ever after. Although Sawyer's opinions on death, the soul and even God are a bit presumptuous, the technology in the book is quite realistic. This extends not only to discussions of artificial intelligence and neural networks, but also to the commercial aspects of science and the occasional benefits of entertainment to more serious fields. It is, though, quite possible that Sawyer simply knows when to leave well enough alone. For all the importance (if peripheral) of the Internet to the story, it is clear that Sawyer has little or no firsthand experience of online life. Neither the realities nor the legalities of computer viruses are correctly described. Still, this is one book that computer people can read without having their teeth ache. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKTRMEXP.RVW 951129 ====================== ROBERTS@decus.ca,aa046@freenet.victoria.bc.ca,rslade@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong - J. Diefenbaker Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0