| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 6, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| BOOKS
Back in Time TIMELINE By Michael Crichton Knopf 450pp $26.95 Time to learn a new phrase: transcription error. It's what happens when you travel back in history, then return to the present in a quantum time machine that lacks proper shielding. As your body is recompiled, atom by atom, shocking misalignments can occur, leading to excruciating pain or death. In his new novel, Timeline, author Michael Crichton quickly plunges the reader into transcription errors and other exotica of time travel. At first, the book's speed is a virtue. This yarn about a band of contemporary historians and medievalists stranded in 14th century France grabs hold and doesn't let go. But in breathlessly pushing the plot forward, Crichton stumbles as often as he scores. He introduces a fascinating--and real--body of scientific speculation on time travel. But he never translates the concepts into believable dialogue. And while the characters and medieval settings are pleasingly cinematic, they have a rushed, two-dimensional feel. It's as though the writer is banging out a movie treatment--and indeed, Paramount Pictures is doing the film, with a portion of the studio receipts earmarked for the author. The flaws are disturbing because Timeline has many ingredients that worked well in such earlier novels as Jurassic Park. Crichton has burrowed into the conjectures of real physicists on time travel. (Crichton calls it moving through multiple universes.) Their works are cited in a bibliography. This material could have been grist for provocative technical discourse, which Crichton is good at. Instead, cartoon techies spout sentences like: ''To be precise, we use quantum technology to manipulate an orthogonal multiverse coordinate change.'' Smart, contrarian ideas are introduced, then dropped. In one sequence, the predictable evil scientist--a billionaire who devised the time machines--trashes the pat sci-fi convention that minor interventions in the past can change the course of history. But the character quickly tires of the whole discussion--as, we assume, did the author. Crichton knows that he's taking shortcuts. In the acknowledgments, he warns that physicists may find the science hard to swallow. He's more sanguine about medievalists, who are heavily cited in the bibliography. But the historical sequences in Timeline also disappoint. Through the eyes of the contemporary protagonists, we're meant to discover that ''the scientific age might not be an improvement over the prescientific period,'' as Crichton puts it in the acknowledgments. But the author is so busy chronicling beheadings, jousts, sword fights, and castle sieges that he never creates any medieval characters who might persuade us. Plot cliches also abound: The wimpiest of the four main time travelers acquires character--and gets the girl--only after he joins in the ubiquitous slaughter. For all this, I was sorry when Timeline abruptly ended. Crichton packs his pages with cool ideas. His wonder for the villages and castles of France's Dordogne region also comes across, and his little cutout characters share it, which adds to their depth. Like everyone else, I'll probably line up in a few months to watch the movie. By NEIL GROSS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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