Natural Selection

found this book years back at a thrift shop and i am so glad i did.. fantastic read

I should preface this by saying that books like this are not normally my cup of tea. But a friend who is generally "particular" absolutely loved it so I decided to give it a try ... I could not put this book down. I read it in three sittings and every time I had to get up I did so reluctantly. To my delight (and I must admit, my amazement) I found this novel very intellectually stimulating. It just reminded me of how little I really know about nature and it got me thinking about what other species are out there that we know nothing of: whether in the sea, the rain forests, the deserts ... The author digs deep into complicated subjects I admittedly know nothing about yet he makes them readable and great fun: all about viruses, how they originate and spread, details of how a brain works, the difference between lungs and gills, what deep sea vents are, fascinating details about northern california's redwood trees and what "prescribed fires" are. Yet what's amazing is that the author does this very economically and without slowing down the plot for even a second. The pages absolutely fly!! Truly very difficult to put down!! What a page turner! One caveat. I generally enjoy more character driven novels than this; to be candid, the characters here were not fantastic and lacked real depth; that said, for a thriller they were much better than normal, far superior to the stick figures of the Da Vinci Code for example. But this was still an enthralling, engrossing book! For reasons I don't normally state, I found it accessible, educational, and completely addictive!! So far, our 14 year old feels the same way; normally he's a video game addict but is already 100-odd pages in; needless to say generally NOT a reader!!

I am not a fan of the genre. Typically, I find these books awful with a capital A. I've been suckered in by a few good reviews from time to time but almost always, the concepts are horrific, there's no research of any kind, the characters are poor, the plot has holes in it big enough to drive a truck through ... I am delighted to report that Natural Selection is a vastly entertaining exception to this ... This book was cleary written by a very, VERY smart author. I understand he attended some Ivy schools and it shows! The research that went into this book was first rate. The scientific facts are fascinating - particularly the bits about the evolution of the brain and the lung and the work on vents - but what makes it even better is how well it's intertwined with the fiction; it's done so well that you can't tell which is which. By digging into it a little yourself - as I did frequently - the reader becomes even more hooked into this fascinating story. I encourage everyone to Google away!! The book doesn't talk down to you in any way. But what it does do is explain highly complex science in an easy-to-understand way while simultaneously making it breathtaking fun. While the book wasn't perfect - what book is? - I won't bother to highlight the minor plot inconsistencies because it's quibbling and they really don't matter. Natural Selection is a stand-out within the genre and a standout for thrillers in general. While it's completely different in content, I agree with others: the combination of brilliant research with sheer page-turning reminds me of a little book called the DaVinci Code.

I had A LOT to do this weekend: cleaning, bill-playing, clothes to the dry cleaner, you know the drill. A friend who never likes anything told me about this, said he couldn't read Natural Selection fast enough, so I picked it up on Friday, planning to read it over the next week --- Forget it. Despite everything I had to do, I could not put this book down!! I HAD TO FINISH IT! Forget my chores, forget returning phone calls, forget everything! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. This book just didn't lose my attention, not for a second! Every step of the way, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I'm not normally given to hyperbole but this is as close to a flawless book as I've ever read. I LOVED EVERYTHING: the gripping plot, the science; the characters, the vivid scenery, the cool locales ... And, fyi, I don't agree with others who suggest that Ackerman is cliched; he's perfect; I mean, I know this type of guy in real life; I work with someone like this so he was VERY, VERY REAL TO ME and I think comparing him in any way to the JP character is just flat-out wrong!! The only slight problem I had is that because the book had so many characters -- Jason, Darryl, Monique, Lisa, Craig, Phil, Ack - I got them a little confused in the early going. But even this slight problem went away as the pages continued to rip past: Because all the characters were all so clearly delineated - with very distinct personalities and descriptions - as I continued reading, it became crystal-clear who was who. The chars are fabulous!! Unlike most books, esp thrillers, I can really see them, picture them, taste them ... But as others have said what really makes this book GO is the plot. Gripping, mesmerizing, riveting --- every superlative applies. I'm not going to spoil anything here, not going to give it away, but, man, does the author take this out-there-concept and make it totally believable!! You really believe this is happening!! In reflection, I'm sort of amazed that no one has written a book like this before: I mean, the evolution of a new predator, it's just so obvious, so COOL!! Whatever, I'm just glad I could read this, it was just SO entertaining, SO MUCH fun. Natural Selection has blockbuster written all over it!!!

Natural Selection absolutely knocked my socks off!! Truly an incredible combination of ingenious intellectual research and pure, unadulterated bubble-gum fun!! The combination is MESMERIZING!! We have ANOTHER DAVINCI CODE here!! Natural Selection is THAT GOOD. It will be around for a VERY, VERY LONG TIME!!

This was such a fun, such an incredibly fast read! I heard about it in USA Today a month ago; they had named one of their top-10 beach reads so I thought I'd give it a try. What a rocket!! The opening pages are very creepy, very mysterious. You read it and you want to know: What are these creatures? Where are they from? What are they doing? It just sucked me right in!! From there the book takes off! An aside: I was surprised to enjoy the characters as much as I did. Some are quite funny, very likeable; they actually felt like real people with real human issues, not the typical cardboard cut-out stuff. I also read chick-lit but thought the characters here were very strong. Especially Lisa Barton. And Monique? You go girl!! The other aspects - the creatures' physical descriptions, the spooky imagery, the settings - are all very well done; and the places this book takes you - to the depths of the ocean - so awe inspiring! - to a spooky, fog-enshrouded redwood forest - genuinely fascinating; surprisingly, this was a great little travelogue just at a breakneck pace!! But the science here is what makes this book truly special. Natural Selection's depth and breadth of science is EXTRAORDINARY. The author clearly did a lot of research!! I work in a related field - otalaryngology/ENT - and let me tell you, he knows his stuff: the commentary on the evolution of the brain, evolution of the lung, the fluid dynamics discourse and many, many other facets were just so well done. He got a few details on some of the brain stuff wrong but it didn't really matter. I could not read the pages fast enough!! And the ending!! The ending is so scary, so unexpected, so great --- I'm talking Sixth Sense great!! People will be talking about this ending!! I liked this book so much I actually started re-reading it immediately just to see what I had missed. Then my 13 year old ripped it out of my hands. (He is a voracious reader himself and already 50 pages in.) Natural Selection is just FANTASTICALLY ENTERTAINING: You will be hooked, believe me!!!