Stale Book Review #32: Disclosure

Disclosure by Michael Crichton

Cost: $0.25US

Page Count: 400

When you find a book for a quarter, well you just gotta pick it up.  So is the case with Disclosure by Michael Crichton.  I had a quarter; I had not read this particular book.  I now have no quarter; I have read this book.  I wish I had my quarter back.

I found Disclosure to be...dated.  Part of my career has been spent dangling my big toe into the world of technology.  I try to stay abreast of what is the next big thing, the emerging technologies if you will.  But, Disclosure...at least when I read it...felt so LAME.  I wonder if Crichton had this in mind when he wrote the book.  I wonder if Crichton (RIP, Michael) even thought "Hey, technology moves at a million miles a minute.  I wonder if my book will hold up in 20 years. Yes, I read this book exactly 20 years after publication.  I will tell you...Crichton did not think this through.  Apparently, Crichton never heard of Moore's Law.

Ok, problems with the technology aside (a Handheld CD player?  No way!  That's like science fiction, dude!) the story is pretty straightforward.  A tech dude, Tom,  is surprised by not getting a promotion and losing it to a hottie who tries to fuck him and he says no.  The chick, Meredith, gets super pissed and accuses him of sexual harassment.  Tom is pissed because he was the one harassed and goes to a lawyer.  Then, all hell breaks loose at the company.

Of course, Crichton would never leave it as a simple he-said she-said novel.  Nope.  Disclosure has that shadowy back area where the company is going through a merger, the owner is very close with the handsy Meredith, there is some virtual reality (which holds up because folks are pushing the envelope with that shit today), there are people who Tom thinks he can trust and those who he knows he can't trust.  Yep, Crichton mixed it up pretty good which made for a bit more interesting story.

I did have one issue:  How the fuck did Tom get all this shit resolved in like four days?  Don't lawsuits and threats and all that bullshit take months and even years?  To me, this was even more unrealistic than the old-ass technologies being proclaimed as wicked awesome.  Of course, I'm just nitpicking.

Disclosure wasn't bad.  It wasn't good either.  It just was.  

Personally, I liked the Jurassic Park books and Crichton's Travels book much, much more than this one.

  

RIP Mr. Crichton