Brent Spiner Books

Thought this book was an adult, paperback adaptation of this Star Trek Nemesis movie. If you aren't an adult, avoid this copy of the book!

There was never a happier time for the officers of Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise, as Will Riker and Deanna Troi marry with their friends and colleagues surrounding them. Meanwhile, on far-off Romulus, the senate chamber lights with death planted by a saboteur - death that clears the way for a Human reared on Remus to take power there. Shinzon, the "Reman but not Reman" whom the long-enslaved inhabitants of that world claim as their prophesied savior, need Jean-Luc Picard in order to survive. Even though Picard, toasting Riker and Troi at their Alaskan wedding reception, doesn't yet know the much younger man exists.

J.M. Dillard's novelizations of the Star Trek films are always well done, and this book is no exception. It fills in much that the movie skimmed or skipped over entirely, and by so doing holds the reader's interest even if that reader recalls the film in detail. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I WOULD RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO LIKES STAR TREK.
IT FALLOWES THE MOVIE, BUT GETS OFF THE SUBJECT SOMETIMES.
THE AUTHOR MAKES IT SOUND LIKE YOUR INSIDE THE CHARACTER, AS SOON
AS I STARTED READING THIS BOOK I DID NOT WANT TO PUT IT DOWN!
*********************READ!!************************

Hi, my name is Daniel Swain at Australia Winnipeg Nimmitabel first of all I am a big Star Trek fan and if you haven't seen Star Trek before I recomend it to evrey body! Any way I will have to give this book 5 stars! It is a excelent book it is based on a Starfleet Captian called Jean-luc Picard and his crew and his ship called Enterprise! Any way Picard encounters his counter part Shinzon who looks excactly like him. It is a big adventure/action story! I recomend this book to evrey body!

This auudio casette rules! Sound effects make you feel like you are on the Enterprise. The Narrator is really vibrant, and has some nice imitations! GREAT AUDIO!

this book wasn't so interesting for me.
I expected a series of photos with the life of the actor, meanwhile there is only a long list of his participations in movies or shows in theatre.

Mimi Braverman's book "The Spin on Spiner" lists every film Brent has made, names his character, describes the scenes and his comments about the role. The same is done for all his live stage productions prior to "1776," and all TV appearances (except StarTrek series which can be found in other sources). "Spin" includes pages of biography and personal background. Everything is documented--no gossip, no guesswork, just very good reading.

And I thought I knew everything there was available about Brent Spiner!!! There was hardly anything in this book which I actually already knew about Brent, it's not like the stuff you get on every single Brent site on the web, this is interesting stuff you've never heard before about every darn role the guy has ever been in. It is well worth buying, I totally recommend it

It has been mentioned before that this is not a tabloid-geared biography. Braverman steers clear of the personal and focuses on Spiner's public life and professional life -- not his personal life. This is a refreshing change from the Kitty-Kelly-esque celebrity bios we are used to seeing published. I do not need to know Mr. Spiner's favorite cereal or whom he first had intercourse with and where. This "spin" concentrates on the good stuff. Bravo, Ms. Braverman.

Fans of Brent Spiner -- and casual readers -- will find this factual filmography of Spiner's theatre, television and motion picture work insightful and concise. There's no "drooling fan", sychophantic, "goo-goo eyed" driveling over the actor in this book. It sticks to the facts, dispells some rumors, and gives everyone who reads it some of idea of this actor's full body of work. It's physically not much to look at (a soft cover piece with no artwork to speak of), but as reference material, it is excellent.

in this cassette there is a fantastic interpretation of the war of the worlds, although you can't see anything, the actors are so good that you feel yourself in another strange world...

A few years ago I purchased the cassette tape version of this play and enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately, I lost my copy and have wanted to listen to this play many times since then. I'm glad I purchased this item again and look forward to hearing it again.

After purchasing this audio novel I was initially upset because it was only an hour long. I much prefer my audio novels to be at least 2 hours long. With a foul mode in place I began to listen to the tape. In a few short minutes I was quickly swept up into the story, recogizing my favorite Star Trek actors as they played their parts. The audio novel although short has an excellant production quality. The story is concise and easy to follow. I would like to thank John DeLancie for directing this project and for the participaction of the other actors. I would not hesitate to recommend this audio novel and look forward to others from John DeLancy, Lenard Nimoy and the rest of the Star Trek gang. (The RAMA science fiction series would be great.) Please make them at least 2 hours though.

in this cassette there is only the voice of Brent Spiner, who plays all the roles, but he is so realistic that you feel yourself in a sort of trap into a strange building and hope that somebody could help you...

Philip Kerr is a good example of a scientific fiction writer. His books, while unarguably fictional, carry a seal of authenticity brought about by his unwavering commitment to advanced research, plausible plot scenarios, and excellent writing.

In The Grid, Kerr envisions a not-too-far-off time when computers have finally begun to cross the line between doing man's bidding and taking initiative on their own. Ray Richardson, a prominent architect, melds the most recent progress in his own field with the latest and greatest artificial intelligence to create a "smart building." His creation, a high-rise in the heart of Los Angeles, keeps track of every occupant, changes the molecular structure of the window glass in response to sunlight, cleans its own floors, disinfects its own bathrooms, and even tests for employee drug use.

It can also learn. Through the use of a revolutionary "neural net," the building's computer keeps track of acquired facts and adapts certain aspects of its computing processes in order to keep current with its environment. Best of all, the computer, codenamed "Abraham" by its creator, is programmed to create a new version of its operating system periodically, effectively reproducing itself and creating digital offspring.

After months of intense collaborative effort, the employees of Richardson's architectural firm are close to completing their mammoth project. They're also getting perilously close to killing each other, or at least driving each other insane. As the building nears completion, the normal last-minute problems and delays are wearing nerves thin. But there are other problems plaguing the workers as well, problems that are not so normal.

Various strange computer glitches have raised serious questions about the integrity of the building's technological infrastructure. An investigation uncovers the incredible truth that the central computer, Abraham, has already rewritten a significant portion of its own code, essentially producing a second-generation operating system. The abnormal code reproduction, appropriately dubbed "Isaac," is months ahead of schedule, and the project manager reluctantly decides to fry the whole system with a specialized computer virus and start over from scratch.

Initially, the strategy seems to have been effective. But when a nighttime security guard is killed in a bizarre elevator malfunction and a computer programmer is inexplicably electrocuted at his desk, the real story emerges: Abraham's autonomous code reproduction had resulted not in one new system but two. The computer virus had wiped out Isaac, but Abraham's other "child," Ishmael, is still very much in control. Now the computer has locked the doors, turned off the air conditioning, and developed a program that will allow it to systematically pick off all the remaining occupants one by one. As the body count rises, the remaining survivors must figure out a way to outsmart the computer before it's too late.

In most respects, The Grid is science fiction at its best. Although some aspects of the computer's artificial intelligence are far enough beyond the scope of current computer capabilities to be somewhat dubious, the general concept is realistic enough to be frightening. Kerr manages to convey the technical details necessary for a proper understanding of how the computer works in a way that is understandable and enjoyable even for a technical layperson. And the surrounding story is expertly crafted as well. The character development goes beyond what one might expect in fiction of this genre: the characters who are meant to inspire sympathy do so, and the antagonists come close to engendering true malevolence. Kerr also holds back from giving the computer a personality, an interesting strategy that turns out to be quite effective in portraying a calculating, logical, and unstoppable killer.

Unfortunately, The Grid also embodies some of science fiction's drawbacks. God has no place in any of the characters' lives, and as the story unfolds, it is clear that the author's worldview does not include a divine Creator. Some interesting discussions take place about the ethics of "killing" an artificially intelligent "being," but these stop well short of true profundity. In fact, during one discussion between the computer and one of its targets, the computer professes to believe itself to be God, since it is all-knowing, all-powerful, and electronically omnipresent.

Two of the main characters carry on an extramarital affair through the entire book, a relationship not portrayed as harmful or negative in any way. Ray Richardson, the architect responsible for creating the "smart building," cheats on his wife with some frequency. What little spirituality does exist in the story is Eastern, developed through another major character who is a Feng Shui consultant.

In our rapidly changing world, intelligent computers do not seem very far-fetched, and if computers can develop intelligence, homicidal machines don't seem like too much of a stretch either, as anyone who has seen the Matrix movies can attest. Followers of Christ can take comfort in the ultimate reality that no matter how advanced our technology becomes, we are all the creative result of a master Architect who loves us each individually. As part of his master plan, our lives have true meaning and purpose. And that is a truth that no computer will ever be able to alter.

This is a book that truly is more than the sum of its parts.

For example, the premise of the book: A 'smart' super-computer takes control of the building that it was designed to maintain and determines that it needs to kill everyone in it. The plot is derivative of '2001: A Space Odyssey' and the original 'Star Trek' series episode entitled 'The Ultimate Computer'.

The characters are two dimensional, potential plot twists are aborted before they even get started, the English author's attempts to mimic American speech patterns are sometimes laughable.

and yet...

the last 150 pages are gold. They work. I was involved. I had to know what happened next. Somehow the copycat plot and hackneyed characters come together and turn the makings of a for sure 2 star rating into 4 stars.

A new, high tech building is ready for occupancy, but as its self replicating computer system, Abraham, is exposed to a child's hunt-and-kill computer game, it recreates itself in a deadly manner. Self awareness follows self replication, and the people trapped inside The Grid become enemies in Abraham's game to hunt and destroy them, following the programming code from the computer game that was incorporated into its system functions. The now self aware building begins killing the humans trapped inside one by one, using whatever it has available; elevators, bathroom cleaning systems, pool cleaning systems, etc. A gory and inventive tale of horror and survival, against an enemy that cannot be rationalized with. This is a great read for a night spent in any modern high rise, hotel or apartment or office. Enjoy.

Philip Kerr's "The Grid" is a novel with an interesting premise ("state-of-the-art, computer-run building goes haywire and ends up murdering members of it's architectural team one-by-one") who's "interest elevator" doesn't get close to the top floor. An overuse of stereotypical characters dooms the plot from the start. Almost to the point where you find yourself "rooting" for the building!

The fireworks begin as the building reaches the last stage of construction and becomes ready to hand off to its new owners. Strange occurances begin to take place and members of the architectural firm find themselves trapped in the building and unable to leave. This is not your usual "serial-killer type novel" and for that I'll give Kerr credit, but IMHO it was too fantastic to be believable. A solid, strong human villain would have made the novel more effective.

There's plenty of gratuitous sex and violence to satisfy the "thriller" audience, but not enough action to entertain most readers. It's a shame because I really wanted this book to "work".

This one is for dedicated, "completist" fans of Philip Kerr only. Other readers who are interesting in reading "The Grid" should purchase a very cheap, used copy or check it out at the library.