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Book Report 1. ‘The Terminal Man’ by Crichton, Michael. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1972. 2. The Terminal Man was about the neuropsychiatric section of a hospital doing a breakthrough surgery to help reverse the effects of psychomotor epilepsy. The patient’s name was Harry Benson. Harry had psychomotor epilepsy because he hit his head in a car accident and it resulted in brain damage. Harry was a good subject for the operation because he was brilliant, being a computer programmer with top level government security clearance. The type of epilepsy that he had caused him to black out for periods of time and during his blackouts he would become extremely violent and when he woke up he remembered nothing. The operation would envolve the inserting of two electrodes into the brain along with a microcomputer in his neck and a plutonium power pack located under his shoulder near his armpit. Harry had his operation soon after he was admitted to the hospital. The operation took roughly three hours and in that time they drilled into his head and inserted the electrodes. They also put in the microcomputer and the power pack at this time. After the operation was over Harry was heavily sedated and put in a room. After the sedatives wore off Harry snuck into a closet and stole an orderly’s gown and left the hospital. He was picked up by a lady named Angela Black, who Harry killed when they got to her apartment. After the investigation of the murder of Angela Black Dr. Ross went home to take a shower. When Dr. Ross got out of the shower she found Harry standing in her living room. The computer in Harry’s neck was somehow malfunctioning and shocking him every few minuites. When the computer shocked him enough times it would cause a siezure. After a few minuites of talking to Dr. Ross, Harry had a siezure and attacked her. While Harry was choking her she reached and turned on the mircowave, which messed up the atomic power pack in his shoulder and caused him to pass out. When all of the doctors got back to the hospital they got a phone call from Harry that came from inside the hospital. They soon figured out that he was in the basement near the main computer. The cops and Dr. Ross went down to the basement to find Benson. When they found Harry he took off running so the cop went after him. Dr. Ross went into the computer section and found the main computer smashed. Suddenly Benson came into the room and saw that Dr. Ross had his gun which she had found near the computer. Harry asked for the gun and Dr. Ross said no. Harry came up to her and tried to take it and she shot him in the chest and he died. 3. One personality trait in Harry is that he is smart and knows a lot about computers. This effects the story line because he felt that computers were taking over the world so he went and smashed up the main computer at the hospital. 4. “I’m a fallen man,” Benson said. “I’ve succumbed.” “To what?” “To the process of being turned into a machine. Or a time bomb.” Harry is telling Dr. Ellis about how he thinks machines are taking over the world. 5. I feel I am most like Harry. I am like him in that we are both somewhat intrigued by computers. I don’t, however, share in his idea that computers are concious and are trying to take over the world. 6. The biggest surprise and dissappointment of this book is when Harry died. I thought that he would live and the doctors could fix the computer and Harry would be fine but Dr. Ross shot him and he died. 7. One thing I would change is harry dying. I would have had Harry live and get the computer fixed so he would be alright. 8. My one sentance moral would be not to take computers for granted. I say this because they can easily have glitches and those mistakes can be costly and even fatal. 9. Yes, because it wasn’t boring and it has a good story line that was exciting.
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