Professor Ross Erricson and his computer research team from Cabrillo University near San Diego, California, have won a grand prize: Simon. A cognizant supercomputer with the ability to learn. Simon is installed at the University in a small, dungeon-like basement where Ross and his cohorts have decided to see if the computer can learn the English language (anyone who knows anything about language knows that English is EXTREMELY difficult to learn).

What Ross and his eager band of computer enthusiasts hadn't counted on, though, was how sensitive Simon could be. One of the walls in the computer basement abuts against a large holding tank for dolphins. And before Professor Erricson and his team can even begin to see how intelligent their new computer is, Simon begins to communicate with the clicking and whistling dolphins. And what Simon learns and passes on to Ross and his team is startling. Too much so for this reader.

Being a lover of fiction, one has to suspend belief when you're reading a novel. But not totally. For instance, in this novel: First, you'd have to believe that Professor Erricson and his rag-tag team could win this supercomputer over such colleges as Yale and Harvard. Not impossible.

Second, you'd have to believe that — after winning the competition — they'd be allowed to store this incredibly expensive and delicate piece of computing hardware in a damp, dank basement. Okay.

Thirdly, you'd have to believe that dolphins understand and communicate using the same spatial terms humans do (time in years, distance in feet or miles, names of places, etc.). Umm...okay.

Fourth, you'd have to believe that Jesus and all large religious figures of the past were aliens from another planet. Huh?

Fifth, you'd have to believe that humans are actually an alien species to Earth, and that we are basically violent morons because of some encoding in our DNA. Ah! But this can easily be fixed by drinking diluted seawater. What!

Sixth, you'd have to believe in the mythical city of Atlantis. Whoa there!

Okay, I've gone on far enough with this tangent. Some of you may be asking, "So why three quills?" Mainly because I have the audio version of this book. The audio version is done exceptionally well. Professional sounding, good voice-overs and special sound effects add to the enjoyment of the storytelling. I listened to this during a long trip I was taking. But even with these fine qualities, the glaring unbelievability of the story smacked at my conscientiousness.

The beginning of the audio book was exceptionally well done, though (thus the three quill review). We had character development and plot points all lined up. Nicely done. But by the time we get 3/4 of the way through, many characters fall away, new one's are introduced (quite distracting), and old plot threads are left dangling while new one's are thrust upon us. Some serious editing help might have been beneficial here.

The one question that lingered in my mind when I finished listening to this audio CD was, "Would I have been able to finish reading this if I'd picked up a printed copy?" I still question myself on that but am not brave enough to purchase the book, too. Still, if you like books on tape (or CD), you might enjoy this book during a long car trip.

 

B.M.

02/25/05