Surprisingly current, despite being more than 20 years old. A lot of the discussion of the science here is similar to what’s happening in AI right now – neural networks, deep learning, algorithms that become unpredictable over time, etc. 

The book itself is peak Crichton – cool science, stock characters, casual misogyny (but this time it’s a stay at home dad! Oh but he also goes on long tangents about how men are treated unfairly in a divorce, and how women scheme to rip them off, which has zero relevance to the story).

Overall it’s a fun read, definitely among the better Crichton books that I’ve read…until the last section, which is so cartoonishly bad it ruined the whole thing. The last 50 pages take the plot and characters into such a dumb place that I was stunned.