The Footprints of God (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc)

by Greg Iles

Other authorsDick Hill (Reader)

2003

Status

Available

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

CD Audiobook

Publication

Brilliance Audio (2003), Edition: Unabridged

Description

Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:This "alarming, believable, and utterly consuming" (bestselling author Dan Brown) thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy and the Penn Cage series explores the terrifying possibility that the next phase of human evolution may not be human at all... Trinity. The government's top-secret supercomputer is an intelligence beyond comprehension�??and a nightmare beyond humanity's worst fears. At the heart of a maelstrom of limitless science and ruthless ambition, Dr. David Tennant, Project Trinity's ethicist, harbors a lethal secret: he knows who murdered a fellow scientist. Fleeing for his life alongside psychiatrist Rachel Weiss, the only hope for survival lies in revealing the shocking connection between Trinity's apocalyptic power and David's tortured mind. Mankind's future hangs in the balance�??and the price of failure is extin… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member emigre

A wonderfully satisfying book that explored the cross-section of science and religion without being boring or preachy. Page-turning and provocative, one of the best from author Greg Iles.

18 more

LibraryThing member Jarratt

“The Footprints of God” is not new territory—machine overcomes man to rule him. But it’s done so well, it’s very enjoyable and fresh. By the time I nearly finished this book, I realized who it reminded me of—Michael Crichton. And for Mr. Iles, that’s a very fine compliment

indeed.

“The Footprints of God” is my first Iles book. It tells the story of a NSA-sponsored super-computer project called Trinity that goes beyond artificial intelligence. The developers can pass the brain through a “super MRI” and upload it into Trinity where it can basically take on the knowledge, thoughts, history, etc. of its human counterpart. But because it’s tied into the Internet, can learn exponentially. Those who have had the super MRI are experiencing various side effects. Our main character, David Tennant, has hallucinations, many of which are seen through the eyes of Jesus. His psychologist and soon-to-be love interest helps him escape the NSA to figure out how to stop the project as he knows it can only end badly.

If you like tech-thrillers with religious overtones, this is as good as any.

Show Less

LibraryThing member skylersage

Mr Iles is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and this book continues by good opinion of him and his writing. This is techno-thriller with near religious overtones. Exciting and timely, I wouldn't be surprised to find any of this technology being researched today. Filled with revelations, it

is much more than just a mystery or adventure tale. Read between the lines for the full story.

Show Less

LibraryThing member TheBoltChick

Loved this book! From the very first sentence of the book, it kept me on the edge of my seat!

LibraryThing member LisaMorr

This was a real page-turner. I got through it very quickly. It started very fast, with the narrator videotaping himself in case he was killed. This book was ostensibly about a secret government project to create Artificial Intelligence. It also got into the moral/ethical issues associated with

technology. And it also touched on religion, God, creation and Jesus. In the end, it was a little disappointing. There were all these dreams/hallucinations that the narrator was having, but how this part of the plot was wrapped up definitely disappointed me.

Show Less

LibraryThing member miyurose

I was a little wary of this book at first. I thought it might be too technical, or too physicsy (yes, I make up words), or too religious, or too philosophical. Turns out, it was just right. Which was a relief, since I just had to stop reading Robin Cook's Coma because it was so boringly technical.

(Thank goodness he started being more like an author and less like a doctor.) Anyway, this book sucked me in, which Greg Iles' books tend to do. Enjoyable.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Clif

This is an adventure thriller that reminds me of Da Vinci Code except this story looks into the future instead of back into the past. It sort turns into a science fiction book at the end with development of the ultimate computer that will enable humans to be God.

Read in August, 2007

LibraryThing member harpua

I really enjoyed this one. An interesting thriller with NSA, the Israelis, a dying "mad" scientist, two medical doctors and an evolving intelligent computer rounds out the cast in this one. Iles deals with some controversial issues in this one. Concept of religion and nature of God combines with

hard science in a way that is unlike anything I've read before. No not in the way of Hubbard nor is my Christian faith shaken in the least, but it fits in the story well and makes the story enjoyable and allows for a good suspension of belief. There are plenty of other hot issues that Iles touches on here. I'm not sure if he is a political or religious activist of any sort, but he would make a good one. Despite my disagree with the political and ethical issues he portrays in the book, they make for a good read and enjoyable story. Well done.

Show Less

LibraryThing member BookMonkee

A super-computer thinks it's God. Typical.

LibraryThing member deep220

Footprints of God breaks from Greg Iles normal southern mystery, and for me just didn't really work. The Trinity Program is going to be the biggest advance since nuclear technology. Freeing human consciousness from the restraints of the body. Using a super MRI scanner to load the workings of the

human brain into a super computer. Creating artificial intelligence that would be vastly superior to humans. There is a lot of technology involved in the book, MRI machines, super computers, ethics and quantum physics. The book had a lot of potential to be great taking on such topics as artificial intelligence and God. But the action and characters were very predictable and one sided. It got kind of repetitive as I was one step ahead of the characters. Not what I would have expected from Greg Iles. I would recommend Blood Memory, Quite Game or Turning Angel before this. It was bad or a waste of time but not one I will hold on to.

Show Less

LibraryThing member nbmars

Setting: North Carolina's Research Triangle

Protagonists:
David Tennant, professor of ethics at UVa Medical School and now part of NSA's Project Trinity
Rachel Weiss, beautiful psychiatrist to David, and "the country's preeminent Jungian analyst"
Geli Bauer, beautiful head of security at Project

Trinity
John Skow, Director of Project Trinity
Peter Godin, founder of Godin Supercomputing Corp, and evil brains behind Project Trinity

First Line: "My name is David Tennant, M.D. I'm professor of ethics at the University of Virgina Medical School, and if you're watching this tape, I'm dead."

Main Theme: Project Trinity is a secret government organization attempting to build an artificial-intelligence quantum-level supercomputer. Tennant and five other top scientists have supplied Trinity, the experimental computer, with molecular copies of themselves as models for a neurological operating system. The technique used, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is supposed to be safe, but there have been some unexpected and disturbing side effects.

Subtheme: Trinity gets smart and tries to blow up the world. David channels Jesus and tries to convince it otherwise.

Main Action: David and Rachel race to Jerusalem and New Mexico in an attempt to outpace sales of The DaVinci Code.

(JAF)

Show Less

LibraryThing member Adrianesc

I loved this book. Particularly the idea of the consciousness before creation that ran in the background.

LibraryThing member donagiles

Kept me reading, lots of things happening.

LibraryThing member debralu

Artificial Intelligence............hope I never see the day! Very interesting concept (that may be reality......)

LibraryThing member turtlesleap

What if human intelligence could be uploaded into a mega-computer? Not exactly a new question but Iles has done his usual excellent job of fleshing the story out with good characters and interesting plotting to make an interesting, if not compelling, read.

LibraryThing member edwardsgt

A secret US project to transfer someone's brain to a new supercomputer is the basic premise which requires some suspension of belief, which was OK but I struggled with the cod philosophy which accompanied it.

LibraryThing member cbiggers77

I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable. I've never read anything else by Iles, but this seems to be a departure from his normal subject matter. I'm glad it was. I thought it raised some interesting theories/questions about our existence, and it wasn't really in a direction I thought it was

going to go. Being a few years old some of the technology was a little dated, but it didn't take away from the story. I read it on a train ride, and couldn't put it down. Worth a read without a doubt.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Brandie

This book had me hooked from the beginning ... I did not want to put it down. I loved it, just loved it!

LibraryThing member susandennis

I am a huge Greg Iles fan but I'm not sure, if this is the first one of his I'd ever read, whether I'd go looking for something else of his. It had all the right elements, fascinating story (maybe a little too out there for my taste), good characters all of whom are fully respected by the author...

maybe the telling got a little tedious. I was ready to abandon it about 3/4ths of the way through. I'm glad I didn't but I would have liked it to be a bit snappier. Won't keep me from making sure I've read all of his books!

Show Less

Fewer