Bug Park

by James P. Hogan

Book Overview

Visionary teens Kevin and Taki realize that they could make millions from Bug Park, a micro mechanical entertainment park that employs direct neural interfacing, but a murderous saboteur forces them... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671877739
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.2" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

BUG PARK

BUG PARK James Hogan delves into the world of micro robotics, corporate greed, and the realm of virtual gaming to create this extremely entertaining novel. Let me sum the book up like this; teenage friendship, a cheating step mother, an easy going scientific father, the fathers military minded best friend and business partner, micro sized robots ran by DNC: Direct Neural Coupling, Ex-business partner wishing to steal the patent for DNC. This book was much more entertaining than I had expected.The story starts with a bang and ends with an atomic blast.Bug Park is a light read and comes across a bit different than other works by Hogan.I was truly upset that I ran out of pages to read. James Hogan has been added to my must read authors list. I highly recommend this book.

Welcome to the world of the very small

At first glance at the cover you might think, gee, this is a kid's book. A book about bugs and tiny robots and adventure. But this book is not for kids. It has greed and murder and physics and explosions and tiny chainsaws. It has a complexe plot, interesting characters, great technology and even a feel good ending. Oh, and don't forget guns, money and lawyers. A great book. But of course, this is JAMES P. HOGAN.

Bug Park a Fun Ride

This book was nothing like I expected. There may not be a lot of character development, but what fun! I could not put it down. From a Murder story, to advance technology theme parks and corporate espionage. This is fast paced. A good light read. Hogan knows how to take you on a rollercoaster ride. Get this book for fun. And just relax and enjoy....

Hogan comes through with Bug Park

I rarely find the time for pleasure reading these days, so the books I pick have to be good. All too often, I'll pick up something that sounds good on the cover, only to be disappointed somewhere, and leave it half-read. But not so with novels by James P. Hogan. Since discovering his work in "The Genesis Machine" in '78, I have MADE the time to read each new novel. "Bug Park" was no disappointment. The story line is interesting, the characters are charming and believable, and the technological underpinnings are largely believable. Definitely a fun, feel-good novel. Though I am still skeptical that Direct Neural Connection is "near future" technology (~25 years away), the novel has captivated my interest in micro-robotics and nano technology! Having recently finished it, it makes me want to re-read Genesis Machine (Hogan uses DNC technology in that novel, but in a different way). Thanks, Mr. Hogan, for another great novel! [Bug Park fans: Who do you think controlled the evil mech near the end of the novel? Recommendations on Hoganesque writers?]

Wanna be a kid again?

Mr. Hogan bounces back from the disappointing PATHS TO OTHERWHERE with this fun story. The plot involves two companies dealing in "microbotics" -- miniature human controlled robots. There is a rivalry between the two over the best way to control the robots -- clunky VR helmets, or Direct Neural Coupling, a neural interface that lets a user feel that he is the robot. But that's just background. The fun of the story is tagging along with the main character, Kevin, and his best friend Taki, as they explore and experiment in the realm of the tiny. Kevin and Taki are both 15 years old and, refreshingly, neither of them are portrayed as idiots, small-sized adults, or hormone-drenched self-obsessed nitwits. They are definitely kids, however, both in their view of the world (everything is a challenge to be tackled -- TODAY!) and in how they view adults. At one point, Kevin is disoriented by one adult (a lawyer) who refuses to do something that obviously needs doing. In one of the funniest moments of the novel, he doesn't push the point, but thinks to himself that sooner or later he will understand why adults sometimes do what they do -- after all, it must make sense somehow! My only complaints are that the main bad guy is never really in doubt and so the reader never has a chance to experience the sense of betrayal that some of the characters have; and that Mr. Hogan gives us some fascinating challenges to relativity (not Quantum Mechanics, RELATIVITY fer cryin' out loud!) as throw-aways. They are never developed, and the character who holds these views (the view being, mainly, that most of "relativity" -- if not all of it -- is explainable by classical mechanics) is offstage most of the time. It's funny, fascinating and infuriating all at once. I only hope that he writes a future novel with these ideas at its center, rather than in the peripheries. This is one of the few recent SF books that I've read (not to mention recent SF authors) who have that much-hailed "sense of wonder" that SF is supposed to embody. Thankfully, Mr. Hogan keeps giving us another book every year or so, and I can only hope that he continues to do so for a long time.