The Expert on Everything - a novel [Paperback]

Edward David Gil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

"The Expert on Everything" is a story of political intrigue the spine of which concerns a young man unexpectedly receiving a technology to eradicate the concept of privacy in our "post 9-11" world. Not just tapping phone lines, this story examines how much privacy we will trade for national security against a background of competing corporate and political interests. (first chapter preview available; click on "preview" after clicking on cover).

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847287263
• ISBN-13: 978-1847287267
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,428,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many different storylines to maintain coherence and focus, October 2, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Expert on Everything - a novel (Paperback)

The storyline here suffers from severe overload, which causes it to bounce around and lose the reader. A few years earlier, a terrorist dirty (radiation) bomb had exploded in the United States, rendering a major city uninhabitable. As a consequence, the American people were willing to accept a great deal of restrictions on their liberties and tolerate an enormous amount of additional government surveillance.
A company called Vector is developing a supercomputer powered by a high level of artificial intelligence that can scan all the national inputs, including surveillance cameras, phone conversations, e-mails and purchase records. Furthermore, the device, codenamed Wallace, is small enough to be wearable and can link directly into the human mind. This renders the person it is attached to extremely powerful and raises enormous issues regarding the power of government over the people due to lack of privacy. Naturally, there is a great deal of interest in the prototype; people are willing to kill to possess it.
This alone is enough to create a powerful story, but the author chooses to introduce many other subplots. There is a popular television show called "Guns & Butter" where the male and female stars insult each other and their guests. A great deal of ink is spent in explaining the inner machinations of the show, including the sexual affairs among the principles. One of the developers of Wallace is of Muslim extraction and he possesses hypnotic powers. He not only uses them to influence those he does business with, but he also uses the power to convince a suicide bomber that he is already in paradise after detonating his bomb.
Furthermore, there is a sexually frustrated and sadistic aid to a Senator, a wheelchair-bound genius who is also a killer, U. S. military viceroys ruling over Iraq and Syria and the expressed hope that Wallace will be used to create an American empire around the world. With so much peripheral action, it was very difficult to follow the main storyline and the conclusion was one without a great deal of resolution.

5.0 out of 5 stars Privacy really doesn't exist in this techno-book by Edward David Gil, May 20, 2008

By 

Richard Mathiason "SEO Specialist" (Belen, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Expert on Everything - a novel (Paperback)

I have always been a science fiction fan as well as a technology geek. Edward David Gil's book 'The Expert On Everything' takes you on a ride that could be very real in the not to distant future.

What if there was a device similar to an IPod that could give you information about anything or anyone and do that in real time. Good Bye to your privacy. Even though this is a Novel, the book portrays a very real possibility. What is really scary is that if mankind can think it, then it usually is not far from becoming reality.

In the book there is only one device available and it is the prototype. It does not take too much imagination to know that once the word gets out about the device, anyone and everyone would like to get their hands on it.

Edward grapples with privacy issues and whether privacy rights should take precedence in this day of a global economy.

It is an excellent read. It is even more significant in the post 911 times we live. We do not hear anything from the candidates about all the rights that have been suspended and how they are going to restore those rights.

I heartily recommend you buy this book as it will entertain along with educating you about the times we are living and the possible future we could experience.

Richard Mathiason