FREETHE FEAR INDEX EBOOK Robert Harris | 400 pages | 18 Jun 2012 | Cornerstone | 9780099553274 | English | London, United Kingdom The Fear Index - Wikipedia Alexander Hoffmann is having a very bad day. It The Fear Index in the wee hours of the morning, when The Fear Index startles an intruder in his palatial home in Geneva. The man, who bypassed the security system, is determinedly sharpening the The Fear Index cutlery and has brought along some bondage gear. He slams Alex over the head with a fire extinguisher and flees. Alex, a hedge fund executive with so much money that being part of the 1 percent might seem unambitious, has to go to the hospital for scans and stitches. Lots and lots of The Fear Index. Behind it all is a sense that everything has been orchestrated, seemingly by Alex himself. But who is really pushing the buttons? He has built it with a team of top scientists, selected for technical brilliance above all other traits. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, naturally. Harris seems to be saying there was a time we might have called the The Fear Index thing off by pulling the plug on a single machine. Of course, the Internet long predated the Web. This is creepy fun. Less fun. The book arrives in the years after a financial meltdown caused in part by Wall Street hubris. Harris is not coy about his feelings toward these giants of capitalism. His billionaires make money while seeming to make nothing else of value. But the sentiment sounds ominous to those who fear the expanding power of corporations in politics and policy. Humans have emerged as The Fear Index top predators of the biosphere, but Harris warns that a new life form, brilliant and brutal, could be emerging from our algorithms, silicon chips and fiber-optic lines. Will we survive the rise of the machines? In evolution, as with a prospectus, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Book Review Nervous System. Home Page World U. The Fear Index by Robert Harris – review | Books | The Guardian Together with his partner, an investment banker, Hoffmann has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions, e. Together with his partner, an investment banker, Hoffmann has developed The Fear Index revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions, enabling it to predict movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But then in the early hours of the morning, The Fear Index he lies asleep with his wife, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of their lakeside house. So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him. His quest forces him to confront the deepest questions of what it is to be human. By the time night falls over Geneva, the financial markets will be in turmoil and Hoffmann's world - and ours - transformed forever. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want The Fear Index Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating The Fear Index. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. His name is carefully guarded from the general public but within the secretive inner circles of the ultra-rich Dr Alex Hoffmann is a legend - a visionary scientist whose computer software turns everything it touches into gold. Together with his partner, an investment banker, Hoffmann has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions, e His name is carefully guarded from the general public but within the secretive inner circles of the ultra-rich Dr Alex Hoffmann is a legend - a visionary scientist whose computer software turns everything it touches into gold. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. GenevaSwitzerland. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Fear Indexplease sign up. Who texts Alex the address of the intruder when Alex is following him? If yes, why? Thomas S This answer contains spoilers… The Fear Index spoiler [of course vixal it no longer The Fear Index hoffman, it replaces hoffman hide spoiler ]. This question contains spoilers… view spoiler [So why did the AI tried to kill Alex? Was it because as it has been suggested the AI thought that was what Alex wanted? Along with the book and making the gallery opening a "success"? Or was it because it wanted to scare Alex to death and kill its creator. Thomas S This answer contains spoilers… view spoiler [vixal has replaced hoffman vixal is indifferent to hoffman except when he tries to The Fear Index vixal hide spoiler ]. See 2 questions about The Fear Index…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Fear Index. Oct 17, Manda Scott rated it did not like it. I read this book for two reason. First, Mariella The Fear Index said it was wondrous Radio 4 and second, a friend in publishing said they were 'spitting mad' that Harris could turn out a 'half finished' book and have it sell by the bucket load when everyone else had to polish theirs to perfection and still didn't sell half as many. So The Fear Index that kind of bipolar recommendation, I had to have a look. And my friend in publishing wins. Clearly Harris has reached the point of being uneditable because I wou I read this book for two reason. Clearly Harris has reached the point of being uneditable because I wouldn't hand in a first draft with so many holes in it, so badly written and he not only hands it in, but has it published without so much as a red pen clean-up of the text. This doesn't quite make the The Fear Index Vinci Code look like Chaucer as was once famously said of another 'literary' author but it's not far off. The basic premise is clever: look at hedge funds and how they cleaned up during the crash. But the rest of the The Fear Index the The Fear Index factor, in fact, is The Fear Index and so absurdly full of holes it's not worth trying to tie it together. Our 'hero' the ultra nerd who has made the programme that is doing this is being targetted by someone who is clearly trying to drive him mad. Or maybe he's mad in the first place and doing it to himself and doesn't know it. That cloak is trailed half way through and goes nowhere except that we find he had a nervous breakdown when at CERN Dan Brown fans note: to sell by the bucket load, mention CERN at least 3 times a page for a bit and has a cupboard full of antidepressants so it might be that his mysterious night visitor who clonks him on the bonce with a fire extinguisher is, in fact, him. Or then again not, because it's pretty hard to hit yourself with a fire extinguisher, so maybe he's just invited a madman into the house, given him the key codes to the super-effective security system and wants to die. And wants to be divorced from his artistic wife why she is married to a man in advanced Asberger's is not made clear except that he gave her a house worth EU60 million. Women, evidently, do things that defy logic. Who'd have thunk it? As 'research'. What kind of research is it doing and what has it learned? Who knows. And frankly, who cares? Which is all very sad given that I loved 'Fatherland' and 'Archangel' and did kind of think Robert Harris was a 'literary' thriller writer but only if Laura Wilson and Andrew The Fear Index are literary thriller The Fear Index and both are a far more literate and b far more thrilling - now, he's sub par, below Dan Brown. This feels like something he crunched out between rounds of 'Angry Birds' and then slammed his editor's The Fear Index on the desk when the poor infant tried to suggest the odd tweak here or there. Unless the first draft was worse than this, which is a truly terrifying thought. I used to love Robert Harris and I still think, 'Ghost' was intelligent and clever The Fear Index funny. But I'm not planning to read another in a hurry - and Mariella? Sorry, love, you just lost all credibility. View all 6 comments. Apr 02, James rated it it was amazing. It is compelling, engaging and feels all too frighteningly feasible — this is a novel where The Fear Index world of high finance, market prediction and manipulation meets those of high science, artificial intelligence, machine- learning algorithms and much more besides. I read this book because it offered a theme that I had used in one of my early novels, "The Day Trader" first published in when day trading was only just emerging: what would happen if a complex, computer assisted algorithm for day trading The Fear Index wildly awry? As I live in Greenwich, CT, I actually The Fear Index quite curious after reading a review to see how Harris treated this theme as it relates to hedge fund trading in Geneva. With the steady emergence of artifical intelligence in IBM's Watson, who I read this book because it offered a theme The Fear Index I had used in one of my early novels, "The Day Trader" first published in when day trading was only just emerging: what would happen if a complex, computer assisted algorithm for day trading went wildly awry? With the steady emergence of artifical intelligence in The Fear Index Watson, who became a "Jeopardy" champion and just was offered a new job on Wall Street, the theme seemed rather timely now, too.