before he gets booted to the curb with his cardboard box, he surreptitiously injects many of his little cells into his own body so he can continue his experiments in the privacy of his own home. Soooo - okay - quick plot for you plotty folks out there - genius bad boy scientist gets fired from job for meddling with mammalian cells and conducting experiments outside of his job description. i have zero background in the genre, but for whatever reason, brian thought it would be amusing if i reviewed this. I don't know that i am the best person to review sci-fi books. So i read this because bird-brian told me to. (dude, you seriously want an audio version of this?) This mirrors the major phases of cell cycle: interphase and mitosis.I HAVE BEEN TOLD THIS REVIEW IS SPOILERY!! BEWARE!! The book's structure is titled 'inter-phase', 'prophase', 'metaphase', 'anaphase', 'telophase', and 'interphase'. The reason for the noocytes' inability to remain in this reality is somewhat related to the strong anthropic principle.

This civilization, which incorporates both the evolved noocytes and recently assimilated conventional humans, is eventually forced to abandon the normal plane of existence in favor of one in which thought does not require a physical substrate. Through infection, conversion, and assimilation of humans and other organisms, the cells eventually aggregate most of the biosphere of North America into a region seven thousand kilometers wide. The infected can even have conversations with their noocytes, some reporting that the cells seem to sing. Ulam's eyesight, posture, strength, and intelligence are all improved. The people who are infected start to find that genetic faults such as myopia and high blood pressure get fixed.

The nanoscale civilization they construct soon begins to transform Ulam, then others.

Inside Ulam's body, the noocytes multiply and evolve rapidly, altering their own genetic material and quickly becoming self-aware. Faced with orders from his nervous employer to destroy his work, he injects them into his own body, intending to smuggle the 'noocytes' (as he calls them) out of the company and work on them elsewhere. In the novel, renegade biotechnologist Vergil Ulam creates simple biological computers based on his own lymphocytes.

Blood Music by Greg Bear