No comments about Eaters of the Dead (The 13th Warrior), The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922 [UNABRIDGED] (Audiobook).

No comments about Untitled Crichton.

No comments about The Lost World.

5 comments about The Andromeda Strain.

1. I read both this and Bill Clem's novel, Microbe, which has been compared to it, and I enjoyed Clem's book more. Not to say this wasn't good, but parts just fell flat for me, where in Clem's book, it's non-stop action and furious pace. Still I have to give it four stars for a great effort. if you haven't read Clem's novel Microbe, do yourself a favor and read it. then you can compare for yourself and see if the national reviewers were right.



2. It was about 15 years ago in my science class that I watched the movie Andromeda Strain, and I just finished reading the book last night in about 6 hours. Yes, it was difficult to put it down.
   
   The story line is simple yet compelling. Satellite falls down into a very small town, and all the people were dead in very strange ways. The most striking point is that their all of their blood has been clotted, dried like solid, inside their body. When more thorough investigation was done, there are two survivors. These survivals and the satellite are brought to top secret laboratory designed to contain and study extraterrestrial life form.
   
   Because the "disease" causes immediate death, group of scientists are at work to find solution or cure, as quickly as possible. As the scientists examine & learn more about the satellite & survivors, the plot thickens.
   
   Keep in mind this book was published almost 40 years ago. Author has done incredible research and the whole idea of laboratory designed for alien life form seemed "radical", and truly science fiction 40 years ago in my opinion.
   
   It's a great book to read, and I also recommend to watch the movie if you can find one.
   
   I also know & realize that the ending is not quite good as it could've been and I agree. However, the ending shouldn't be the judging point of a book.
   
   One other things people mentioned was that the book was too "scientific" & "technical". Author tried to explain basic biology & chemistry terms & ideas that was discussed in the book. I realize this may be confusing to some non-science people. Since I studied both chemistry & biology, I understood most of the techno-lingo. So be aware for non science people.



3. I saw a good portion of the Andromeda Strain on TV and it looked pretty interesting. I recalled that I had picked up the book at a book sale a few months ago so I got the book out and began reading.
   
   Normally, the book is much, much better than the movie, so if you liked the movie, you will love the book. Not so with this one. The book was very difficult to read - you get to a point where you don't care if you finish or not. The book started off pretty slow, but I thought it would improve. It did not, not even a little. The ending was horrible and really didn't seem to finish the story. There were a lot of loose ends (such as what happened with the infant and the old man?).
   
   The story is basically about a US satellite that brings back an extremely volatile virus from space. The virus kills just about everyone in a small town. It is studied in a top secret laboratory. I think they found a cure (it really was that boring).
   
   The book was filled with interesting computer-generated graphics that really didn't add anything to the reading experience and looked just weird. Of course, this book was also written in 1969, so maybe they considered that to be top-notch back then.
   
   I really don't recommend this book. This is the first time I would actually tell you to watch the movie as opposed to reading the book.
   
   I'm glad this was not the first Michael Crichton book I read, because it would have turned me off to his other books (I've read several of his other books and I love them).



4. Interesting flashback to an earlier version of medical science fiction. I read it after viewing the recent remake for TV of the film version, and in anticipation of viewing the original film version on DVD.
   The recent TV remake is better than the book, which today seems a little hackneyed. This long-ago first novel by Crichton included enough errors in the author's writing craft that, today, I must wonder how it ever got published.



5. I have read a ton of Crichton over the years. So I decided to read some of his earlier work starting with the Andromeda Strain. Overall, the book was a good read. I didn't really like the ending.

No comments about The Great Train Robbery [UNABRIDGED] (Audiobook).

1 comments about The Michael Crichton Collection: Airframe, The Lost World, and Timeline.

1. An absolutly enjoyable read/listen. Great entertainment! Hard to put down because you want to keep going!

5 comments about Next MP3 CD.

1. I'll start by saying that I've read a number of Michael Crichton's books. I've read Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Airframe, Rising Sun, and Prey. All of these novels have captivated me. They all rank among some of my favorite books that I've ever read. So how on Earth is it that Michael Crichton wrote this?
   
   Next doesn't really have a back-cover blurb because it's impossible to sum up what this book is about. Because it's about 30 different things. There really is no defining constant in this book. There's no real main character. There are numerous side plots that crop up everywhere and often serve no purpose. An example would be the random plot about Bellarmino's daughter taking fertility meds so she can sell her eggs. What purpose does that serve?
   
   There are isn't really a plot to Next. It follows a bunch of different groups of people, but these groups are loosely connected at best, and many of them don't even make it to the end of the book. One to name would be the plot surrounding the dead guy having his bones get stolen or the paternity test. These plots are never really resolved. They just end. In Jurassic Park, there is one sure goal. Survival. In Airframe, there is one sure goal. The truth. Next has no sure goal. And that really works against it.
   
   I've read several reviews that call Next chilling or freaky. However, the "fear" in Next amounts to a guy asking for a paternity test on blood that may not be human. Granted, when read, this is a pretty freaky request. But the plot really doesn't pan out, and it falls flat. One review called Next Crichton's best since Jurassic Park. But when put next to Jurassic Park, Next is sleep-inducing.
   
   Also, I'm from Columbus, Ohio. I automatically have to dock points for that. So, overall, I was shockingly disappointed with Next. I picked it up figuring, "Hey, it's Crichton. He's pretty awesome." But Next is far from awesome. It'll have you saying "next".



2. I really enjoyed this book. It was very thought provoking and funny in parts. the humour was necessary as if you really think about the topic (genetic modification and gene patenting), it is ultimately very scary.



3. I was surprised not to enjoy this book. It skipped around between characters excessively, and there were some fairly glaring errors (at least to me as a bird owner)that I would not have expected from someone who obviously tries to research his works at fully as possible. I hope no parrot owners out there have fed their birds avocado, as was done in the book...this can be lethal. Also...parrots don't have a sense of smell. Now if this was because Gerard was transgenic, I think it should have been elaborated on...could have been mentioned in a single sentence...no problem.
   
   All in all...I'd rather spend my time rereading some of his other work.



4. All I can say is wow this is a bad book. Bought it to read on a plane and barely finished simply because it was so awful. I came on here to see what other people were saying about it and decided to make an account just so I could give it a bad review. It was that bad. It was as if you could see Crichton getting caught up writing a crappy story, realizing it, and continuing it because he had publishing deadlines so he just threw it all together. Really terrible from an author who has some pretty good and entertaining earlier work.



5. Wow, I was really disappointed with this book. It started out so interesting and unique and then it go weird with all the science journal articles throughout, and it just fizzled out and got stupid at the end. It is really too bad because there were times when I thought things were going to get good and then they didn't. I think this could have been a great book, but it turned out to be a complete dud!

5 comments about Timeline.

1. This is not the strongest Crighton book. It drags in places as we count down the the escape time the trvelrs have to get back to modern time. It was a sluggish read.



2. My family listened to this book on tape and overall we enjoyed the story. ITC is a company that is promoting and refining the ability to time travel. However, there are some problems with the travel; the travelers sometimes come back with their bodies off set so that the right side doesn't quite line up with the left creating disfigured bodies and malfunctioning innards. So there's the problem, ITC is bent on making a killing on their technology and for that they need travelers who are unaware of the little problems that can result as they work out the glitches.
   
   We enjoyed the historical and architectural information throughout the book about 14th century medieval France. And we also were intrigued by quantum physics and the idea of time travel.
   
   I did find the characters to be uninteresting and predictable. The one exception to this was Andre's surprise decision at the end of their time in medieval France.
   
   I have never read or seen anything by Michael Crichton nor do I ever read science fiction so I had no idea what to expect from this genre or this author, but even down to my nine and eleven year old children enjoyed the story.



3. Excellent story of rising in the past, medieval history in the Perigord. A book also well documented. No stop in midair. Very good book.



4. I remember reading Timeline by Michael Crichton
   and getting sucked in by the high concept quantum
   foam wormholes and by the debunking of various medieval
   myths about height and bathing habits. It was a combination
   SF novel and history lesson. I started to notice some things.
   Some clumsy childish use of words like when a literary speed freak
   runs out of pills or powder. It kept happening and then I
   realized that behind the concept there was a vacuum.
   Then I asked myself, WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS THING?
   I knew who wrote it but I couldn't believe
   any one person could write such crap.
   It was manifestly and blatantly bad.
   I've heard the guy is kinda sadistic but
   what did I ever do to him?
   
   It was like he was bored and, after
   too many martini's, announced I'm going to write
   a crap book and we'll see if any reviewer has
   the nerve to call me out and say he wouldn't use it for toilet paper.
   Better yet I'll write the chapter outlines and I'll give
   it to my ten year old granddaughter to write.
   Nah, then they would say I'm writing a childrens book.
   Wait, I'll give it to Ann Rice and she'll
   get bored and farm it out to her editors and that
   will be my manifestly dedicatedly crap book.
   Not only won't any reviewer have the nerve to
   write a bad review but all my dedicated readers
   won't notice the difference even after the see the crap movie.
   They'll keep coming back for more crap.
   Not this time you wormhole.



5. A great book for someone looking for a deep, constantly changing, and different plot. There are no books that I know of that are anything like this book.

5 comments about Prey CD.

1. First I want to apologize with the readers of this review because of my English knowledge. My native language is Spanish, so you may find some mistakes here. (It will be great if someone wants to send me a comment with the mistakes for me to know)
   
   About the book: Is not to short, however all the action take place in a few days. Maybe that's why I felt like I was seeing a slow motion movie.
   
   The book is written as if the author were the protagonist of the action and, more often than not, he gives you a few paragraph about some technical details, what is great to let you know that all that happens may be possible in the real world, but sometimes feels like out of place. For example the protagonist is in a dangerous situation, and in that moment he takes time to gives us a long thought about how the wild animals behave and the reasons for that behavior.
   
   At the end all the credible theories finish with a revelation worth of a bad science fiction story.
   
   I had to make a pause in the reading about the middle of the book (because I was boring) and then after a while, start reading again to know how everything ends.



2. Crichton does a fabulous job of portraying how our human ignorance can lead us down a path of no turning back. How much do we really know about how computer technology works? What explains the strange anomolies that appear in computer code? "Prey" shows us just one hypothetical example of what could happen. It also makes you wonder how long before science fiction turns into science.



3. Prey is set mainly in the Nevada desert. At a research lab, an experiment with limited intelligence, nano technology, has gone wrong. Some of the nano particles have escaped into the atmosphere, and are starting to learn, adapt and multiply outside of the laboratory environment. As they become more intelligent, they start to become a threat to the scientists
   inside their facility.
   
   I found this book slow moving at first. We are introduced to the main character, Jack Forman, an unemployed IT expert, and his family. His wife works at the research lab, in the desert, but the first part of the book deals mainly with Jack, and the increasingly strange behaviour of his wife. I suppose this is good from the character building point of view.
   
   Once, he visits the research lab, however, the book starts to get going, and the suspense starts to build, as they realise the enormity of the problem that they have on their hands, and the novel becomes a race against time, to destroy the nano particles. Overall, a fairly good read, with a few twists, reasonably good characterisation, but, also, very 'technical' in places.



4. Michael Crichton does it again with another brilliant book covering fictional scientific story elements. I am a huge fan of Michael Crichton work and he continues to satisfy his intelligent base of fans with another page turning book. I read this entire piece over the holiday weekend and I was consumed from the first chapter. Michael has a rare gift in developing stories that move and characters that evolve; creating a wonderful mix of science, fiction, and entertainment.



5. For the third straight book from Michael Crichton that I've been disappointed. He really needs to re-read his earlier novels to capture that magic again.
   
   This book was predictable and the characters were so flaw that it was hard to root for them instead you rooted against them. It reminded me a lot of a book I just finished, Mount Dragon, but that one was a lot better. I've been a fan of Crichton for a long time and hopes he get his act together.
   
   To sum it up, this was plain awful and if you need a good Crichton fix, read Congo, Jurassic Park, or Sphere. Maybe next time, the real Michael Crichton will stand up.

5 comments about State of Fear.

1. I don't have a problem with bad science in fiction, or the author's point of view. But, it's presented in a totally ham-fisted manner here. The book begins with extensive descriptions of environmentalists as evil and/or ignorant. So, I figure Crichton's weaving a plot twist, and it will turn out the environmentalists are being framed. But no, they're lying, evil, murderous scum from the beginning to the end. No twist.
   
   And, he inserts several lengthy lectures as to how fighting pollution is more dangerous than allowing it unchecked. And the wonders of DDT and benzene. And how academia is corrupt while industry scientists are noble and pure. And how anyone who understands the issues comes around to the pro-industry view. And how mainstream environmentalists funnel millions of dollars to terrorists.
   
   Again, I had no expectation that the author of Jurassic Park would make it scientifically accurate. I was expecting fiction. But, the shrill anti-environmentalism makes it advocacy, not entertainment.
   
   ===== Update ======
   
   Today I read his comments at the end. In it, he claims that government scientists usually repeat the positions of the government that funds them. Coincidentally, this story is on the front page of today's Washington Post:
   
   "Members of Vice President Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by global warming, a former Environmental Protection Agency official said today."
   
   So, rather than repeating the party line, government scientists have instead risked their careers to tell the truth, namely that global warming is a real threat.



2. Oh my goodness, how I love the old Chricton ---intriguing concepts based on the latest new and cutting-edge technology - combined with a wonderful, page-turning story! State of Fear is another example of Chrichton's reincarnation - as an "I'll try to put a story around it - but I really want to lecture to my readers" type writer.
   
   Admittedly, he probably took a risk. There are a lot of environmentalists out there that probably weren't thrilled about his latest line of thinking. While I think he could have picked a better issue (the whole book is really about how some people over-hype global warming - not that there isn't such a thing), what I really wanted and expected was the great novel I've come to expect when the Chricton name is on the cover. I didn't receive it.
   
   It's not that he hasn't done his research. It's not that he doesn't know how to write (though I couldn't defend it from this book). It's just that, to me, it seems he's fallen into believing that his books are better served expressing his point of view and beating the heads of his readers over with it (who have paid for the not-so-pleasure), instead of creating powerful, page-turning, thought-provoking stories.
   
   Oh, how I miss that great story-teller Chricton.



3. Are we still having this worn-out debate after all these years? My God, even when strong-armed by the Bush administration, his own science advisors had to tell him the truth that global warming is a fact. Thank goodness, the National Academy of Science could not be embarrassed into providing what the president wanted to hear!
   
   Let's get on with the solutions.
   
   Regarding the writing, I have somewhat enjoyed other Crichton novels, but the characters are so flat here one could cut them out with scissors. The "dumb" environmentalists are laughable as succumbing to "fear." I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator made both scientists and their benefactors sound like buffoons. For a while, I thought that Mike Myers would show up to at least offer the reader some comic relief
   
   If you want to look at a state of fear, just look last 7 ½ years of the Bush Administration and that's not fiction.



4. This is a great book. It is a good read and unveils the hoax of Global Warming and the religion it has become. Crichton does an excellent job and keeps you interested all the way through. The facts he uses are well researched and will make you wonder what Al Gore and his friends are really up to.
   
   If you like good fiction, based on real facts, and want a great read then get this book. You are in for a treat!



5. This book's got its story all over the place! It switches setting like every chapter. I don't like this. Gets confusing and sometimes I don't get what's going on.