Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
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Book Reviews of Jurassic Park
Book Review: A Jurassic Review
Summary: 5 Stars
As the reader cracks open, and begins to read the first few pages of this 400 page novel, one may start to think that it is realistic fiction. It is fiction indeed, but more along the lines of science fiction.Jurassic Park, created on an island privately owned by Dr. Hammond, a certifiable dinosaur fanatic, is the home of the latest, and most successful dinosaur cloning techniques. It is unknown to the public, but when finished, with everything from the smallest, duck-sized compys, to the enormous, supreme Tyrannosaurus Rex (commonly known as T-Rex), it is going to be a tourist attraction; kind of like a zoo.
The main character in the story, Dr. Alan Grant, is a paleontologist with a vast knowledge of dinosaurs, and happens to know a lot about reptiles as well. Ian Malcolm is also a vital component o Jurassic Park. He is a mathematician with a lot of logical sense, and is very book smart as well. In fact, he has his own theory called the Malcolm Effect. He uses this to predict catastrophic changes in the latter parts of the story. Dr. Wu is the biologist responsible for creating and duplicating the dinosaur DNA. Arnold is a systems manager who plays an important role managing the parks power supply and security systems. Dennis Nedry is the man in charge of running all of the parks computer programs and security systems. He is Arnolds boss.
The problems start in Jurassic Park when Nedry shuts down the main power to the park, in the middle of a storm, to make an illicit transaction worth 1.5 million dollars. When he shuts the main power down, power to the electrical fences that contain the dinosaurs is also shut down, leaving the park extremely vulnerable to a dinosaur takeover. Nedry never completes the transaction, but is in fact killed by an escaped dilophosaur. Arnold is expecting him to come back to turn the power on, but since he never returns, the power remains off long enough for some very dangerous dinosaurs to escape.
Now the characters of Jurassic Park must face their ultimate fear in- coming face to face with the massive powers of these long extinct creatures. Will they be killed in the powerful jaws of the T-Rex? Or will they be skillfully hunted down by the intellectual raptors? Maybe survival is still in the picture, but nobody knows..
In the eyes of this reviewer, Jurassic Park is a very powerful novel with great insight into the ever-lasting debate of whether science should continue forward, discovering the realms of nature, or reside in peace and harmony with nature. This novel is full of suspense, excitement, and intrigue. Now the reviewer encourages anybody who can get their hands on this enticing book, which provides an educational experience that will leave you thinking.
Book Review: Kudos to Messrs. Crichton and Spielberg
Summary: 5 Stars
Their talents to entertain and enlighten are richly rewarded, as well they should be. In a world where boredom is the biggest problem humans face, these may be the supreme contributions.Now, to business
We have a story told first by Michael Crichton in book form, then by Steven Spielberg in motion picture form. The stories are different. Therein lies an opportunity . . . an opportunity to examine differing views of the world. I saw the movie, then bought the home video and viewed it over and over. Recently, I read the book to get some points for a reading program at my children's school. The book is good, really good, but it differs from the movie. The book is "darker" than the movie, in my opinion. But, the book came first, so shouldn't I discount what the movie did to the story? No. I love my right eye and I love my left eye. Each gives me a slightly different view of the world, but I don't plan to pluck either out. Stereovision is great!
What is different in the book and movie? For one thing, Tim and Lex switch ages. For another, Tim keeps his dinosaur expertise, while Lex picks up computer knowledge. A nice touch. One kid having all the smarts is one-sided, bullying if you will. Dr. Sattler was more believable in the movie, in my opinion, playing the huntress homing in on a father for her future children. Ian Malcolm showed he thought about something other than Chaos Theory. In fact, Ian should have spent even more time on sex and less on pitting his pitifully small theories against the vastness of Nature.
John Hammond, the entrepreneur, got quite a drubbing in the book. Maybe they made him a bit too cuddly in the movie, but some corrective was needed. John, the dreamer, the monomaniac with a mission, is believable when he pursues his vision in spite of setbacks and nay-saying. Could what he attempted eventually come to pass? Sure. Kitty Hawk (1903) to Concorde (1970); "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" (1870) to Nautilus (1954); "From the Earth to the Moon" (1865) to the Moon landing (1969). One hundred years is a long time. "Jurassic Park" (1990) to "Cenozoic Park (20--)" is only a matter of time.
Hammond's attempts to control populations by having only females came unglued when some females turned into males (read the book for details). Nature will not be denied, Ian said. Sex will out. Females started laying fertile eggs which hatched into young dinosaurs, thus breaking the population controls imposed by the designers. . . . Questions nag at the edge of consciousness: If today's controllers succeed in mashing all Races into one, will Nature eventually find a way for Races to re-emerge? Will Nature not be denied and Race will out?
Book Review: Thrilling to the End
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Crichton has a way of pulling the reader to the edge of their seat and making them stay there. His best-known novel Jurassic Park is perhaps the best example of Crichton's writing abilities. The story builds gradual tension until halfway through the book and then stresses your sanity almost to the point where you want to drop the book and run screaming for the door--but you can't. He's hooked you.
Jurassic Park begins in Central America, detailing a string of seemingly unrelated animal attacks. The animals are identified as procompsognathus, a species of dinosaur that has supposedly been dead for millions of years. The archaeologists called in to investigate are whisked away to another island which is revealed to be breeding dinosaurs from DNA recovered in amber deposits. The owners plan to turn the island into an amusement park. A scientist from a rival company attempts to steal the DNA, accidentally knocking out the power and hurling the entire park into total chaos. The rest of the novel details the park's human inhabitants' attempts at escape as the dinosaurs roam free.
Crichton's style differs largely from that of other thriller writers in many ways. First, he pays delicate attention to detail. The theories put forward in the book are obviously well thought-out, if implausible. Especially on technology, Crichton does his best to explain every event that is happening in fathomable. Crichton uses this technique to play with time, speeding through the unexciting and unimportant parts and dragging out suspenseful scenes to their breaking point.
Crichton also doesn't seem to mind if he gives his reader nightmares or high blood pressure. Many parts of the book are gloves-off, bare-boned terror - if he needs to explicitly describe the gruesome death of a character for dramatic effect, he will do so, no holds barred. His stories also seem eerily real - he backs up his ideas with evidence, and his evidence with more evidence. Crichton isn't afraid to bend the truth in order to make his stories more believable. He does it quite often. The book received criticism from scientists for not being accurate, but that didn't stop it from becoming popular.
The book is probably best suited for those around ten or eleven and up. Those younger than that would be easily scared by the book. It is also not for the faint of heart, as it contains graphic scenes of violence. Jurassic Park is aimed at a mostly male audience.
Kudos: Great writing style. Very interesting storyline, very realistic. Original idea.
Concerns: Discussions on chaos theory and genetic testing may become tedious.
Book Review: Proof That Michael Crichton Is The Master Of Suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Crichton sets up this story in a way that lets you know it's going to be filled with suspense from the very beginning, but you never know what to expect. What makes this book so good though isn't just the action and suspense, it's the focus on the characters as they visit an island that has been transformed, with the help of a man named John Hammond, into a theme park called Jurassic Park that features living dinosaurs. I liked how realistic the the dinosaurs were portrayed, and I also liked the plausible method Hammond and his team used to create the dinosaurs. There are also some scientific and mathematical theories that one of the visitors in the park - a strange, yet interesting character named Ian Malcolm - talks about when expressing his fears about the dangers in creating Jurassic Park. Crichton does a great job linking these theories with the plot. Gradually, these theories become a reality as one plot twist leads to another up to the point that the park ends up losing power and the dinosaurs escape their confined spaces and are roaming the park freely. The characters have no way off the island and no way to contact anyone for help. This is when the story really gets suspenseful. You fear for all the characters knowing their lives are at risk from a wide variety of dinosaurs who could pop up at any time and in any place to devour them for lunch.
If there's one problem I had with this entertaining novel it's that after Jurassic Park goes haywire, some of the encounters the characters had and some of the ways they escaped the dinosaurs seemed a little too coincidental. It seemed like Crichton was trying too hard at times to make the story as suspenseful as possible with as much action as possible. He does succeed for the most part, but there were a few times when he could've been more creative in building that suspense instead of simply having some major coincidence. As a result, I felt like 4.5 stars would be a more accurate rating for this book, but since that wasn't an option I decided to round up because of how intelligent and well written the story is. It's very unpredictable, and Crichton really excels with the character development and the plot, not just the suspense.
Overall, "Jurassic Park" is a great thriller that will keep you engaged and make you real curious to see what what's going to happen next. By the end, you can't help but wonder things like what will the local government do with the island or are any of the dinosaurs still alive or what will the lives of the surviving characters be like. This is easily one of Crichton's best books.
Book Review: One of Michael's finest, no matter what any say.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, I know that little guidelines page tells me I must resist the compelling urge to not write about what others say on this fine book...well what can I say? I'm weak. Too weak to resist the pulling force to my keyboard, and typing a review to try and correct all the misleading comments on this fine piece of literature. I liked the book, in fact I loved it. It is truly one of the finest and one of Michael's finest books ever written. I can't be the great author he is and type in his defence, but I'll try. Micheal is a fine writer who has written a fine book, it informs and entertains me, which few novels do. It is true, some of the fact that I am taught is false. Raptors may be quite a bit taller than the book explains them as. Well, I know Michael twisted fact into fiction a bit in the book, but if these facts are so important as many dinosaur super genius' seem to think, well, why write the story at all, why write any story. Fiction IS a distortion of the facts, I mean, if perfect fact is what you strain yourselves to see (or read) then find a nice cozy atlas to curl up by the fire with. Everyone knows that it is impossable to clone dinosaurs with todays technology, the DNA breaks up overtime. But, that is why the book has been placed in the fiction section, IT'S NOT REAL. If fact is issue number one, then all fiction books are too far fetched for you. But action, adventure, and some education on the side is what I found in Jurrasic Park. Of course I know it's not 100% pure unprocessed fact, but that just makes it more fun to read. I doubt the book would be nearly as fun to read if it was more factual about the Raptor size. I can't see everyone running terrified from a pack of 1/2 foot dinosaurs, it's not as scary to most readers, and Crichton knows that, that's why he jacked up their height. The velociraptor was the closes thing he could find to a 6 foot carnisaur. And at that time the "REAL" 6 foot Raptor hadn't yet been discovered. So Michael made the changes for you, the readers, to heighten the reading experiance for us. So, remember that if you are a factual perfectionist if you read this book, and if the twists bug you that much, go to the non fiction section next time. I'm sure they keep accurate records on the proper mating ritual of the duck billed plautipus. If your not that type, prepare yourself for a action packed, on the edge of your seat, and interesting read. (and I know I probibly spelt 'plautipus' wrong so don't all you perfectionists sue me for bad spelling) Thank you. B.A.F