Michael Crichton

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

Yes, the guy behind Jurassic Park. Over he past year and a half, Crichton has worked his way into becoming one of my favroite authors. I even did a research/critique on his works for my English class this year.

The pioneer of the "techno-thriller", he crafts easily read novels revolving around heavily scientific plots, breaking down complex scientific "mumbo-jumbo" and concepts into comprehensible terms for the layman among us. Though his novels are often somewhat lacking in plots, they are generally very entertaining and throroughly and scientifically detailed, making them very interesting. They're also presented in an easily followed movie-script-esque format (which has also enbaled many of his works to be made into movies).

So far, I have read:

Jurassic Park (made into movie)
Andromeda Strain (made into movie)
The Terminal Man )made into movie)
Congo (made into movie)
Next (I just read this one)

And I plan on reading Sphere next. I started it a while back, but couldn't find the time to read it, so I returned it. >_>

Anyway, let the discussion begin.

[Intestiny Destiny]

It's been a year or two since I've read his books.

I've read: Prey, Disclosure, Rising Sun, Jurassic Park, Timeline, The Lost World, and The Terminal Man for entertainment..

They're interesting enough to keep me reading, but I typically will finish his books in a day or two if I'm really into it. So I went through them pretty fast.

This thread just brought back my interest. I'll going to see if I can check out Next, next.

[UncleDuck2]

I've read: Congo, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, Prey and Sphere.

Believe me, Sphere tops every one of them. In my humble opinion offcourse.
He is indeed a great writer, and made one of my favourite movies (Westworld, also a Techno thriller)
I would really suggest Congo and Sphere. Congo was also made into a movie, as was Sphere, be sure to watch them both!!!
I'm glad that the films differ a lot from the books, the books are way more entertaining en keep you on the edge of your seat much longer then the movies.

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

I hated the movie Sphere. And the Jurassic Park movie pales in comparison to the book. I loved Congo, though. Had me in sispense nearly all the way through and was rather creepy at times.

[ToastmasterAlpha]

I haven't seen any of the movies, but I've read Congo, The Andromeda Strain, and Sphere. Awesomely enough, I got all three for a quarter each from my library's discard shelf. I'm almost done re-reading Sphere, and I've been amazed at how much the suspense still got me even though I wrote an entire damn report on it two years ago.

Edit: A&E was showing a new made-for-TV movie of The Andromeda Strain a few weeks ago. I haven't seen that either, but I've heard it's just all right.

[Pachycephelosaurus]

I read both Jurassic Park and The Lost World. I loved them so much that I read a couple of his other works (Congo and The Andromeda Strain, I believe), but was kind of let down. I think the major draw for me with the other two books was my obsession with dinosaurs.

[Ikin]

I've only read Next. But my dad has State of Fear, so I'll probably read that one soon.

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

I hear State of Fear is choice. Haven't gotten round to reading it yet, though.

[Idioteque]

Do not read Next, it was quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. Almost all of his recent books have been total crap.

Honestly, just stick to his old stuff, he at least makes the shit he makes up sound believable.

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

Next was alright. The plot was very anticlimactic, though.

[notafan]

He was my favorite author for a while. Sphere is my favorite of all of them, so you're in for a treat :lol: Terminal Man, Prey, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, and Airframe are so fucking good. State of Fear is decent. All in all, amazing guy.

[Ancalagon]

Next pretty much lacked a plot. State of Fear is too preachy for my taste.

Sphere was the best, by far. Here was how I read it - day 1 I read 10 pages for fun. Day 2 I forgot to read. Day 3 I got into it and read 350 pages. Day 4 I finished it because there wasn't time on day 3 to do so.

[docmartens]

Next was good, I read it in the car on a cross-country trip. Admittedly, it was slow going (the book not the car trip).
Sphere was awesome, amazing movie as well.
Prey was good, Jurassic Park also quite good.

He does have that Stephen King thing going on where he's not much of a writer, just a good story teller. If that makes sense.

[Axel]

I love "Eaters of the Dead" that book rules, although the real chronicles of Ibn Fadlan are very interesting.

[Quadros]

I love Crichton, but Next was a pile of shit. It's like he took the preachy issue addressing undertone from State of Fear and just made that his next book. The 'plot' is non existant, and where it appears suffers not so much from plot holes as it does just scraps of plot randomly scattered around massive gaps. The characters are under-developed to the point of cardboard cut outs, the issues dealt with are ill explained and poorly dealt with and the 'problems' all end up unresolved. I felt like the whole book was just a ploy to mug us into reading the self-agrandising and self-righteous essay at the end. I was fucking disappointed by it, all in all.

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

I am currently reading Sphere again. Hopefully I'll actually finish it this time around.

[UncleDuck2]

I'm nearly to the end of 'Next', But damm, I don't know why I keep reading.
Come on Talking Parrots and monkeys who think their kids?
He has to up his level again so he can make a new jurassic Park-level book.

[The_Omnipotent_Shoe]

Well, I just finished Sphere and I must say, that's probably my favorite of his books now. It's just an all-around well-written science-fiction novel.Sure as hell better than the movie.

[UncleDuck2]

In the book of 'Sphere', you atleast get the ending!!!

I just re (re)read Jurassic Park in two days and I'm in the half of 'The Lost World'. Those books keep me on the edge of my seat!! After that, when I don't find anything good in the Library, I'm gonna read Sphere again!

It rocks

[Chickenjerk]

Crichton is by far my favourite modern writer, each one is a page-turner for me. His earlier stuff is definitely better, my personal choice is Eaters of the Dead. Very odd book, but quite well done.

His new stuff has become increasingly political, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though I do think it's brought down the overall quality of his storytelling. State of Fear was decent as a novel in itself and had a very interesting point to make about extreme environmentalism. Next faltered a bit for me in terms of quality reading, but once again made a decent point about its subject. Either way, both books force you to look at the issues in a different light and do some independent research, rather than just accepting the media-endorsed status quo.

If you're looking to get into Crichton's works, definitely try to start near the beginning - Congo, Sphere, Eaters of the Dead, Timeline. Pick up the newer stuff if you liked the earlier works. Except for Jurassic Park, I'd say stay away from the movies, they're rather hit-and-miss (Timeline made me want to cry - loved the book, movie was utter trash). Oh, and I'd advise against reading Prey, way too formulaic for me after reading his other works... I practically knew what was going to happen before it did.

[supersoad1]

I agree with that. every time i read one of his works I can't put it down or stop talking about it