The Lost World by Michael Crichton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Too much change is as destructive as too little.”
“What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.”
The Lost World is the follow-up book to Jurassic Park. It picks up after the spectacular downfall of the first island where the park was built. We find ourselves with Ian Malcom again and there are weird, mysterious lizard-like creatures that are washing up on the shores of Costa Rica. Where are they coming from? Is there some kind of…Lost World? Using this island to try and discover more about extinction and what causes it drives a lot of people’s decisions. The novel is based on a rescue mission. Several people travel to Site B where the dinosaurs for the original park were created. Obviously, some people die but who will survive? How did the dinosaurs survive? What will happen to the island?
Michael Crichton wrote another great book continuing in the vein of Jurassic Park. I love the science that was brought in and a lot of it was fascinating. The explanation of extinction as a science, the history of species on this planet including the rate of extinction, Red Queen phenomenon, and the information around the “edge of chaos” for complex systems just left me wanting to know more. It is fascinating and I love when books teach me things and introduce new topics. Early on, there was a whole monologue from Malcolm explaining how “human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable…we are stubborn, self-destructive conformists.” I love it when books add a different way of looking at humanity and describing some accurate notions that most people don’t ascribe to or even know. It hit the nail on the head that money drives everything now. “People aren’t studying the natural world anymore, they’re mining it. It’s a looter mentality.” The movie had some major differences from the book including Sarah Harding. She was described as young and having black hair in the book. There were characters that were totally not in the movie like Levine, Doc Thorne, and kids. A bunch of characters were eliminated to simplify the movie. Eddie in the book was only like 24 years old and the little speech about the “nerve-conduction velocity” was given to him in the movie. It wasn’t his in the book. The author also gave a much better explanation of Site B than the movie did. It cleared up a lot of things, and it made it all make more sense. I wish it was included in the film. This book had a good antagonist (apart from the dinosaurs) in Levine because he was an ass. He was smart though and had one or two good intentions. He frustrated me and made me want to reach through the book and punch him. I also found the repeating chapter names frustrating. There were lots of words that came up that I took note of. This includes locus, atavistic, diffidence, imperious, friable, sequela, and integumental. This is exactly the type of book to read on the plane or if you loved Jurassic Park. It was a quick read that I was excited to finish. The pacing was good and it was intriguing. Even though it was not as good as the first one, I do recommend this one.
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Tag: science
Scientific Strain And How To Survive Death From Above
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“The survival value of human intelligence has never been satisfactorily demonstrated.”
“A crisis is made by men, who enter into the crisis with their own prejudices, propensities, and predispositions. A crisis is the sum of intuition and blind spots, a blend of facts noted and facts ignored. Yet underlying the uniqueness of each crisis is a disturbing sameness. A characteristic of all crises is their predictability, in retrospect. They seem to have a certain inevitability, they seem predestined.”
“Human intelligence was more trouble than it was worth. It was more destructive than creative, more confusing than revealing, more discouraging than satisfying, more spiteful than charitable.”
The Andromeda Strain is about a contamination that happens on Earth due to a satellite falling from space. It lands in a town where subsequently everyone dies except for two people who are on opposite ends of the life spectrum. A group of carefully pre-chosen scientists gather to try and figure out what is going on. They are in this highly classified and scientifically advanced facility deep underground. They do scientific processes to try and understand what the thing is. The government is involved. What is this thing that is infectious and dangerous? Will they figure it out in time? Will humanity be safe?
Michael Crichton, from Jurassic Park fame, wrote this book and I thought it would be better. This one was too scientific and the flow was interrupted by the interjection of details that an everyday reader would get lost in. It could have been cut out and filled in with more tense moments. I know that this was written decades ago but I found it lacking women. It was very patriarchal. There were a couple techniques that were employed that foreshadowed what conflict there was to come and I thought it was well done. It isn’t something I have come across before. I liked how I knew something would go wrong before it happened and then still, I was excited to read how it would truly unfold. It was a quick, engaging read. Stories around natural disasters like tornadoes or viruses are ones I love. When people are working together towards a common goal and are given separate tasks that all help with the bigger goal make me happy. It is like each person has their own skill and the group is relying on them. Even though there was a tense portion of the story towards the end I was very disappointed with the overall conclusion. It went out with a whimper instead of a bang and I was left wanting more. Mr. Crichton could have had so much fun with it. The words that I came across here that grabbed my attention were misanthropic, effete, and elucidating. I was surprised especially after reading Jurassic Park. This is exactly the type of book to read only the first 75%.
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Life Triumphs And Scientific Greed
“But most disturbing is the fact that no watchdogs are found among scientists themselves.”
“’Story of our species…Everybody knows it’s coming, but not so soon.’”
“’Personally, I would never help mankind.’”
“’Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something…Discovery is always a rape of the natural world.’”
Jurassic Park is about a theme part centered around bringing dinosaurs back to life but I think a majority of people already know this. This book and the subsequent movie are about 30 years old. There have been numerous spinoffs and the cultural awareness is strong. We follow a group of people who were invited to the park as a sort of vetting and analysis process. We have paleontologists, kids, a mathematician, and a lawyer trying to survive. John Hammond is the brains behind this and wants to make tons of money from his endeavor. Something goes wrong and there are multiple problems that occur. The dinosaurs escape and the humans are trying to figure out how to get everything back on track. Who will survive and will nature triumph?
I grew up with Jurassic Park and I finally got to reading the novel that it was based on. It is so good and it had so much more than the movie. The movie was still fantastic and what Steven Spielberg was able to do with the dinosaurs was nothing short of brilliant. He brought the book to life. The movie is a classic and I think more people should read the book too. Michael Crichton starts off with an introduction that should send chills down most people’s spines. The change in science and the focus on profits is scary. He was so technical in his descriptions of everything. The details regarding medicine, technology, and science really created a realistic aura while reading. There were some good and fun words like rapacious. Let’s talk about the differences between the movie and book. First, there was a part of the book that was describing a little elephant that Hammond carried around. He used it to showcase genetic work and to bring in donations. That would have been cute to see on the screen as elephants are my favorite animal. There were also speeches that occurred in a different part of the story or different location or were attributed to a different person. For example, in the movie the lawyer talks about money they could charge per day but in the book, it is the rival of InGen. The water droplet down the hand was Arnold in the book, not Malcom. Lex is younger than Tim in the book. One of my biggest issues with the book and this is where I think the movie got it right, was with Hammond. In the book, he was less caring and more concerned about money. He didn’t seem to care about his grandchildren very much. In the movie, Hammond was this misguided but loveable, concerned person. In the book, he was hard and self-centered. There were many more characters that had big roles in the book. Gennaro was more fleshed out and was described as being muscular in the book. Also, many more main characters died in the book, which I thought made it more realistic and complex. In the book it is explicitly said that Grant likes kids. I won’t go into all the differences but there are plenty so find out for yourself! The scene where the Tyrannosaur breaks out was exciting and thrilling in the movie and was equally as exciting to read about. However, in the book, did Grant not know that dinosaurs vision was based on movement because in the movie it was very clear. I know that if the movie was extremely true to the book that it would be hours longer, but I found it fascinating that a scene in this book was not brought to the screen until this latest movie…the one that was released in 2025…the seventh film in the franchise! There were a couple scenes that occurred in other films. I think Michael Crichton brings up some very interesting and thought-provoking topics such as power, discipline, and profit. There are many good points and it gets one to really think about the state of the world. I really have a new appreciation for the author and this book. This is exactly the type of book I would want to read for pure pleasure and enjoyment, to relive a cherished childhood movie, and to view science & humanity in a different light.
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