I was travelling in August 2016 and needed something to read so I downloaded ebook versions of 3 Michael Crichton books for a re-read. I have read just about all his books over the years but he is such a good author that it is always a pleasure to re-read any of them. The first thing you notice in any Crichton book is the miticulous detail that underlies the story. His scientific training (he is a physician by trade) comes to the fore - his books are not only ripping yarns, they are also educational! His works cross many genres, including science fiction, medical fiction and thriller.
Terminal Man (1972)
The Terminal Man, written in 1972, is about a psychomotor epileptic sufferer, Harry Benson, who in regularly suffering seizures followed by blackouts, conducts himself inappropriately during seizures, waking up hours later with no knowledge of what he has done. Believed to be psychotic, he is investigated; electrodes are implanted in his brain, continuing the preoccupation in Crichton's novels with machine-human interaction and technology.
The novel was adapted into a film directed by Mike Hodges and starring George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard A. Dysart and Donald Moffat, released in June 1974.
Alas, neither the novel nor the film was well received by critics. But for one who worked in IT, it was a great re-read. Crichton is really prescient in his view of computers and what they offer. Fantastically researched and a great read.
Eaters of The Dead (1976)
Wow, I had not read this one before and really enjoyed it. It is quite small (only a couple of hundred pages) and very easy to read. As I read it, I realised that I had heard the story before, in the form of the movie The 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas. I recommend you read the book and then watch the movie which is a very faithful representation of the tale. Interestingly, the film was initially directed by John McTiernan who was later fired, with Crichton himself taking over direction.
Crichton wrote Eaters of the Dead in 1976 on a bet that he could make an entertaining story out of the old English epic poem Beowulf.
The novel concerns a tenth-century Muslim who travels with a group of Vikings to their settlement. Eaters of the Dead is narrated as a scientific commentary on an old manuscript and was inspired by two sources. The first three chapters retell Ahmad ibn Fadlan's personal account of his journey north and his experiences in encountering the Rus, the early Russian peoples, whilst the remainder is based upon the story of Beowulf, culminating in battles with the 'mist-monsters', or 'wendol', a relict group of Neanderthals.
It’s an unusual book and apparently readers either like it, or they don’t. I loved it and thought about the story for weeks afterwards. Highly recommended.
Congo (1980)
In 1980, Crichton published the novel Congo, which centres on an expedition searching for diamonds in the tropical rain forest of Congo. The novel was loosely adapted into a 1995 film, starring Laura Linney, Tim Curry, and Ernie Hudson (I loved the way the movie changed the hand signing to a verbal communication via an electronic glove). The blurb sets the book up nicely
Deep in the African rain forest, near the legendary ruins of the Lost City of Zinj, an expedition of eight American geologists is mysteriously and brutally killed in a matter of minutes.
Ten thousand miles away, Karen Ross, the Congo Project Supervisor, watches a gruesome video transmission of the aftermath: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside dead bodies -- all motionless except for one moving image -- a grainy, dark, man-shaped blur.
In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, a gorilla with an extraordinary vocabulary of 620 "signs," the most ever learned by a primate, and she likes to fingerpaint. But recently, her behavior has been erratic and her drawings match, with stunning accuracy, the brittle pages of a Portuguese print dating back to 1642 . . . a drawing of an ancient lost city. A new expedition -- along with Amy -- is sent into the Congo where they enter a secret world, and the only way out may be through a horrifying death.
It's a retelling of H Rider Haggard's book King Solomon's Mines and a great re-imagining of the story. It's a techno-thriller, just the sort of thing at which Crichton excels. Great read.
Terminal Man (1972)
The Terminal Man, written in 1972, is about a psychomotor epileptic sufferer, Harry Benson, who in regularly suffering seizures followed by blackouts, conducts himself inappropriately during seizures, waking up hours later with no knowledge of what he has done. Believed to be psychotic, he is investigated; electrodes are implanted in his brain, continuing the preoccupation in Crichton's novels with machine-human interaction and technology.
The novel was adapted into a film directed by Mike Hodges and starring George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard A. Dysart and Donald Moffat, released in June 1974.
Alas, neither the novel nor the film was well received by critics. But for one who worked in IT, it was a great re-read. Crichton is really prescient in his view of computers and what they offer. Fantastically researched and a great read.
Eaters of The Dead (1976)
Wow, I had not read this one before and really enjoyed it. It is quite small (only a couple of hundred pages) and very easy to read. As I read it, I realised that I had heard the story before, in the form of the movie The 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas. I recommend you read the book and then watch the movie which is a very faithful representation of the tale. Interestingly, the film was initially directed by John McTiernan who was later fired, with Crichton himself taking over direction.
Crichton wrote Eaters of the Dead in 1976 on a bet that he could make an entertaining story out of the old English epic poem Beowulf.
The novel concerns a tenth-century Muslim who travels with a group of Vikings to their settlement. Eaters of the Dead is narrated as a scientific commentary on an old manuscript and was inspired by two sources. The first three chapters retell Ahmad ibn Fadlan's personal account of his journey north and his experiences in encountering the Rus, the early Russian peoples, whilst the remainder is based upon the story of Beowulf, culminating in battles with the 'mist-monsters', or 'wendol', a relict group of Neanderthals.
It’s an unusual book and apparently readers either like it, or they don’t. I loved it and thought about the story for weeks afterwards. Highly recommended.
Congo (1980)
In 1980, Crichton published the novel Congo, which centres on an expedition searching for diamonds in the tropical rain forest of Congo. The novel was loosely adapted into a 1995 film, starring Laura Linney, Tim Curry, and Ernie Hudson (I loved the way the movie changed the hand signing to a verbal communication via an electronic glove). The blurb sets the book up nicely
Deep in the African rain forest, near the legendary ruins of the Lost City of Zinj, an expedition of eight American geologists is mysteriously and brutally killed in a matter of minutes.
Ten thousand miles away, Karen Ross, the Congo Project Supervisor, watches a gruesome video transmission of the aftermath: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside dead bodies -- all motionless except for one moving image -- a grainy, dark, man-shaped blur.
In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, a gorilla with an extraordinary vocabulary of 620 "signs," the most ever learned by a primate, and she likes to fingerpaint. But recently, her behavior has been erratic and her drawings match, with stunning accuracy, the brittle pages of a Portuguese print dating back to 1642 . . . a drawing of an ancient lost city. A new expedition -- along with Amy -- is sent into the Congo where they enter a secret world, and the only way out may be through a horrifying death.
It's a retelling of H Rider Haggard's book King Solomon's Mines and a great re-imagining of the story. It's a techno-thriller, just the sort of thing at which Crichton excels. Great read.
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