Hundred Hand

A while back I ran out of books to read. Remembering a good movie I saw back in the day, “The Andomeda Strain”, I decided I should get the book off which it was based, written by Michael Crichton. Well the cheapest price I found on the book was to order it as part of a 3 book collection also containing “Terminal Man” and “The Great Train Robbery”, so I went with that one, intending only to read the first story.

Now Michael Crichton is someone who I usually associate with action movies and political thrillers (I may have had him confused with John Grisham), but this movie had lots of science, and that appealed to me as a kid. I found out from reading the book, all the movies based on Michael Crichton’s work have to cut out the vast amount of explanitory passages in order to keep up the pace and average moviegoers attention. About half of the books’ content comes in the form of asides where he goes into detail about real science and how it applies to the story. Are you familiar with the cartoon scene early in Jurrasic Park where they explain how they can find dinosaur blood within some fossilized amber? His books are filled with that type of information that often can’t be worked into a movie. If your least favorite part of a Michael Crichton movie was the action, then you’ll like his books much more.

Well I did end up reading the other 2 books in that collection I purchased, and I didn’t stop there. I also read Sphere, Congo and Eaters of the Dead and all were thoroughly fascinating. He made me interested in things that I didn’t even think I would be interested in. The best part is, that he has a book for everyone. Do you like political stuff? Read Rising Sun. Do you like the ocean? Read Sphere. Do you like heists? Read the Great Train Robbery.

I guess what I’m saying is, read some Michael Crichton. Then, next time we are at a Wine and Cheese party together we can discuss.