What did you just read?

Started Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park last night. I haven't seen the movie since 2013 during a theatrical re-release, so it's been enough time to forget a lot of the plot.

I'm about 5 chapters in so far, and really impressed. It's my first Crichton novel. Some fun facts I learned about him: He was 6'9" and a Harvard Medical School graduate. You can tell bc he talks a LOT about medical details in this book. I'm surprised at the technical detail, info dumping, and lack of a central main character. I dig that stuff, but that's usually a turn off for popular authors.

Kajiimagi said:

off to Blockbuster I go!

Click to expand...

As I mentioned earlier, I started reading Jurassic Park for the first time this week. I'm about 1/2 through it (at the Tyrannosaur vs Toyota Electric Land-rover scene in the rain).

Last time I saw the movie was 2013 in the theatrical re-release. Before that was in 2007. Before that was probably the 90s as a child, so I dont remember much of the basic plot but I do remember a few core moments and catch phrases: Life uh finds a way. Clever girl. Hold onto your butts. Etc.

However, I was not prepared for how good this book is. This is my first Michael Crichton book. The immense amount of technical detail he goes into is very impressive and just highlights how intelligent this giant was.

Crichton was 6'9" and graduated from Harvard Medical School. He wrote his first book while doing a residency (I think?) at the ER and that's also where he got the ideas for his script for the tv show ER. I was surprised to find out he wrote that script. I was watching it with my mother this year and saw his name show up in the opening credits to my bewilderment.

Dr Hammond is pretty much an evil billionaire so focused on creating a high-ticket zoo that he is cutting corners left and right, to the detriment of Nedry. I knew the basic plotpoints, but the amount of detail it goes into how much he fucked over Nedry (Newman) was immense.

The technical details. The amount of physiological, archaeological, avian-connections, medical research, etc. There are 50 pages before we're even introduced to Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm.

I'm only about 1/2 through the story so far. I will say one of the drawbacks of why I had never read it was the type-face. On all the printed editions I saw, the font is incredibly small and there is like 0.5 spacing rather than 1.0 or 1.5 spacing between lines. Which is a strain on my eyeballs. I really need to get an e-reader to avoid this issue in the future.

I dont like reading books of stories I already know, but enough time has passed that I forgot a lot of the details, and to be fair, I had no idea how much more intense and in depth the book is compared to the movie: complex corporate espionage, corrupt billionaires, legal system audits, physiological analyzation of the animals and the immense amount of detail gone into keeping the animals from breaking out and going to the main land, etc. Its really well thought out.

Fun fact: The movie was greenlit in early 1990 before the book was released in Oct 1990.

I might try Andromeda Strain next.