What a weird life he lived. And for so long he used travel as an escape from his problems, only to come back to them afterward. But he gained new perspective on them everytime... Fascinating. And the "occult" stuff - yeah, he has an entire essay where he confirms what he believes and doesn't, and it's basically the same level as Jung and William James. Good stuff. Sad it took me this long to fully read it all. RIP Michael, you're one of my favorite fiction authors and I thank you for your work.

Loved this book. Like given in the book description, he wanted to explore things that only a few people would want to. It was totally interesting especially his accounts about ppl who act as a medium and can connect to dead people. Whether to believe it or not is up to you and he doesn't try to convince you of anything either. But it is very interesting to say the least. So non-fiction lovers should give this book a shot. I failed to complete it simply bcoz I read this at a time when I was buying too many books.

A bit of an uneven read--some parts fascinating and quick-moving, others a slog (took me way longer to read than I expected because there were some sections I really struggled through). The book oscillates between platitudes and illustrative anecdotes, but when the anecdotes hit they are very fun and had me drawing up future travel plans. I am often too generous with GoodReads ratings, but I came dangerously close to giving this book 3 stars until Crichton walked back (juuuuust a little) some of his long-winded views of paranormal phenomena in his summation. There were just too many things he wanted us to take at face value and I almost screamed at the book to qualify some of the statements made. Fortunately it did. The book is ultimately one of the most ambitious travelogues/memoirs I've ever read (very difficult to classify the book at one or the other, it's pretty 50/50, but bear that in mind before reading because the title is a bit of a misnomer). Crichton lays himself bare early and often and is to be commended for his honesty. However, to borrow a quote from Jurassic Park III (a Crichton-adjacent project) "it seemed like the guy was kinda high on himself." (I feel a tad guilty saying that, because I am a massive Crichton fan but...I couldn't resist)

This was part two of reading books my mom has recommended. I think it went pretty well. The book recounts famous author Michael Crichton's travels through life including traveling to places and inward. There is no doubt he is a great writer and storyteller able to pull you in and get you interested in the story. I really enjoyed his writing style. It was more of a collection of short stories than a cohesive novel. Where he has gone and the experiences he has had is fascinating and very interesting. I enjoyed reading about the remote places that I'll probably never be able to go to. As someone has always been fascinated by psychic abilities hearing his experiences with all sorts of psychic phenomenon was really cool. There was parts of the book that I did not enjoy which was the very beginning where he talked about his experiences as a medical student. Medical stuff especially gory stuff grosses me out and that part just wasn't for me. That was the main reason this was a four star read instead of a five star read. Overall very enjoyable read. Going forward I will continue to read and trust my mom's recommendations.

Some of the travel essays were amazing. Witty, elucidating, and cogent. Beautifully written with his very human and universal emotions coming off the page. Some of his insights on relationships were mind shaking. His different perspective fresh and illuminating. And some of his irrational and non-scientific beliefs were shocking. But overall a book about what it is to be human. Interesting and a good read. On par with and certainly better than some of his fiction.

This is a pretty strange book. Most of the incidents in the book are from the 1970s and 1980s but many are earlier than that. It appears the author wrote this book as a retrospective about a variety of experiences he had in the past. I listen to the book in the audible format while following along with Kindle. This format was created in 2015 while the author died in 2008.

How the title Travels was determined eludes me somewhat. But the book does travel over a pretty wide variety of topics. It does cover some actual geographic travel pretty much to some pretty unusual locations. Obviously the author made big bucks from his writing and films and spent his money going to a variety of places and experiencing a variety of events as he chose.

The book has a great deal of coverage of psychic experiences which the author experienced and sought out himself. He became a believer based on his own claimed personal experience. If you assume him to be an honest storyteller, he experienced a wide variety of psychic experiences. The last section of the book is his argument about why psychic experiences should be seen as important as scientific experiences. He is a good writer so his stories are both interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

The author will take you to places that you probably Will never go in the world and he gives you some things to think about that you might or might not have thought about before. He is fairly convincing in describing his psychic experiences and presents it from the point of you of a person who was not sold on the idea Until he actually had those experiences.

Un libro INCREÍBLE, real realmente bueno, el mejor que he leído durante el último tiempo, aunque tiene un par de partes que me molestaron mucho... la forma en que trata a algunos animales, y el exceso de presuntuosidad, UGH. Pero mantengo las cinco estrellas finales porque al menos el tipo es honesto y tiene autocrítica, y se nota que viaja su propio viaje con entereza de espíritu, y la mayoría de las veces (con esas horribles excepciones) me cayó bien.

Además, es ¡tan interesante! El señor cuenta desde sus años de medicina en Harvard hasta sus incursiones en el new age, pasando por todo tipo de viajes, expediciones y experiencias curiosas. Y no cuenta TODA su vida, sino que solo los pasajes que le parecen dignos de contar y compartir. O sea que tampoco viene a dar la lata.

Me gustó mucho. ¡Es muy bueno! Aunque difícil de encontrar. Yo pude leerlo, porque la mamá de una amiga me lo había prestado hace VEINTE AÑOS, cuando yo era una colegiala y él era un cincuentón tincudo... y hoy soy una mujer adulta y él está muerto (le tocó a los 66, de cáncer). Es raro y un poco tétrico de pensar. Y también motivador, a lo carpe diem.

Y sí, ¡se lo devolveré ahora a la mamá de mi amiga! Con un libro extra de regalo, para compensar la desaparición. La verdad es que se me había olvidado que lo tenía. Y estoy un poco feliz de no haberlo leído entonces, porque creo que todavía era muy péndex para entenderlo como lo entendí ahora.

En fin, muy recomendado.

UPDATE: Lo bajo a cuatro estrellas. Es que igual no puedo darle los máximos honores a alguien que maltrata animalitos, aunque haya sido "para conocerlos mejor" (serpientes). Y hay otras partes bastantes cuestionables en el libro también.

I haven't given his fiction the time of day, but I was captivated by his real life experiences. He certainly knows how to tell a story, and man, he has some good ones. I can def. see where he gets his fuel for writing based on his reservoir of adventures.

I give this an unqualified 4-star rating. I feel obligated, though, to qualify that by saying that I enjoyed this book immensely as a fascinating memoir about a fascinating man, but I cannot endorse his conclusions.
If this book were written today I suspect it would probably be called "Journeys" rather than "Travels" in line with current usage of the term "journey" as an experience that gives you insight. I picked it up knowing little about it except that someone told me it has a chapter about his visit to my beloved island of Bonaire, and I wanted to know what he thought of it. Travels is not that kind of book, though. It is much more than a recounting of his travel adventures. Indeed, the first 80 pages or so are about his years in college and medical school and what led him to decide not to become a physician. Crichton's "travels" emphasize his inner journey and the insights he gains from various experiences in his life.
My first exposure to Michael Crichton (even before I read any of his fiction) was when I heard him speak to an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, talking about how one of his objectives in books like The Andromeda Strain was to get readers more interested in science. Until I read this book I was not aware of his interest in psychic and paranormal phenomena, which seemed very inconsistent with the man who gave that talk. His conclusion at the close of this book is "we need the insights of the mystic every bit as much as we need the insights of the scientist." His book did not convince me of his conclusion but it was still a great read about a very unusual man.

Crichton was a gifted storyteller and had a way with words, two skills which carry over in his memoir. Unfortunately, he was also a selfish neurotic, and there's no hiding or diminishing that in any survey of his life. While I enjoyed the stories of his travels to exotic locals (the Jamaican adventure being especially amusing), he does not make a good travel companion. Crichton's obsession with psychic phenomena takes up way too much and isn't so much amusing as it is pathetic.

As someone who prefers through books than actual geography, I was very disappointed with these Travels.

Crichton's memoirs? Most of the stories are, obviously, about his time traveling the world and his experiences during that time. Crichton's a terrific writer, and all of these are excellent. The book starts off relating his time at medical school, and again, it's interesting getting insights into what that was like during the early 70s.

The last, say, eighth of the book is about his experience investigating psychics, tarot reading, and a whole truckload of other 'woo' stuff, and it derailed the book a little bit. He starts off each chapter with approaching the problem from a very skeptical sort of way, but interested in whether something exists, and then, unfortunately, tends to throw his skepticism out the window and accept "this phenomena is weird, guess I'll accept it" and then spends some time writing about how science can't explain anything and some stuff us just Real, which is weird given the strong scientific trappings of his other novels. Like, I'd be the first to admin there's plenty of things we don't know, but the answer to that is "I don't know" and try to investigate these phenomena further, which Crichton just sorta shrugs off. It's rather disappointing, because reading a book where a thoughtful, introspective, detail-oriented guy like Crichton digs into psychic stuff would actually be fascinating: he interviews other skeptics who have tried to disprove it, gets their opinions, tries to replicate the experiences, blah blah, NOPE, not happening, book ends.

still a decent read.

Like hanging out with one of my heroes. And because it’s a Crichton book, I learned so much.