Last night Trish and I watched the 1971 Robert Wise movie. And while I did like it better than the first time round, I still prefer Crichton's book.

This might be due for a re-read and a proper review in 2019.

In short, a returning space probe brings something with it that instantly kills almost all the people in the small town nearest to the landing site. But what is it? And why are there two survivors?

A team of scientists is put into the Wildfire installation, a zero contaminant facility that's buried in the Nevada desert, and are tasked with sciencing the shit out of it.
Can they do it?

If you think about picking this up, be prepared for a lot of science and a lot of scary.



The book: 4.5 stars
The movie: 7/10

This book is a good example that sometimes the rating that one gives to one book isn't fault itself of the book but due the timing of when you read it in relation with having read other books of the same author.

All that long introduction is to explain that my very reason to give only 3 stars to this very good book is because I happened to read it after of reading Sphere (see review of that book: HERE), that I find quite similar in the general premise.

Both books have the calling of a expert scientific team to deal with an alien threat.

Beyond that, both books deal differently with the story, it's not like that they are clone books or something.

But the only sin that commit this poor book was to be chosen by me right after of reading Sphere, that it was a book that I loved a lot and I still think very high of it, so when I started to read this other book by Crichton, I got an odd feeling that I was reading again the same book and that I liked more the other book.

I know that this book is older, but it's nobody's fault that I bought it right after Sphere.

I do think that if I decide to read it now, I may enjoy it more, maybe sometime I will.

Anyway, this book is very good, since it has all the right elements that Crichton used to include in his books.

Maybe my only advice here is that I recommend you to read this book, The Andromeda Strain and Sphere too, just please, don't read them one after the other, give them at least 6 months or so, and read something else in between.

Recommended.

Kokia gera!
Skaičiau iki 2 valandos nakties; pasąmonėj knibždėjo mintis- o ką darysi, kai reiks į darbą keltis? Koks skirtumas, čia pasaulio likimas sprendžiasi, o jai rūpi kažkokios nesąmonės kaip darbas, pamanyk tik :D
Labai patiko autoriaus idėja, kad naiviai tikimės nežemišką gyvybės formą būsiant iš tų pačių cheminių elementų-anglis, vandenilis, deguonis, azotas, o ląstelės struktūrą sudarys baltymai. Iš kur tokios prognozės? Gal mes nė nesuprasim turintys reikalų su kitokia gyvybės forma, nes apskritai nėra aiškaus gyvybės apibrėžimo.

High-tech suspense novel (1971) has the reputation of "the world's first techno-thriller." A data-gathering satellite crashes outside a tiny remote New Mexico town and before you know it everyone but a wino and a tiny baby are dead. The government sends in a secret crack team to solve the riddle before any possible pathogens can escape and contaminate the population downwind.

THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN was Michael Crichton's first novel and in my opinion it's a fine one: quick and informative, even at a distance of fifty years. I wish it had been a bit longer.

n  Halloween Bingo 2022n

This novel is older than I realized when I selected it for this game. Published in 1969, the vast majority of the technologies seem painfully archaic (which is not the book's fault). Also, I generally have a personal rule against fiction books that have diagrams and/or computer printouts. Bibliographies too. It's usually a sign that character development will be unsatisfactory, even for the thriller category. This novel had all three.

Scientific equipment and test methods are described in loving detail, while our [white male] characters remain cardboard cut-outs. They are the epitome of detached experimenters and as a result are pretty boring. There are few dialogs and those that take place are brief and wooden. There are a number of assumptions that we wouldn't make today (probably). The casual decision that an atomic blast would be the sensible way to deal with the contamination site. One scientist thinking that dinosaurs had just grown too big and ponderous to survive. The confident reliance on computers as infallible.

Combine all of that with a lacklustre ending, and this was a difficult read. I can appreciate that it may have been exciting in its time, but we have thankfully moved along. Unless you are interested in the history of science fiction, I would recommend giving The Andromeda Strain a miss. I read this for the Plague & Disease square of my Halloween Bingo card.

Nine years before Stephen King’s heavy, genre defining smackdown novel The Stand, intelligent tall guy Michael Crichton quietly blew people away with his own hard science Big Bang Theory epidemic story.

Similar to Andy Weir’s brilliant 2011 mega success The Martian, this is hard science fiction told by an actual scientist. But whereas Weir stepped it down for the rest of us with some laugh out loud humor, the good Dr. Crichton put his best bedside manner forward and patiently explained his biological horror story in a way that – made it scarier.

Like a Jonathon Edwards sermon, his straight man delivery creates a technical tension that informs as it terrorizes.

True, some of the overly technical sections dragged and I recalled moments from HS when I daydreamed the lecture away; but Crichton never let his lesson stray too far from the subject at hand – scaring the Heeby Jeebies out of us.

Scared to death.

That’s an actual line from the book and describes one of the hero scientists’ attempts to come to grips with what was going on. Seems an alien organism is making folks die – immediately. An incubation period of a few seconds. A super team of science hotshots that makes Sheldon and Leonard look like middle schoolers takes it down to the line to pull us all from the brink. Or do they?

A +.

مزيج جميل بين عالم الفضاء الغامض، وعالم الطب الأكثر غموضًا.. وكالعادة أي حاجة عن الطب بتشدني ❤️
كان في ملل شوية في البداية وكمان النهاية اتخطفت أوي..
بس عمومًا ممتعة ولا بأس بها :)

Din recenzia apărută pe blogul Editurii Paladin cu prilejul clubului de carte Paladin din luna octombrie:

„Apărută într-un moment practic perfect pentru ca orice cititor ceva mai dispus să fie atent la nenumăratele informații prezentate în amănunt de autor cu privire la virusuri, bacterii sau microorganisme extraterestre capabile să extermine nu doar populația unui oraș întreg, ci poate chiar a unei țări sau a unui continent, adică anul trecut, pe vremea când pandemia de coronavirus încă era un șoc pentru toată lumea, uimită că se poate trece prin așa ceva, deși am ajuns, se credea, la apogeul civilizației, povestea imaginată de Michael Crichton pe vremea când omenirea abia pășea, timid, pe Lună este un hard-SF extrem de serios excelent pus în scenă, care nu doar că pune niște întrebări pertinente despre ce-ar putea face oamenii într-o situație cum e cea expusă mai sus, ci le și găsește răspunsuri, soluții, grație nu doar celor mai recente (la acea vreme) descoperiri științifice, ci și a dăruirii și talentului unor oameni altminteri supuși greșelii.
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Misterul se tot adâncește însă pe măsură ce trec orele, este disecată substanța găsită în satelit, este descoperit modul în care acționează, dar nu și motivul pentru care două persoane atât de diferite au reușit totuși să supraviețuiască nevătămate sub acțiunea acelei substanțe mortale venite din spațiu. Iar lupta este, bineînțeles, contracronometru de la un anumit punct încolo, pentru că microorganismul pare că nu poate fi distrus așa ușor prin metode convenționale, ci, la fel ca și bacteriile pe care uneori le purtăm cu noi toată viața, trebuie mai degrabă îmblânzit, acceptat, vindecat. Căci un parazit de succes nu e cel care își omoară imediat gazda, murind și el odată cu ea, ci acela care știe să-și facă un culcuș confortabil și să profite la maximum de ea.

Michael Crichton a fost un scriitor prolific, un vizionar și un răsfățat al publicului timp de decenii întregi. Înzestrat cu o imaginație formidabilă și cu o extraordinară putere de-a explica informații științifice pe înțelesul cititorilor fără o pregătire temeinică pentru temele abordate în cărțile sale, el a fost nu doar inventatorul tehnotrillerului, ci și autorul unor titluri legendare, ecranizate cu mai mult sau mai puțin succes la critică (dar foarte pe gustul publicului), printre care se numără Jurassic Park (și urmarea Lumea pierdută), Congo, Sfera, Westworld, Omul terminal, Calomnia, Prada, Twister, Al treisprezecelea războinic și multe altele. Extrem de versatil, a scris în nenumărate subgenuri și a lansat câteva idei extrem de îndrăznețe, primite la început cu reticență, dar care mai apoi i-au dovedit geniul, imaginația debordantă și nemaipomenita capacitate de extrapolare.

Nu mai intru în amănunte privind suspansul ce se acumulează în această excelentă poveste scrisă pe când mama mea abia intra la școală sau felul în care țin minte că mi-am ros unghiile de nerăbdare atunci când am citit pentru prima oară acest volum pe care l-aș recomanda tuturor celor care vor să citească un hard-SF serios, bine documentat și cu un suspans ce te va ține cu sufletul la gură până la ultima pagină.”

Mai multe: https://www.editura-paladin.ro/info/b....

Super fun novel if you're in to technical details (which I am). Would love to see them take another swing at a movie adaptation.

Yummy infection control science and biology. Bit of an abrupt ending. Tad dissatisfied. Still got a science fix though.

In my openion Crichton's best.

By the way...the old movie the one with Aurthur Hill is pretty good and while I recommend the book over the movie...this one is pretty good.

On the other hand the 2008 movie is (in my openion) trash...politically correct trash, more concerned with making a political point than relating the story Crichton wrote.

I read this Crichton novel quite late, the year his time travel book Timeline released, having already read some of his blockbuster stories. I had heard a lot about this story by reputation and was not able to get hold of the book.
This is a techno-thriller based in hard science fiction and most of the story reads like a redacted official file. The format suits the story.
The basic story seems like first contact with an alien species that has turned deadly with almost cent percent fatality. The points of view from various people adds doses of realism and a story that is now over fifty years old seems almost fresh. The book delves into identifying errors of judgements and ethics with the team of scientists brought into the situation all in parts bring their own inputs and idiosyncrasies to the problem.
There is a clash between the civilian scientific views and the military option of nuke them all. The story is also a case of study about the times of the cold war and interest in weaponizing any discovery.
Fantastic entertainment.