Pretty enjoyable. Very sciency book as well. A lot of facts that moved well with the narrative. I also really like Amy, like you just wanna be her friend. The only disappointing part is the ending, which pretty much sums up Crichton’s novels to be honest.

Ah Congo. You are Joe's first Crichton (you never forget your first), and a god in the pantheon of semi-sciency adventures. Swashbuckling and debonair, you seamlessly blend "When Apes Attack" with "If I Could Talk With the Animals," and we are mightily entertained.

Stuck in O'Hare (again, shocker), I bought me another Crichton book to wile away the hours. I think this may become something of a tradition, as Jurassic Park was purchased in the same terminal H bookstore and with the same raging weather outside. I digress. There is an odd feeling I get with these books which shows that once upon a time, I used to pay attention to what I read. In short: I remember-- snippets of feeling, insight, fear, excitement-- what I was feeling when I first read this as a young lass. Back then, this shit was profound (I was also in 5th grade.)

Those of you who know me now, may know that I do not like simians. they are way too much like people, and since i generally don't like people... this fear may have been started by Congo's brain-smashing oar-wielding apes, and has been amply confirmed by the one in the zoo that caches rocks to throw at unsuspecting visitors and the famed Hannibal Lecter Xanax chimp (I kind of love him though). In short, monkeys are creepy. That's why this book is fantastic.

For one, it reads REALLY fast. I can't remember the last time I picked up something that read this fast. Even Dahl doesn't.

Beyond that, it's a fantastic relic of early 80s optimism and technological lust. Oh how gleefully he talks about computing. Oh how fantastic it all sounds with the Type II Boron coated diamonds. Oh how sexy that Karen Ross is-- with her math geniusness and expeditionary drive to find business information and money. Silly monkey man, how can you keep up?

Also, middle of the jungle adventure (Crichton tries to inform the reader about some different issues in African history, but the effect is rather sallow-- but then again, it's hard to take a white man's introspection about the state of the Congo during a book about mineral rape and crazy-ass monkeys) is just awesome. I find myself wanting to take a trip. If only the Congo weren't a steaming, terrifying, pile of murder right now...

This is a fucking classic. I will dream of crazy gorillas storming my encampment with verbal language and stone tools for several weeks. Fun.

Did a slow re-listen over about a week. Just as good as I remember it from when I read it as a teenager. Excellent jarration by Julia Whelan as well.

Michael Crichton's work should be considered the epitome of geek literature (AKA science fiction, genre fiction, or speculative fiction), but was somehow embraced by the mainstream -- so much so that even if the academic crowd doesn't take him very seriously, Crichton still addressed Congress. Genre fiction is such a dismissive term, so Crichton was given his own genre: it's not geek; it's a "techno thriller."

Congo, published in 1980, has all of Crichton's geekiest motifs, including a heroine whose tragic flaw is revealed on -- get this -- a computer printout. It's a pretty obvious way of characterizing one's hero, but it works. And give him credit, unlike in The Andromeda Strain, Crichton actually has characters with personalities and internal conflicts in Congo. Clearly, this is an author on the rise.

Congo works in the same way that Sphere (1987) and Jurassic Park (1990) -- my favorite Crichton titles -- work. A team of scientists is sent on a dangerous mission that will require technical expertise, ingenuity, and a conflict between ambition and responsibility. I love that Crichton takes the ideal neutrality and benefits of science and juxtaposes them with the realities of funding, application, and career ambition. These three works also serve to map out what I believe is Crichton approaching and reaching the peak of his writing. My only wish is that I would have read Congo first, rather than third.

Congo was not only published first in this thematic and structural trilogy, but it is clear that Crichton was consciously improving his writing in each of these novels. In Congo, he establishes the pattern by opening with a cool setting and a cool premise: jungle ruins and highly trained attack gorillas. Not bad.

But he can do better.

Sphere features the ocean floor and an alien technology that tests humanity's character. The characters are also more complex and engaging in Sphere, and I especially enjoyed Crichton's decision to make psychologist Norman Johnson the hero. Sphere is great, so everyone must have quite naturally expected that Crichton would begin the 1990s with his authorial decline.

But then:

In Jurassic Park, dinosaurs are brought back to life through cloning technology on a privately owned tropical island. Unbelievable! And let's not forget about Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm, arguably Crichton's most memorable academics, battling dinosaurs (don't gorillas just seem so "small potatoes" in comparison?) with nothing but their wits.

So, for me, Congo is a very good work, but not a great one. However, perhaps this is only if we measure Crichton against himself.

And it does not change the fact that Congo, Sphere, and Jurassic Park should be considered a required "trilogy" for all geeks -- sorry -- I meant "required reading for all 'techno thriller enthusiasts.'"

قرأته تقريبًا في جلسة واحدة، جلسة انتظار في عيادة أحد الأطباء في الواقع.
الحقيقة أن مايكل كرايتون صار واحدًا من أذكى الكُتاب في نظري، ومن أحبهم إلى قلبي.

حلوة
حاسة إني قرأت حاجة شبيهة قبل كدا، بس مش مجمعة هي ايه.. هي فيها شوية من أجواء سلسلة سافاري
آمي الغوريلا لطيفة وحبيتها أوي :)

Review in English can be found here.

Anno 1995 war dies mein erster Michael Crichton. Außerdem war es, soweit ich mich erinnere, der erste Roman, den ich jemals von jemandem geschenkt bekommen habe.

Also vielen Dank Tante Ilona. Wegen dir bin ich ein Fan des Autors geworden.

Nachdem ich das Buch nun mehr als zwanzig Jahre später noch mal gelesen habe, muss ich sagen, dass einiges doch mittlerweile recht veraltet ist - und es genau genommen auch in 1995 bereits veraltet war. Trotzdem hat es erneut Spaß gemacht, das Buch zu lesen.

Im Jahre 1979 befindet sich eine Gruppe von acht Geologen im Kongo, als ihr Camp plötzlich attackiert wird. Ihre Auftraggeber in Houston empfangen schreckliche Bilder. Das Camp wurde vollständig zerstört, überall liegen Leichen, deren Schädel offenbar zerquetscht wurden. Im letzten Moment ist auf der Videoaufzeichnung noch zu sehen, wie sich etwas auf die Kamera zubewegt. Und wie es scheint, handelt es sich dabei nicht um einen Menschen.

Schnell wird eine zweite Kongo-Expedition zusammengestellt, die nach Möglichkeit herausfinden soll, was passiert ist, vor allem aber den ursprünglichen Auftrag erfüllen soll. Die Wissenschaftler waren nämlich auf der Suche nach einer besonders seltenen Form von Diamanten, die zwar als Schmuckstücke wertlos sind, aber als Halbleiter die Computer Industrie in ein neues Zeitalter führen sollen. Sie vermuten diese in der verlorenen Stadt Zinj, die sich irgendwo im Kongobecken befinden soll. Aber sie sind nicht die Einzigen, die sich auf der Suche nach der mystischen Stadt und den Diamanten befinden. Ein Rennen gegen die Zeit beginnt. Und Milliarden von Dollar stehen auf dem Spiel.

Primatologe Peter Elliot hingegen hat ganz andere Gründe, nach der verlorenen Stadt zu suchen. Er arbeitet nämlich seit ein paar Jahren mit dem Berggorilla Amy, dem er die Zeichensprache beigebracht hat. Amy hat seit einiger Zeit immer wieder Albträume, von denen sie Peter schließlich erzählt. Außerdem hat sie einige Bilder gemalt, die verblüffende Ähnlichkeit mit einer über 300 Jahre alten Darstellung der Stadt Zinj aufweisen. Obwohl niemand so genau weiß, ob die Stadt wirklich existiert und Amy sie in diesem Zustand unmöglich gesehen haben kann. Als die ERTS (Auftraggeber der o. g. Kongo-Expeditionen) mit ihm Kontakt aufnimmt, sieht Peter seine Chance, dem Rätsel auf die Spur zu kommen. Amy und er begleiten die Expedition in den Kongo.

Die Geschichte ist noch immer spannend zu lesen, das exotische Setting ist ein Genuss und auf die Expeditionsmitglieder warten so einige Herausforderungen. Von Warlords und Kannibalen über wilde Tiere bis hin zu allerlei Gefahren, die der tropische Regenwald für sie bereithält. Die Natur ist gnadenlos und interessiert sich nicht für den Menschen. Peter und Co. müssen mit der drückenden Hitze klarkommen, unwägbares Gelände unter hohem Zeitdruck überwinden und sehen sich mit Vulkanen, reißenden Flüssen, unüberwindbaren Schluchten und allerlei anderem konfrontiert.

Leider hat das Buch auch eine relativ hohe Anzahl von sehr technischen Abschnitten, die aus heutiger Sicht dann doch schon fast ein bisschen albern wirken. Immerhin sind seit Erstveröffentlichung fast vierzig Jahre vergangen und die Computer- und Halbleiterindustrien, die hier im Mittelpunkt stehen, haben natürlich unfassbare Fortschritte gemacht.

Darüber sollte man dann schon hinweg sehen können, wenn man das Buch heute noch voll genießen will. Es gibt hier auch noch genug anderes Lehrreiches, z. B. über die frühe Erkundung des afrikanischen Kontinents oder die Geschichte der Tierforschung, was ich wesentlich interessanter fand. Aber für den ein oder anderen mag es auch interessant sein, was anno 1980 als die Zukunft der Computertechnik angesehen wurde.

Trotz der regelmäßigen und teils überholten Infodumps ist das Buch auch aus heutiger Sicht für mich noch vier Sterne wert. Das liegt vor allem an dem tollen Schauplatz, der spannenden Haupthandlung und an Amy. Dieser Berggorilla ist einfach zum Verlieben. Ich würde sie ohne zu zögern adoptieren. :)

Für mich auch heute noch absolut nachvollziehbar, dass mich dieses Buch damals zu einem Michael Crichton Fan werden ließ.

After already establishing a career as a masterful storyteller, following his epic retelling of Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell in his Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton decided to play with King Solomon's Mines, the famous adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard. In fact, he chose to pay tribute to the original work by borrowing certain elements from it and creating a modern adventure set deep in the heart of Africa, within a dense, unexplored jungle.
He took the mines from the novel's title and placed them in his fictional city of Zinj, adding ancient guardians—genetically altered descendants of the long-extinct Zinj natives. He introduced a scientific expedition racing against rival global consortiums to reach the rare blue diamonds, essential for the computer chip industry. To top it all off, he included Amy, a gorilla who knows sign language.
At first glance, this may seem like a chaotic mix, but that’s Crichton for you—one of the great literary masterminds. He can write books filled with unanswered questions and plot holes the size of the moon, yet make them so compelling that you overlook these flaws entirely. Only a handful of storytelling masters can achieve this, and Crichton is certainly one of them.
As is typical for Crichton, the story begins with the abrupt end of an ERTS expedition and continues with the launch of a new mission led by the ambitious Karen Ross, who is eager to prove herself. The new expedition aims to uncover what happened to the first team and find the lost city of Zinj and its diamond mines. Among the team members are Peter Elliot, an anthropologist, and Amy, the gorilla he taught sign language. To make things even more intriguing, Amy has dreams of a city that turns out to be Zinj.
Another signature Crichton move is setting the entire plot over just a few days, with each chapter representing a single day. His writing about the lost city of Zinj and Captain Munro is so convincing that at one point, I felt the urge to Google more about them—especially Captain Munro, the white mercenary leading the jungle expedition. Crichton also weaves in numerous scientific studies, another trademark of his, enriching the story in a way that never feels boring.
Interestingly, Crichton originally pitched the idea to Hollywood as a film, and they purchased the rights, preventing him from publishing the novel. He was supposed to write and direct the film, with none other than Sean Connery playing Munro, but the project fell apart, leading to the novel’s eventual release. However, a film adaptation was made in 1995—but it wasn’t anything special.
Adventure, action, gorillas, a lost city in the jungle, cannibals, civil war, an expedition, a talking gorilla—what more could you want from a great adventure story? Jokes aside, despite its flaws, Congo is an incredibly entertaining read. Time flies by, and your mind gets a well-deserved break—which, if you ask me, is exactly what a novel like this is meant to do.

German review here.

A little over two decades ago this was my introduction to Michael Crichton. It‘s also the first novel that someone had ever gifted to me, if I remember correctly.

So, thank you aunt Ilona. I became a fan of the author immediately.

Reading this again in 2019, this time in it’s original language, it was once more a lot of fun. Even though much of it is very dated and in fact was already dated when I first read this back in 1995.

In 1979 a Congo expedition gets attacked and killed in a matter of minutes. The video transmission from the geologists‘ camp that their sponsor studies back in Houston is disturbing. The camp is completely destroyed, there are dead bodies everywhere, their skulls crushed, and for a short moment there’s something moving in front of the camera. And it is not human.

A second expedition is hastily prepared, because the company is in a race with a Japanese/German consortium to find the Lost City of Zinj, which they believe is buried somewhere in the dense tropical rainforest of the Congo. They are looking for a scarce type of diamond that’s of tremendous value as a semiconductor and is expected to push computing to another level. Billions of dollars are at stake.

Primatologist Peter Elliot who works with Amy, a Gorilla that has learned sign language and has a vocabulary of 620 signs, is planning to go to the Congo as well. Recently Amy has told him of nightmares that she’s having and a couple of pictures that she‘s painted resemble a Portugeses print that is showing the Lost City of Zinj. But how can that be? The print is from 1642 and they’re not even sure the city it shows does really exist. Enter the aforementioned Congo expedition and the fact that the company is contacting Elliot for spoilery reasons, and off to the Congo they are. Taking Amy with them and trying to find the lost city, albeit for very different reasons.

The main story is still an exciting thriller in an exotic setting, as the group of people is facing lots of different obstacles, from warlords and cannibals to wild animals, thunderstorms, volcanoes, raging rivers and the generally unforgiving nature of the rainforest.

The technical parts of the book though, even though they are incorporated reasonably well, take up too much room. Epecially from today’s perspective, as they have not aged very well. Which is to be expected, since the book is almost 40 years old by now and the computer industry has advanced so much that what was once intended to be science-fiction is now almost kinda cute in how backward it all is.

If you are able to look past this fact, there are still enough interesting things to learn from the several infodumps. Especially the parts concerned with the early exploration of the African continent and the ones about animal research I found quite interesting. And from a historical standpoint the computing part might be interesting for some as well, even though it wasn’t for me.

What makes this a four star read still, for me personally, is the great setting, the thrilling adventure and the lovable Amy. The adorable mountain gorilla is by far the best character in this book and I completely fell in love with her and would adopt her without hesitation.

I can still see why this book made me a fan of Michael Crichton all those years ago.

Basically a re-telling of King Solomon's Mines ( much like Jurrasic Park is a high tech rendering of The Lost World -Arthur Conan-Doyle's original, not Crichton's knock off). It's one of these books that's written like a screenplay, with a movie deal clearly the goal; it moves from action scene to action scene with the flimsiest of characterization. I also remember feeling uneasy with his portrayal of the Congolese, which I thought had elements of sterotyping ( to put it nicely). It was the first book I read that explained how dangerous hippopotamues are, so there's that. I'm usually pretty easy going with my thrillers and I didn't mind this author's aforementioned Jurrasic Park and Andromeda Strain. This book just didn't do it for me, though. -30-

Crichton loved to go into intricate, technical detail with all of the little scientific specifics in his writing. Often they’re informative and interesting. But in a novel, this only lasts so long before it actually gets a wee bit repetitive and even annoying.

One example in this book; at one point, you’ll spend 3 pages reading about the biology, habitat, and behavior of hippos in order to build up to a 1/2 page confrontation with a bull hippo.

Often, Crichton spends to much time on these lectures and not enough on his plot and characters. In this book, you learn a lot about gorillas, animal husbandry, African ecosystems and electrical engineering, but this is all at the expense of plot build, character development, and good dialogue; of which there is none. Completely lacking in all of the elements of a fun read.

It did not hold my interest very well at all. For a 316 page book, it took me way to long to read. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for learning something when reading a book, but I need to be captivated first.

En el corazón del África salvaje nace una aventura en pos de encontrar la ciudad perdida de Zinj, punto clave de una intriga internacional.

Sus protagonistas: una chica ambiciosa al servicio de una poderosa multinacional; un joven científico californiano; Amy, un gorila entrañable; y un experto cazador que conoce todos los secretos y misterios de la selva.

En lo más profundo de la jungla se enfrentarán a peligros mortales: pigmeos siniestros, bestias, ríos de lava, espías de naciones enemigas y mercenarios. Sólo si consiguen superar estos escollos podrán aspirar a resolver el enigma de Zinj.

Me ha parecido tedioso. Todo iría bien si la acción no comenzase hasta casi la mitad del libro, con un principio donde Michael Crichton nos habla muchísimo de tecnología, y yo lo que venía buscado era una gran aventura. No está mal para pasar el rato, pero nada memorable.

Pinchazo.

Saludos.