Michael Crichton

[AE35Unit]

Have only read a few of his,Andromeda Strain,excellent,and Sphere being of note. Never read any Jurassic Park books,no point when the films are out there,plus Conan Doyle's Lost World is far better! (And Chrichton didn't acknowledge Doyle when he wrote his The Lost World,something that upset my brother!)

I seem to remember another early classic i read, The something Man,good book.
Anyone else read his stuff,and whats he writing these days?

 

[Switchback]

I love Michael Crichton books. Always good, quick, easy reads. Really enjoyable stories, and well written with good tech background info. I've read just about everything. I still need to get to his latest that just went paperback. Next i think it's called.

Timeline is a personal favorite, plus both jurassic park novels. Prey was good. Sphere was good. Great traiin robbery was awesome. The man's a talent!

 

[AE35Unit]

Were there not 3 JP books? Tell you what,gonna look on fantastic fiction...

 

[Switchback]

there were three films, but only two books i think....

 

[AE35Unit]

My god he's done a few hasn't he,including ER(well someone had to i suppose...)
And I loved the film Westworld,never realised it was a book too!
And the one I was thinking of is The Terminal Man! Great book Oh and he's australian too. So you didn't just intent the rotary washing line then...

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/michael-crichton/

 

[Riselka]

there were three films, but only two books i think....

Yup, and there's supposedly a fourth in the works. The third was bad enough, I wonder how badly the fourth is going to suck?

 

[Switchback]

yeah, it's a shame what they've done to those films. the lost world was a great book, but the movie was terrible. and the third jurassic park film? well... simply awful!

 

[AE35Unit]

Actually I enjoyed all the films,and look forward to the next one. They save me the time taken to read a book. Just slap in a DVD-I'm a lazy sod

 

[Lucien21]

Crichton's books are all the same.

Introduce new wonderful science
Science runs amok and people die.
Rinse and repeat.

The science is usually interesting and the books are extremely easy to read, but the carbon copying gets repetitive.

 

[AE35Unit]

You could say that about many authors Lucien,I take it you've read all his stuff?

 

[Lucien21]

I suppose you could say it about some authors to a certain degree, but it does seem more obvious in crichton's novels.

I'm not dissing it. It obviously has been successful.

I enjoyed the novels I have read, but it doesn't make it less formulaic. He has basically been rerwiting andromeda strain for years.

I've read most of his books, seen all of the films and used to be an avid ER viewer.

 

[nj1]

I've just recieved a copy of 'Eaters of the dead' by Crichton, which was the basis of the film 'The Thirteenth Warrior' haven't read it yet but it's only 186 pages long so should take me about a day to read it.

 

[AE35Unit]

Well I never knew that nj! Crichton gets everywhere!

 

[nj1]

Yeah i've noticed that, when I mentioned that i had watched The film and wondered if it was based on a book, JD replied that it was one of Crichtons and I looked him up on fantastic fiction, I was suprised how many of his books had been made into films. Many of them classics in my opinion.

 

[j d worthington]

And I loved the film Westworld,never realised it was a book too!

The book Westworld is not a novel, but a publication of the screenplay....

 

[AE35Unit]

What about the follow up film, Future world? Did that get a book treatment?

 

[j d worthington]

I believe it did, but I can't recall for certain....

EDIT: In looking it up, it would seem that no, it wasn't. This one wasn't by Crichton to begin with, so there may have been some legal complications on such a book. Must admit that I've never been particularly impressed with this film to begin with, though I quite like a lot of things about Westworld (especially its self-mocking sense of humor)...

 

[Steve Jordan]

Despite your having seen the Jurassic Park movie(s), I would recommend the first book, Jurassic Park, to read. The book covers much better detail and does not include the Hollywood-required silliness of the movie. Some of the elements in the first book never made it to any of the movies.

I generally don't have a problem with Crichton's "tech run amok" themes, but the movie adaptations do tend to degrade them to comic-book level adventures (Jurassic Park being a prime example). On the other hand, his perspectives on elements of technology such as genetics (Jurassic), robots (Runaway, not Westworld), alien life (Andromeda Strain) and technology in media (Looker) have been strong (despite the comic-book movie treatments).

 

[Dave]

Despite your having seen the Jurassic Park movie(s), I would recommend the first book, Jurassic Park, to read. The book covers much better detail and does not include the Hollywood-required silliness of the movie. Some of the elements in the first book never made it to any of the movies.

I have to agree with Steve - I read the book long before the film and the book is much better. As for the sequels... well, what do you expect?

"all his books have the same technology-runs-amok theme" - well possibly. 'Timeline' and 'Prey' do fit that mould, but are very good. 'Timeline' is again much better as a book than as a film. I never imagined Billy Connolly as the scientist.

'Eaters of the Dead' and 'Rising Sun' - they do not fit that mould, nor does his anti-environmental book which I haven't read and have a problem with.

 

[Steve Jordan]

You're right, I shouldn't have said "all." Though it's clearly a popular theme with him, it is by no means the only thing he writes. Apologies for being sloppy.