By now, most people have seen the movie adaption of Jurassic Park. I think it's safe to say it was well liked and memorable. The original novel is so much more. With more background, more authentic (if not always easily understood) science and lots of detailed description that paints a picture more fantastic than the film's special effects could ever hope to reproduce, Jurassic Park is a book not to be missed. Action, adventure, dinosaurs, DNA, cloning, ethical/moral dilemmas and so much more, Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park cannot be completely appreciated without reading this book. ( )

Crichton is great at writing fast paced stories telling us all the horrible things we can (and almost certainly will) do wrong as we rush smash through the barriers of scientific discovery. Jurassic Park is his most popular version of this tale and for good reason. ( )

This review is coming to you from a strange computer at a very strange house: the house I grew up in (I'm house-sitting for the next week and a couple of days.) For some reason, I cannot get wireless to work on my laptop, so I'm using my Mom's desktop (which she admits is a piece of crap.) The only problem I seem to be having is that the keyboard is a little funky - like my fingers are too big to be using it or something. But fear not gentle reader, I WILL prevail! And now, onto the review...

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 20 or so years, you already know the premise of Jurassic Park. To quote one of my favorite lines from the movie: "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs. Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth." Well, there you have it in a nutshell: a wealthy eccentric named John Hammond buys an island in Costa Rica and turns it into Jurassic Park - a living biological preserve for genetically engineered dinosaurs.

The thing you need to know about the book is that it is quite different from the movie on a number of points. I will not spoil it for you here, but suffice it to say that I have seen the movie numerous times, and I never knew what was coming next in the book. It had me reading quickly to get to the end and see how the characters were going to get out of trouble. In my opinion, the book kicks the movie's a**.

Jurassic Park was captivating and completely engrossing from the very first chapter. Michael Crichton sure knew how to create tension and suspense in his novels! I was on the edge of my seat, racing toward the finish line and hoping none of my favorite characters ended up on the dino-diet. It was a fast-paced read and almost impossible for me to put down.

Jurassic Park is simply thrilling - and quite a bit darker than it's movie adaptation. Crichton manages to give the reader all of the scientific details without bogging down the story or giving up even an ounce of the creepy suspense that builds from the first pages. A phenomenal "techno-thriller," Jurassic Park and Michael Crichton deserve every bit of accolade they have received. I am deeply impressed, and will definitely be recommending this book to others.

Also recommended:
Check out my review of Robert T. Bakker's Raptor Red ( )

OK story line

In this story the characters are this scientist and a woman who goes with him to park where this old man had made clone of mostly every dinosaur. They think that every thing will be fine, but they dont know that something will go horribly wrong. They had made cloning DNA that would make dinosaurs come to live. one day they went on a tour to see every dinosaur in that park. They went and saw a dinosaur exhibit and they saw nothing and they said what is happening so then they went to the nxt exhibit.They saw the T-REX place and they saw that the people were putting a goat in that. than they see that a dinosaur is sick and they try to help it .They help it and they found out the problem and they find the answer in the dropings.The ride moved back to dinosaur and when they thought that every thing was going to be alright, things went horribly wrong. They went back and the ride stopped back at the T-REX exhibit and they were stuck the ride could not move and the man that stayed back tried to figure out what went wrong.Then he finds that fat guy messed up the computers.Then out of nowhere the T-REX poped out and the people got terefied and then they told each other not to move or get out of the car.One of the people did not listen and ran out of the car to hide in the bathrooms.Then the kid that was in the car flashed a light at the dinosaur and it saw it.The T-REX went charging to the car and he flipped and he crushed it and the kids wrer hurt.Before the T-REX crushed it again the people in the other car tried to find in the car anything that would help them.Then Grant saw a flare thing and he went out the car and lighted it up.The T-REX saw it and started running to it and then they started running.Next thing you know the T-REX through the car to the bottom. The T-REX then left and it was all clear so then they went to the bottom and hid there. they hid there there and left when the T-REX was not to be seen. They lleft and hid they thought that ever

One of my all-time favorite Michael Crichton books, Jurassic Park is so much better than the movie. The book explores the reason why John Hammond created the park, which is so much scarier than in the book. The callous way genetics is used is brought to the forefront in this book, with death as a result. I challenge you to put this down in the middle!! ( )

Fans of the movie by Michael Crichton will be even bigger fans of the book, which explores the ethics of science and chaos theory in great detail. Crichton even breaks down the chapters into elements of chaos. This novel provides interesting commentary on modern science as well as the excitement of the movie. ( )

Fans of the movie by Michael Crichton will be even bigger fans of the book, which explores the ethics of science and chaos theory in great detail. Crichton even breaks down the chapters into elements of chaos. This novel provides interesting commentary on modern science as well as the excitement of the movie. ( )

A wonderful, scientific adventure. ( )

Jurassic Park is one of the most successful and popular literary ventures ever, with high book sales, film gross in excess of $900 million, and popular toys and spin-off books aimed at children. Of course, the brunt of the sales was through and because of the Spielberg film, which set the bar for special effects, but the film had to be based on something.

And that something was Crichton's cautionary tale involving some of the most captivating creatures ever - dinosaurs. What the story lacks in character depth and development (and complete annoyance in the form of Alexis) it makes up with gripping, intense sequences and escapades. Crichton can keep most readers glued to their seats, gripping the pages tightly with the excitement of the dinosaurs, and transfers a fear to even the most curious and amazed readers.

The science behind the book, while not correct and used with stylistic liberty, seems real and with Crichton's explanations makes sense for the common person without a strong background or interest in genetics and biotechnology. And, of course, Crichton has a message to the reader - be fearful of these sciences, because they are very dangerous in the wrong hands yet have almost zero governance.

As Ian Malcolm, that zany chaotician says,

Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet - or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves,

by learning to regulate such sciences and admitting that nature has a power over mankind and will never relinquish that top spot. ( )

This book epitomizes what it means to be a pseudo-scientific thriller. A rollicking ride, with just enough 'real' science explained to keep it somewhat in the realm of plausibility, 'Jurassic Park' is an exciting read. A professed dinosaur nut, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

I’m told that in the fall I’ll be teaching this novel to my eighth-grade lit classes. I remember being impressed with it when I first read it years ago, but less so on this subsequent reading. It is certainly exciting in places, but I’m not a big fan of thrillers. The ideas, too, are much more fully explored than in the movie, such that the book has a lot more to offer. However, the characters struck me as paper dolls moving through their assigned roles; I couldn’t get attached to any of them. Perhaps partly because there were so many, and partly because we didn’t know enough about what made any of them tick, I never really got invested in any of them. Frankly, I was bored. ( )

I found this book titillatingly terrifying, as Crichton jumps into the minds of people just as they are about to meet their doom at the teeth and claws of the dinosaurs. He also takes the time to explain the science, but he does it so that it is part of the storyline. I never got bored with the scientific explanations. ( )

I loved the movie and expected to possibly be bored reading the book, since I already knew the storyline. The book is infinitely more engrossing than the film. Crichton steps into the minds of the victims before they are attacked by the dinosaurs, so you are actually reading what it feels like to be eaten alive. It's incredibly terrifying. The only thing I didn't like was the odd ambiguous ending, hence the lack of five stars. ( )

I end up watching Jurassic Park once or twice a year, but it has been about 15 years since I last read the book, so it is easy to forget about how well written and full of detail it is. The book is a lot more suspenseful than the movie, weaving the survival/escape plot with a doomsday clock in the form of two raptors that snuck aboard a supply ship heading to the mainland. Hammond is also both oblivious and self-centered, in stark contrast to Father Christmas from the movie. ( )

If you only read one Crichton novel let this be the one. This is one of the most well researched novels I have ever read and one I actually learned something from. The way Crichton explains genetics is simple yet not "dummed down" I am not a bioengineer or geneticist but all this seem like it could definitely be done. Also the movie is pretty fucking sweet. ( )

This is one of my favourite Crichton novels. Malcolm, being a long-time favourite fictional character of mine, is brilliant in the book...Even though I really think he's just a vessel for Michael Crichton's governmental complaints.

And dinosaurs. DINOSAURS.

Come on, who doesn't like dinosaurs? ( )

A very good book, that was much better than the film based on it. For one thing, it was nice to have some closure when it came to the island without having to wait on the sequel.

Besides, the most annoying characters got killed off, which saddly didn't happen the same way in the film. ( )

Crichton's nanotech.- thriller is as good as it gets. I enjoyed how he spilt the books up into sections based on chaos theory. I wish there would have been more chaos theory info., but was satisfied with what he gave readers. My favorite scenes were the waterfall and the aviary, which were cut from the movie version. ( )

If you were like me, and grew up around the same time I did, you too probably saw Jurassic Park, the Spielberg film, long before you knew about this Crichton fellow.

While Spielberg may be the master of making a film that is good for its designed demographic (though I contest this point strongly with A.I., but that is a long diatribe I'd rather not get into now...), he also seems to dumb things down when they're family-friendly blockbusters, just so the kids don't get bored when the mathematicians are discussing chaos theory between the times that dinosaurs are eating things and roaring.

Fortunately, Crichton's work, which came first, doesn't fret about kids (or even adults) getting bored learning about chaos theory, and about how certain trends are indicative of certain migratory and breeding patterns, and whatnot. But at the same time, it's not like reading a comprehensive text on mathematics. He punctuated the slow parts with edge-of-your-seat thriller action, making a book that would appeal to anyone who finds themselves reading New York Times bestselling authors, like Tom Clancy or John Grisham, only with dinosaurs instead of extremist terrorists or big-time slimy lawyers (though, there is a lawyer in this book, so be warned).

I must say that when Crichton picked a topic to write about, he did his research, and while not 100% accurate, are at least presented in a believable way, writing about certain topics with a sort of confidence in his words, he made the works believable to the general populace, which while not the best writing style to the purist, is still a good writing style to the economist.

If you like techno-thrillers or stories of dinosaurs and the humans they try to eat, or if you're a fan of each and every NYT bestseller (if you are, you've probably already read this book), then you may find yourself enjoying Jurassic Park. You probably won't enjoy it if you're either a very well studied paleontologist or someone who only reads "good" books, with a reading level requiring a college degree, or even an ultra-college degree. ( )

excellent read - only one issue, it was clearly written as a script. ( )

Ah, Jurassic Park…how I've missed you and completely misunderstood you.

Many, many years ago, back in 1992 when the film was about to released, I read this book in Middle School…7th Grade to be more exact. It was during these years that I was making my transition from Encyclopedias and Question & Answer Books to fiction. Without going into any details as to the why, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. As a prepubescent, I was enthralled with the idea of living dinosaurs and the science behind making them. Plus, the book has some considerable violence and enough disembowelment to satisfy any kid who just could not get along with the rest of his world…

The contrast to rereading it today, however, is that I see Crichton's underlying message. His philosophy in this book is that when man tries to imitate a complex, chaotic system such as nature, man is relinquishing all control of that system. Here in the book the eccentric millionaire has created a park for dinosaurs for all the rich kids of the world (there is no hidden agenda of cash being the ultimate goal; it is repeated oft and with vehemence). Also, he (and his colleagues) are not trying to create a Zoo with cages; they are trying to duplicate, as best they can, the systems of nature in compliance to how it all was millions of years ago…and control it. Here is where the preaching begins, the beef against science and those that use science to make loads of money rather than to better humanity and society. Crichton also uses Malcolm as his avatar to explain humans are not destroying the earth; when it should be noted that humans are destroying themselves.

So, when there is a scene in the novel in which there is a break from the action, the preaching begins by a man drunk on morphine… A metaphor as to how he feels he is usually received, perhaps? Anyway, reading this as an adult was a far more enriching experience as to the author's ways and means of delivering his ideas. I can appreciate his passion and his statements about complex systems (me being a believer in variables rather than absolutes) and out utter lack of control over them. Nevertheless, I feel that those who rehash it back as dogma, more often than not, misunderstand his words. I think his main fault is trying to explain how complicated it all is in an overly simplified manner…

Anyway…it's a good book aside from the Dinosaur aspect. I may not necessarily agree…but I also feel like I am not getting all of the evidence to support his passion. ( )

Pure mind fluff I picked up one day to read on the toilet and pretty much read it in one sitting. You've seen the movie so you pretty much get the gist - preserved DNA -> Dinosaurs! -> havoc -> chomp-chomp! This book and author are vastly overrated, IMHO ( )

One of Crichton's best. Plays a little fast and loose with real-world science, but an entertaining read. ( )

I thought that i would die without ever reading a michael crichton book. apparently, i didn't see my dinosaur obsession coming. it was refreshing to read a book so different from what i usually read. i had a lot of fun reading it, altough now less likely to adopt a velociraptor... ( )