I didn't expect this memoir to be very interesting, and the cover description gives no indication that it is heavily focused on Crichton's deeply-felt experiences with the occult and "new age" spirituality. I was fascinated with the lack of concern he expressed about preserving any duality between the scientific worldview versus his spiritual extrasensory experience. For example, he recounts his ability, since childhood, to induce his consciousness to leave his body.While experiences like these can only be convincing to the subject directly involved, Crichton's accounts struck me as very genuine, and I'm still awed by the idea of a sciency person who can fully acknowledge experiences that have no apparent physical explanation without a priori demeaning them as illusions of the physical. ( )

Understand more about the the writer's experience and personality in this non-fiction. Highly recommended for Michael Crichton reader. ( )

Synopsis: In this non-fiction work, Crichton begins with his med school days and the travel that he made within himself to finish school. The second part of the book deals with his travels around the world for leisure and making movies. He climbed Kilimanjaro, dove for wrecks in the Carribbean, and stayed with a New Guinea tribe. The third part of the book centers around the travel he took to find himself through psychics, meditation, and spiritual journey.
Pros and Cons: The book reads as Crichton's fiction thrillers do - fast paced and interesting. You can feel his anxiety and self doubt throughout the book, as he questions different decisions that he made throughout life. He can also come across as arrogant, especially while discussing relationships and whether to continue with a dangerous adventure. Overall, it is an entertaining book and I recommend it ( )

Crichton's impressionable and soft side is revealed. Who would've known the experiences he's had. Med school drama is revealed.

Crichton's books are fascinating, as is this travelogue. But he really is a sexist jerk, as is shown by his arrogant tone of voice and treatment of all genders and races different from his own. And the man really had a conversation with a cactus? Get real. ( )