Jurassic Park

Crichton is in a league of his own when it comes to research, in my opinion. For me, Crichton set the benchmark for speculative fiction writers. I truly believe this.

He is a master storyteller because of his ability to take complex subject matter and translate it for the layperson. And somehow, at the same time, he weaves it all into a believable, action-packed story like Jurassic Park. Also, I love dinosaurs. So, there’s that.

This was the book that got me into reading. It has everything: an intriguing premise, great characters, wondrous, yet terrifying creatures, action, suspense, humor, and a hefty dose of intellect.

These days, most people know Jurassic Park by its film franchise. When the first movie released in 1993, audiences were floored. And don’t get me wrong, it’s objectively a great movie, with wonderful acting and cutting-edge special effects for its time. But at the time? I was disappointed.

I had already read the book more than once and was looking forward to seeing its entire story brought to life on… show more.

I’ve read Jurassic Park several times, along with its sequels, and watched all the movies. But no matter how many times I open the book that started the franchise, the story still feels as fresh as it did thirty years ago.

Maybe that’s because I love to marvel at the idea of seeing living, breathing dinosaurs—at the immense power that makes our AI and smartphones look feeble in comparison.

Or maybe it’s because Crichton’s tale was the perfect blend between high concept and straight-up adventure. Either way, there’s still nothing that quite matches the fun of getting lost in… show more.

I really loved reading this in its original form. So used to the film, I found the novel jarring at first but grew to love it more than the film as there is so much more content, science, and character development.

I found the written word carried so much more depth and narrative, and the story just went on and on, way past the events of the film, and to be fair I hadn’t given Crichton enough merit for the amount of work he’d put into the original idea, and there is a lot of work here. Fabulous noel, and… show more.

Remember how irritating the mathematician character was in the Jurassic Park movie?

He’s way worse in this book. And that little girl who gets stuck in the park with Alan Grant? In the book, you want her to get eaten by a dinosaur. But neither of those annoyances diminish the power and prescience of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, because we have seen and experienced these types of “gain of function” projects, some with unexpected results.

One of the most famous quotes in the book is “Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do… show more.

Jurassic Park was the first Michael Crichton novel I read. And yes, I read this way before they made the book into a movie.

There are two things Crichton does incredibly well. First, he researches the hell out of his stories. The golden rule of writing is never to write about what you don't know. Second, he takes a theoretical concept and makes you believe it could happen. He's able to do this because he followed rule number one.

The best stories, in my opinion, are the ones that you believe could truly happen. Crichton convinces you that dinosaurs are… show more.

This is the first and most obvious man-eating monster novel. The movies were amazing, but the book was perfection. And I believe that is why it is so gripping. Michael Crichton’s attention to detail regarding what was then cutting-edge science, combined with his directorial eye for action (remember, he also directed Westworld and six other films), made for an un-put-downable experience which I still remember devouring to this day. I mean, you just can’t go wrong with genetically modified dinosaurs on a remote island eating people left and right. And one man’s hubris over nature and subsequent reckoning by creatures… show more.

To anyone who has seen the movie, I implore you to read/listen to the book because it provides such a nice contrast to the film. Jurassic Park was the first film I remember seeing and it’s been a part of my life for nearly 25 years. The book, while having the same plot beats as the film, has much more of a horror vibe that paints the dinosaurs as terrifying creatures. Such detail is given to how they move, smell, and sound that it really immerses the reader and makes you fear them. What’s also great is that neither the… show more.

Twisting childhood dreams into nightmares is a typical horror trope, yet none do it with such caliber as Crichton’s Jurassic Park. Imagine a child’s joy visiting a theme park filled with their favorite dinosaurs…and their terror as these creatures escape to wreak havoc. Blending horror with a pop novel style, Jurassic Park treads the line between cultural critique and commerciality with ease. The characters lack the serious pathos of the other stories on this list, but they certainly aren’t boring. This rapid-paced tale is impossible to put down as the tension builds with dinosaur-chomping action. As a critique of… show more.

This is one of the few novels in my recent memory that is a real page-turner—and one of Crichton’s best. He combined innovative science with a unique story that eventually influenced Hollywood thrillers and is still at the forefront of pop culture today. Crichton was a Jurassic Renaissance Man, and his work continues to influence me as both a novelist and screenwriter.