The Andromeda Strain
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The novel that redefined the science fiction genre, starring a team of scientists who must uncover what killed the citizens of a sleepy desert town--and stop the deadly contagion before it creates a catastrophe. "I love anything Michael Crichton writes."--Stephen King A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation's most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory located five stories beneath the desert and fitted with an automated atomic self-destruction mechanism for cases of irremediable contamination. Under conditions of total news blackout and the utmost urgency, the scientists race to understand and contain the crisis. But the Andromeda Strain proves different from anything they've ever seen--and what they don't know could not only hurt them, but lead to unprecedented worldwide catastrophe.
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Blah. Not my favorite Michael Crichton. Probably a better read when it was first published. We've come a long way.
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I had read a bunch of bad reviews of this book before I started reading it, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't like it despite the fact that I really enjoy this type of book. However, I quickly realized that my fears were unfounded, and I ended up giving this book 4.5 stars.
This book was all about the SCIENCE. The characters weren't so fleshed out or engaging, but I knew enough about them to stay interested and invested. Mostly, though, what was so great about this book was the plot — namely the science behind how scientists might investigate an unfamiliar organism and how different governmental organizations might make decisions and work together to prevent an outbreak.
So although the characters weren't people who I ever really got to know that well (and honestly, other than Stone and Hall, the scientists felt a little interchangeable to me), I was still interested in how the story played out with the Andromeda organism. Although the book was based on actual scientific practices, Crichton managed to keep the book overall easy to read and explained all the methods and science fairly well (albeit in a simplified manner, of course).
The only problem that I found with this book was the sudden resolution at the end and how everything was basically figured out within the last fifty pages of the book. Through the book, there were all these high stakes, and then suddenly, it was like "Oh well it's no big deal anymore because the organism has now mutated into a harmless form that only dissolves rubber and won't kill humans anymore." So that was almost a bit of a letdown. Granted, it was a bit exciting with Hall having to stop the atomic bomb going off, but that only lasted for about two or three pages and could have been extended a bit more to up the stakes, especially since the organism wasn't a problem anymore.
If Crichton had managed to extend the tension he'd introduced in the first three hundred pages in the book into the end of the story, then this book could have been an incredibly strong read the whole way through. As it is, I took off half a star for the small letdown towards the end, but the book was so engaging otherwise that it barely matters, and I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who likes techo-thrillers, sci-fi, and Richard Preston's writing.
This book was all about the SCIENCE. The characters weren't so fleshed out or engaging, but I knew enough about them to stay interested and invested. Mostly, though, what was so great about this book was the plot — namely the science behind how scientists might investigate an unfamiliar organism and how different governmental organizations might make decisions and work together to prevent an outbreak.
So although the characters weren't people who I ever really got to know that well (and honestly, other than Stone and Hall, the scientists felt a little interchangeable to me), I was still interested in how the story played out with the Andromeda organism. Although the book was based on actual scientific practices, Crichton managed to keep the book overall easy to read and explained all the methods and science fairly well (albeit in a simplified manner, of course).
The only problem that I found with this book was the sudden resolution at the end and how everything was basically figured out within the last fifty pages of the book. Through the book, there were all these high stakes, and then suddenly, it was like "Oh well it's no big deal anymore because the organism has now mutated into a harmless form that only dissolves rubber and won't kill humans anymore." So that was almost a bit of a letdown. Granted, it was a bit exciting with Hall having to stop the atomic bomb going off, but that only lasted for about two or three pages and could have been extended a bit more to up the stakes, especially since the organism wasn't a problem anymore.
If Crichton had managed to extend the tension he'd introduced in the first three hundred pages in the book into the end of the story, then this book could have been an incredibly strong read the whole way through. As it is, I took off half a star for the small letdown towards the end, but the book was so engaging otherwise that it barely matters, and I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who likes techo-thrillers, sci-fi, and Richard Preston's writing.
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At first, I was disappointed with this novel. I expected it to be full of exciting, racing-the-clock action, but a large portion of the book focused on the specifics of the scientific study of extraterrestrial organisms. The breach and eventual release of the Andromeda Strain from the Wildfire lab was exciting, but the realization that it was harmless to humans after all of that preparation was anti-climactic. The novel was not what I expected, but I think there is something to be said about an Apocalyptic/Outbreak scenario novel that manages to make you think about what could happen instead of laying it all out for you though. Maybe my overindulgence in some of the cheesier novels in this genre have weakened my imagination.
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