Favorite Crichton Novel

[Barbados Slim]

Let's remember Michael Crichton by listing what material of his we loved, liked and kinda said "ehh..." Sphere was the first thing I read from him and I thought his formula of "billionaire funds a team of adventurers on great scientific discovery that corrupts/kills" was very fun and beget tons of copycats.

Favorite Crichton novel:

Airframe. This was a great mystery with some neat insight into plane crashes and the airline industry. And off-formula for him. This was the book I most wanted to see as a film and after several tries, it never made it to screen.

Loved:

Sphere. Claustrophobic and wonderous.
The Lost World. Spielberg screwed up by trying to write the sequel to Jurassic Park before the book was published.


Liked:
Timeline Another screwed up movie. I was surprised at how brutal and unexpected time travel was depicted. The movie suffered from terrible casting and plot changes.

Ehh:
State of Fear. Chased by scorpions and lightening. Some aspects of the book were fascinating but overall the adventure part suffered.

Prey. My least favorite. By the end when the nanobots were people and then creatures and gross I was done.

 

[Kirby]

The only two Crichton books I read were Airframe and Timeline and I loved them both. I will certainly check out more of his work.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The only one I've read so far is Rising Sun. (It was an assignment for a Politics & Film class.) While the movie sucked royally, the book is an amazing read. It's a bit dated but it's still an engaging murder mystery and Crichton had a gift for making a book seem half as long as it actually was. You just zip through the prose and often even learn some interesting technical facts along the way.

 

[Mr Light]

1. Jurassic Park. Even before the movie I read this book a million times in middle and high school. So many amazing suspenseful scenes with killer dinos.
2. Sphere. Read it endlessly. Creepy as hell.
3. Congo. Read it endlessly. Remember the night gorilla attacks freaking me out.
4. Timeline. Loved the "real world" look at medieval England and time travel.

The other books were just good. Eaters of the Dead. Great Train Robbery. State of Fear. Lost World. Rising Sun.

Ones I didn't like. Andromeda Strain. Next. Prey.

 

[Tom Servo]

Loved: The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Prey, Congo, Timeline, Airframe

Liked: State of Fear, Next, The Lost World

 

[Non Sync]

Loved: The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Timeline (the movie spewed big time!), Airframe

Liked: Rising Sun, Lost World

Didn't: Sphere, Congo

Ugh: Next, Prey

 

[Harvey]

Andromeda Strain is his best novel. His later work is far cry from where he started.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

My top 5 favorite books are:
1. Eaters of the Dead
2. Jurassic Park
3. Sphere
4. Lost World
5. Rising Sun

 

[Australis]

Jurassic Park. Reade ot a long time before the movie. After it, Lost World and Timeline.

I quite liked the film version of Eaters of the Dead, 13th Warrior.

 

[gottacook]

Dealing: Or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, by Crichton and his brother writing as "Michael Douglas", around 1971. Haven't read it in decades, but it was a hoot.

 

[Cicero]

1. Congo
2. The Great Train Robbery
3. The Andromeda Strain
4. Jurassic Park
5. The Lost World
6. Sphere

(I thought all were excellent, if some somewhat more, and some somewhat less. I didn't realize how many books of his I've yet to read.)


Reading the title 'Amy Talk Thing Talk' in Congo was one of my favorite reading experiences, on a par with reading the the chapter which followed 'One Man and The Mule' in Asimov's Second Foundation. Looking back, I'm surprised to realize how much I learned from his books in elementary school.

 

[Skywalker]

I think the only ones I've read are Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Timeline. I liked all three quite a bit, but JP would be my top pick.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Favorite Crichton novel: Rising Sun
Loved: Jurassic Park, Sphere
Liked: Most of the rest
Ehh: Timeline. I couldn't make it past about 50 pages.

 

[pigletsgiblets]

Timeline.

That is the only book that I have read.

 

[highlander]

I've read a good deal of his work but my favorites are Timeline and Congo.

 

[backstept]

Airframe - this book really got me interested in aeronautics . . . would make a great movie
Timeline - fantastic mix of Indiana Jones and timetravel (stupid stupid movie . . . )
Jurassic Park - instant classic! great book, great movie.
Sphere - really really fascinating idea
Eaters of the Dead - haven't read the book, but I love the movie The 13th Warrior, though questionable casting choice (Antonio Banderas as an Arab? )

 

[Twilight]

I adored Jurassic Park and Sphere

 

[Brikar99]

Definitely "Jurassic Park". I could read that book until the end of time.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Eaters of the Dead - haven't read the book, but I love the movie The 13th Warrior, though questionable casting choice (Antonio Banderas as an Arab? )

13th Warrior is one of my favorite movies. It actually stays pretty close to the novel and the casting of the vikings was great. As for Antonio I actually think besides Shrek, 13th Warrior is some of his best acting. I too thought it was weird that he played an arab but at the time, there were not to many prominent arab actors. Hell Omar Sharif would have been perfect if the movie was made 40 years ago.

As much as I love the movie, I do hope that one day...say 20 or 30 years from now. It would be remade with an actual arab actor in the main role.

 

[SlyCardie]

It's tough to even make a list here, because my favorite is far and away Jurassic Park. It was one of the first books I really got into and read in long stretches, stayed up and night to read, etc.