Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) (Trace & Colour Books) (Look-look Books)

by Michael Crichton

On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind's most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge.

But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park's defence systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival...

With this masterful cross of science fiction and action-adventure, Michael Crichton created one of the biggest bestsellers of all time, turned by Steven Spielberg into the highest grossing blockbuster ever in 1993.

• ISBN10: 0345370775
• ISBN13: 9780345370778
• Publish Date: 13 November 1991 (first published 1 January 1980)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 399
• Language: English

Reviews

[alisoninbookland]

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Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

I was worried that it might be a bit science or technology heavy for my taste but it really wasn't. Listening to the audio was a great choice.

The story was an amazing adventure. Not surprisingly it was even better than the movie. [Though I think the movie did make some wise decisions. Namely, ageing up Lex.]

I can't wait to listen to another Crichton [or a book narrated by Brick.]

[sstaley]

I read this the first time many years ago before Goodreads was even a thing. I decided to listen to the audio version this time and liked it even better. Even though I really love the 1st Jurassic Park movie, I love this book even more! The ideas about the park and the people that ran the park are better developed in the book. I understand there's only so much you can do in a movie, but reading the book version gives you a different experience. I would even dare say that the dinosaurs are even more frightening as you read/listen to the book.

Now many people complain about the "science" in the book. You have to take into account when this book was written in 1990. Science has changed a lot since then.

I found something very interesting about how Michael Crichton came up with the idea to write this book. I'm going to quote what I read...

"The novel began as a screenplay Crichton wrote in 1983, about a graduate student who recreates a dinosaur. Eventually, given his reasoning that genetic research is expensive and "there is no pressing need to create a dinosaur", Crichton concluded that it would emerge from a "desire to entertain", leading to a wildlife park of extinct animals. Originally, the story was told from the point of view of a child, but Crichton changed it as everyone who read the draft felt it would be better if told by an adult."

I found this fascinating about it's original origins in Crichton's mind. I have to say to all the fans of the Jurassic Park/World movies, if you loved them, then you must read the books. I'm now going to start listening to the 2nd book which I never read before when it came out. Since so many things were different in the first book from the movie, it will be interesting to see where Crichton went with the plot.

[inlibrisveritas]

I adore this movie and think it's probably one of the best sci-fi films out there, but for some reason I never thought about reading the actual book until a friend of mine made me go home with his copy. At that point reading something becomes an obligation so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Needless to say if you see my rating then you know I really loved it. The movie wasn't an exact copy of this and I think that made me enjoy it the book so much more then I would have if it had been.

The concept alone is phenomenal, I mean what person hasn't thought about what it's like to be near a dinosaur. I also like how it's not a fairy-tale but it shows the 'real' danger that an idea like this actually poses. The characters are similar to the movie in basic personality but differ in other ways which made this have a different feel from the movie. The young girl is still exceedingly annoying and I could practically hear her screaming and complaining everything she had a line. I think Malcolm is probably my favorite, his many rants are pure genius and I love his snarky attitude. The writing was fantastic, you would think with the amount of technical details that Mr. Crichton makes a hobby of trying to replicate dinosaurs. Hell you would think he owns a few already. He put in a lot of research time for this book in just getting the animal behavior to feel right, not to mention the time it probably took to make sure everything technical would sound believable. It does have technical terms through out but there is also a fair amount of explanation happening as well, so you don't feel out of the loop. This is going to be one of those books that I'll have a hard time forgetting (not like I'd want to though).

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys sci-fi or anyone who enjoyed the movie a lot. Soo glad my friend made me read this. I'll probably try to find some more of Crichton's books and probably even buy a copy of this for myself in the future.

[remo]

Grandísima novela de ciencia ficción que luego el cine llevó a fama cosmoplanetaria. Un planteamiento de entrada brillante, recuperar el ADN de dinosaurios extrayéndolo de mosquitos atrapados en ámbar, para crear un parque temático lleno de dinosaurios vivos. Y luego la dura realidad dando su opinión. Me encantó la novela, como casi todas las de Crichton.