The Andromeda Strain (Michael Crichton)

The Andromeda Strain The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is an amazing book about a disease that has mysteriously killed 50 people in the small town of Piedmont, Arizona and the five scientists that try to find the antidote. The disease came down with a satellite from Project Scoop, a super-secret government organization designed to find new diseases for bio-warfare. The people of Piedmont opened the satellite capsule and almost everyone was dead within minutes. There were only two survivors, a baby and an old steno drinker. The five scientists, also from a super-secret government organization, called Wildfire, are called in to try to find out what the disease is and how to stop it. The scientists are working in a super-high-tech lab that is five stories underground and to get to the next level down they have to pass through the sterilization tests. The scientists test the substance, the satellite, and the survivors. The team finds nothing. Wildfire is still working when they get... Read more

Is there really anything we can say about this book besides one of the best ever? I only recently started reading Michael Crichton. I found out by reading Andromeda Strain for an independent reading for English class. let me tell you; i could not put it down. We had about 2 weeks to read our books and I finished mine the day after I took it out from the library. I just could not put it down. After reading other books by this author, I realized it was a lot like the other ones or the same basic scheme. Crichton deals with adverse effects of technological advancement:ie. Jurassic Park with genetic engineering. You really want my advice; read this book and you will not put it down until you have read it at least 5 times.

I don't tend to read popular fiction, but Andromeda Strain is the basis for any sort of biological, viral or bacterial plot gone haywire. Since I focus my reading on sci-fi, I thought it only natural to eventually read the classic, according to some people. I've read Congo before I didn't like it for the reason that the science, while cutting edge at the time, was too far ahead of time to be applicable to the time period. Communication lasers and satellite uplinks in 1979 was just too out of place. Likewise, Andromeda Strain has science which is clearly out of applicable practice for 1969... and as a sci-fi reader, the science is an important part to the plot. The science doesn't match the time period so it all has the feeling of being temporally misplaced. If Crichton wanted to include all this fancy technology, then he could have just placed the plot in the future... not so hard. If this was an attempt to solidify himself as a hard sci-fi author back in 1969 then he did made... Read more

When it comes to reading an author for the first time, you want the first book you read by that author to be a good one. That way you have a good first impression, and that author gets more chances within your realm of reading. I wasn't too interested in the work of Michael Crichton, but I wanted to read him at least once. And the more I asked, the more experienced Crichton readers suggested one book to start with. That book was THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. As I opened the first pages of this classic by Crichton, I discovered that it was written back in the 60's. Yet the genius of Michael Crichton thrived even back then. And what he had to say can still be considered relevant today. It begins with a warning by the U S government, and it grows with a satellite falling to Earth. By the way, this is not a good thing. Just ask the folks of Piedmont, if you can ask them. Most of them are dead, and that is just the beginning. That is Dr. Jeremy Stone is called in with a team of specialists. And... Read more

Michael Crichton passed away last year, so I thought he would be a good choice to read. I know there are people who have problems with Crichton - his later books revealed some distinct political leanings and display very clear biases, the most obvious of these being State of Fear, in which he attacks the environmentalist movement's support of global warming. His attacks are blatant, and even though the novel is said to be a good read, it's burdened by the obvious slant of the author. It's tough to know what to do with authors who inject their own personal morality into their works. Some of them, like Heinlein, do it in such a way that it's not a distraction - it's Heinlein. Others, such as Orson Scott Card, are so vocal in their political opinions that they risk losing a large portion of their readership. In this situation, you have to make a decision: read the book for the story or read the book for the author's politics? Or don't? I take the same route here that I do with... Read more