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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Archive through Nov 11, 2004 Last Post: Nov 13, 2004, 06:00 am		20

Posted By: Magus Nov 11, 2004 - 09:33 am

I also liked Wu a lot. And, learning that he's still alive, Wu is my favorite. Otherwise I would have chosen Malcom for his actions and monologues at the end, giving insights on humanity.

Posted By: Kevin Nov 12, 2004 - 06:17 pm

He had to die though, he just had to. To say something like what he did... you just can't get away with that...lol.

Posted By: Magus Nov 12, 2004 - 07:44 pm

Yeah, I agree. Him dying solidified his point, his final monologues and his legacy. Somehow his message(s) would not have been nearly so strong had he lived, that fact that he ultimately did live notwithstanding.

Posted By: Kevin Nov 12, 2004 - 09:50 pm

Hammond bugged me though. I didn't want him to die, however, I just wanted him to accept the fact that these dinosaurs are not meant to be. I didn't like how he died either, how it was pretty much his grandkids who killed him, unknowingly.

Posted By: Magus Nov 13, 2004 - 06:00 am

Really? I liked it when Hammond died. He desserved it.

But I've noticed that Crichton uses this kind of character often, the "selfish, concieted, greedy, menacing and soulless corperate executive"

Of the two other works of his I have read, Congo and Timeline, they are both used to great extent. And they always, always, get their come uppance.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Nov 15, 2004 - 07:08 pm

Well, I missed out on the unofficial book club for this, but I have to say that this book was awesome. I've read it four times and it's still good everytime. I don't often read books more than once, but this is a worthy exception.

I really liked anything to do with Grant and the kids when they were lost in the park.

I really liked the character Ed Harris, though, and I didn't like it when he died. I felt sorry for Hammond when he died too.

Posted By: Magus Nov 15, 2004 - 07:09 pm

Sorry, yes. But e still deserved it. Hammond, that is.

Posted By: Kevin Nov 15, 2004 - 07:34 pm

I was so impressed with the book that I'm reading "Sphere" now, though that will probably be the last of his books for now. Perhaps I will come back to Crichton later...

Posted By: Magus Jan 06, 2005 - 06:07 pm

I just wrote my SSR paper on this book for extra credit. I thought that you might like it. If not, the phooey on youie.



This book, Jurassic Park, is one of the most successful by Michael Crichton. Like most other Crichton books, education is integrated flawlessly with deeply developed characters and an engrossing plot. Because of this mastery of his craft, Crichton has shaped and created one of the greatest novels of all time.

The beginning of the book is a gripping prologue. It captivates the mind as to what mauled and brutally killed a man who is rushed into a Costa Rican hospital. And why would the construction “foreman” want to cover the incident up?

Then we move to Doctor Grant and his assistant, who are visited by an employee of the Federal Government concerning their grant supplier, Mr. Hammond. Recently, it appears, he has been making rather unusual purchases. He has bought advanced bioengineering equipment and computers under suspicious circumstances, funded unusual excavations of prehistoric animals that seem to defy traditional logic and has even bought a private island in Costa Rica.

Shortly after the Federal employee leaves, Mr. Hammond himself calls the doctor and insists that he come and take the weekend to stay on his island. Fearful of losing his funding, the Dr. and his assistant leave the next day.

It is soon revealed that they are not the only ones who have been invited to the island. Dr. Ian Malcolm, an expert mathematician specializing in the chaos theory, a lawyer representing the investors of the island as well as Mr. Hammond’s own to grandchildren, who make a late appearance, come. The true nature is revealed to be a zoo for prehistoric animals, a “Jurassic Park”.

They are given the tour and are introduced to the layered safeguards of the island. There are only female dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and even they have been sterilized through radiation. They are incapable of producing several key proteins in the body, and require a diet high in them to survive. These proteins are available on the island, but are more scarce elsewhere in the world.

But, as Dr. Malcolm and the Chaos Theory predicted, something went wrong. It is impossible to control a complex system, especially one such as life itself.

Through the innocent tour of the park to betrayal of a disgruntled employee to a rivaling genetics corporation to the simple system flaws and failures, the events over the next several hours snowball into thrilling journey to safety.

Jurassic Park is an excellent novel. It teaches its audience on topics varying from archeology to biology to mathematics to bioengineering in a way that is reminiscent of Dan Brown’s Deception Point and The DaVinci Code. It grips readers from the beginning mystery in the prologue of who/what/where/when/why to the further mystery later in the book of how.

It takes a speculative view at the possible behavior a variety of dinosaurs may or may not have exhibited. It shows the simple human flaws that can escalate into something much more. It takes a nearly impossible idea and makes it into a plausible and even believable book.

The Characters are developed and heart felt. But, even more impressive, they are real. They are more real then many characters in dime-a-dozen main stream novels. They are each singularly individual to themselves but wholly important to the story.

Dr. Malcolm played the moral voice of the story most of all. His death brought forth powerful and deep insights to Humanity, our world and the Human condition, but also of all life as well.

This is definitely a must read for any reader and a true classic written in our time.

“Let me tell you about our planet. Our planet is four and a half billion years old. There has been life on this planet for nearly that long. Three point eight billion years. The first bacteria. And, later, the first multi cellular animals, than the first complex creatures, in the sea, on the land. Then the great sweeping ages of animals-the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away. All this happening against a background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving…Endless constant and violent change…Even today, the greatest geographical features on the planet comes from two great continents colliding buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years. The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us."

Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Posted By: Kevin Jan 06, 2005 - 08:33 pm

Good work Magus. It looks great. But just because I'm not sure, what does SSR stand for?

Posted By: Magus Jan 07, 2005 - 01:07 pm

Honestly, I have no clue.

ummmm... Super Secret Reading?