Jurassic Park | 
| Author: Michael Crichton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  645 reviews
Sales Rank: 6878
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0345370775
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345370778
ASIN: 0345370775
Publication Date: November 13, 1991
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Amazon.com
Unless your species evolved sometime after 1993 when Jurassic Park hit theaters, you're no doubt familiar with this dinosaur-bites-man disaster tale set on an island theme park gone terribly wrong. But if Speilberg's amped-up CGI creation left you longing for more scientific background and ... well, character development, check out the original Michael Crichton novel. Although not his best book (get ahold of sci-fi classic The Andromeda Strain for that), Jurassic Park fills out the film version's kinetic story line with additional scenes, dialogue, and explanations while still maintaining Crichton's trademark thrills-'n'-chills pacing. As ever, the book really is better than the movie. --Paul Hughes
Product Description
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy....
"Wonderful...Powerful."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
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| Customer Reviews: Read 640 more reviews...
 Surprising SciFi Thriller July 7, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I hadn't heard about this book until the first movie was released. My initial reaction was, "it's a horror flick with dinosaurs - no way!" Luckily, I ended up seeing the movie at a dorm party after it was released on DVD. I enjoyed the movie, despite my misgivings and thought, "how bad can the book be?" Turned out that, as is often the case, the book was far superior to the film.
I thought it would be a horror novel, but Jurassic Park is actually a science fiction thriller. A SciFi thriller that made me a loyal fan of Michael Crichton. John Hammond has found a way to recreate living dinosaurs. And he is far less grandfatherly and sentimental than the film version. He's a businessman out to make money, who will let nothing stand in his way. One of the things that makes the book so much better is the emphasis on the science. In the movie viewers are like, "yeah sure, they make dinosaurs, disbelief suspended." In the book, Crichton lays it out with creepy realism, formulas and charts. At some points, it becomes a little too much and I actually skimmed overly some highly technical bits, but overall it adds to the credibility of the story. Crichton also lays out the computer science in more detail, such as the motions sensor tracking, the flaws in a mainframe system, etc. I was drawn into the novel in a way not possible with the movie. The character development is also top notch. Ian becomes more than a loony fringe scientist, and Hammond is much better as a quasi-villain. However, the kids got on my last nerve. They weren't as well developed as the adult characters, too mired in stereotypical "kidness." The little girl's constant whining was really annoying . However, that was the only aspect of the novel that I didn't care for. The dialog was great, the action sequences vivid and the ending more than satisfying.
Overall, this was a tight, fast paced novel. Crichton obviously did his research, making the science very real, but the action and adventure made the story come alive. With the advent of cloning, the book still stands strong today. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good thriller.
 A Dark, Exciting, and Engaging Techno-Thriller! July 5, 2008
I saw the film JURASSIC PARK and loved it (who didn't?). Steven Spielberg had once again proved his genious. Later, I decided to read the book by Michael Crichton. I loved it just as much, if not more, than the film.
It was my first Crichton book, and I was very impressed by his talent of weaving science and probability in his mile-a-minute plot lines. The movie plot closely followed that of the book, and in the few places where it differed, I found I preferred the book.
The plot follows a businessman who creates a theme park out of cloned dinosaurs. He invites various paleontologists and scientists to test it out before it opens, but the dinos break loose and wreak havoc. That sounds groan-inducing, but Crichton uses at least 1/4th of the book it establishing the back-up science to make it almost believable.
Highly recommended.
John's Jurassic Park Review May 21, 2008
In 1989 Isla Nubar (an island off the coast of Costa Rica) was purchased to house dinosaurs in an attraction park which sounds like a good idea to me. This conclusion is determined with some over sight though. What if there was catastrophic system failure? What if some of the dinosaurs were extremely dangerous and much smarter than expected? These problems are adressed in Jurassic Park a technical in depth look at what an incredibly wealthy man who loves dinosaurs would do in order to bring them back to life. Of course bringing extinct creatures back to life would never work which is proven in Jurassic Park. The systems fail causing the dinosaurs to get free and attack the trial visitors. Eventually a helicopter from the Costa Rican National Guard rescues the survivors. This story is written with great detail and is one of the best books I have every read.
Jurassic Park May 7, 2008
If you haven't seen the films, you will at least already know the story: eccentric old man funds a scientific venture involving the genetic resurrection of dinosaurs, and decides that the best way to showcase his work is a giant safari park on a tropical island just off the coast of Costa Rica. Needless to say, things go a little wrong and later there's running and screaming. A lot of it.
The film is still on the list of top ten highest grossing films of all time, and for good reason. It was a great film. If you've seen it and liked it, and are wondering if it's worth reading the book, then the short answer is "yes". Michael Crichton is an astounding author and every one of his novels is worth reading, regardless of whether or not you know the story.
The novel begins with much more mystery and a much wider scope than the film. Some of the smaller animals have begun appearing along the coastline, and nobody knows what to make of what they are assuming is a new species of lizard. These shorter storylines soon lead to Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, who are soon after invited to join the billionaire John Hammond on his new theme park, which is guaranteed to be "right up their alley".
From then the story is more familiar. Island. Dinosaurs. Industrial theft and sabotage leading to the visitors seeing more of the island, and more of the dinosaurs than they hoped for ... There are more than enough differences to the film to keep readers enthralled, including a few minor character differences, especially with regards to the children Tim and Lex, who have more "on-screen" time, Dr Grant, who is a little more rugged, and the almost villainously short-sighted John Hammond. There's a lot more action and - hooray! - a lot more of the tyrannosaur and the velociraptors!
Crichton's brief sentences and plain narrative lend great authenticity to the text, although he hadn't (and still hasn't) perfected the balance between science and story. There are one or two science-heavy scenes but it's all believable and accessible to any reader. This is definitely worth a read.
9/10
Visit Jurassic Park May 4, 2008
What an amazing book, so exciting. I literally couldn't put it down.
Filled with so much details about the many different dinosaurs and the scientific experiments taken to create the ultimate 'zoo' called Jurassic Park and of course what happens when it all goes so horribly wrong.
The movie was good but the book was terrific, 10/10 to Michael Crichton, a genius storyteller.
One of the best books I have EVER read, a true thriller of a story.
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