Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Series of TED Talks, Occasionally Interrupted by Dinosaurs

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

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It’s always a little rough reading a book after you’ve already seen the movie adaptation, especially when the movie is directed by someone like Steven Spielberg. The movie Jurassic Park is a taut thriller, perfectly calibrated to excite movie audiences. It has one striking image after another, and a score that expertly guides your emotional response. Michael Crichton’s novel does feature some tense, thrilling scenes, and of course he should get a tremendous amount of credit for coming up with such a brilliant premise for […]

Holiday Reads, a.k.a. I get more reading done in a tent

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Other People's Houses (DC Ffion Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Whiteout by R.S. Burnett

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I don’t know why, but I do.  Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) *** I’ve always loved the movie, so I wanted to read the book too. I was struck by how different it was both in plot and in tone; some characters that make it out in the film don’t survive the book and vice versa, and some of the characters have been conflated or split up. Lex and Tim, as characters, are incredibly irritating and flat in the book (Lex’ entire personality is ‘annoying child’. […]

Just a fun book, and a quick read

Timeline by Michael Crichton

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Previous to this, I had read one book of Michael Crichton’s, The Andromeda Strain. I loved that book, and after being told to read this, I thought this would be good. Going in, I was expecting something very realistic, as Michael Crichton is generally very interested in science, and while he does falsify it, he rarely makes leaps that are truly, truly impossible. I have to just say that one of my only frustrations with this book is the leaps he makes. Yes, it is possible, […]

This deserves to be a classic

Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

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The Andromeda Strain is an amazing book by Michael Crichton. Michael Crichton is a fantastic science fiction writer in all of his books, and I love this one in particular. Although one of his most famous books is Jurassic Park, and it’s probably a good starting point, I started with The Andromeda Strain. I, in fact, did not realize that Michael Crichton was the author of Jurassic Park. I didn’t have any expectations going in, I had just found this book and didn’t have anything better to do. The […]

Digital Life

Digital Life by Michael Crichton

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It pains me to say this, and I’ve written about it in my Timeline review, but Michael Crichton is a dickhead. Why else would he include a footnote in this book, when he’s making a reasonable point about nuclear energy, to smugly add that “trees don’t vote.” You already made the point dude, now by adding in some smugness you have alienated a portion of your audience. Way to make friends and influence people. Digital Life is Crichton’s 1980s guide to IBM compatible computers and similar. […]

Timeline

Timeline by Michael Crichton

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Michael Crichton used to be my favorite author. Then I read State of Fear. That’s not really an exaggeration, State of Fear is so bad it changed my whole opinion on the author. It’s a breathless screed against climate science wrapped in the barest wrapper of a story. It’s one of those “why even did you write this” things that doesn’t feel at all out of place in 2023, the age of Matt Walsh’s What is a Woman and Elon Musk demanding a renowned vaccine […]



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