Jurassic Park is a thriller by Michael Crichton about a millionaire by the name of John Hammond, who managed to create an entire park featuring dinosaurs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, a paleontologist and biologist respectively, are some of the guests invited to have a "sneak-peek" of the island, before it is opened for public consumption. However, Dennis Nedry, the programmer of the island, is really an agent for Ingen, the rival company. Nedry shuts down power to all the gates on the island, so that he can steal the dinosaur embryos and escape, selling them away for millions of dollars. Before he can get to the boat and sail away, a dinosaur that escapes from it's pen devours him. With all the gates down, and nobody to turn them on, everybody tries to escape the island alive.
I really enjoy Michael Crichton's books, but I like Jurassic Park the most. The fact that he could come up with the idea of cloning dinosaurs is so well thought out that it deserves praise, but the whole "escaping from an island filled with dinosaurs" aspect is really intruiging as well.
I don't really enjoy many books, but I do like dinosaurs, and I do like danger. So a book with both those things is obviously going to get my attention. I also like the sci-fi aspect to it, with the breeding of the dinosaurs and everything.
The fact that all this is happening in a lush, forested island near Costa Rica gives it some sort of "summer vacation gone awry" feeling to it. It's like disaster in paradise. Throughout the trek through the park, the guests see rare, ancient foliage that was also brought to the future, like the dinosaurs, waterfalls, and all the sounds of a rain forest.
The characters are also well done. John Hammond, acts just like a rich little child, spending his money on anything he wants without any consequences. This is also shown in the book, when Ellie Sattler says that “the plant variety is mostly poisonous. Dinosaurs could digest them, and become ill. You chose them because they looked nice!”. Also, instead of bringing some sort of clichéd hunter character, Crichton decided to use a paleontologist as the main protagonist, who gives helpful information that saves the guests' lives, instead of just blowing out brains.
However, the book isn't completely perfect. Michael Crichton enjoys to make references to many ancient and obscure people, places and things, and enjoys making things overly complicated. AT the beginning of every "phase" throughout the book (every phew chapters), there is a quote given by a philosopher, or something of the like that has to do with the current predicament of the characters. I could go into detail, but I pretty much only have to explain that the park central headquarters is enough to blow up your head.
Tim, Hammond's great grandson, is a computer whiz. A few times throughout the book, he uses computers to access data files throughout the park. I don't know how, but he manages to sift through all the information, and manages to somehow turn power back to the park, and help the group escape. Basically, most of Michael Crichton's novels are thought out extremely well - too well, in fact. Most of the time, they make my brain hurt trying to grasp the whole concept of it.
