Customer Reviews (1)

real page turner
Read this book and wanted to share with my 12-yr old grandson in CA.He liked it alot.Fine condition and arrived on time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Nice Rare Script Book
This rare little tie-in book is not exactly a novelization. It's Michael Chrichton's script for the film, there are several minor changes, some scenes would be shortened in the film, some removed entirely, there is even a slightly alternate ending which, in my opinion, was better. Since the script is basically what you see on the screen, how you felt about the movie should tell you how you'll feel about the book.

Westworld script
Seems to be confusion over this book.It's written as the script/screenplay for the movie, "Westworld."Just saw the "Making of Westworld" video feature on Youtube where Crichton says in an interview, thatthe story of "Westworld" just didn't work as a book, and that he always saw it presented as a film.(He wrote this screenplay and directed the feature)Unless I'm wrong, the paperback was issued as a companion piece to the movie, which was a big earner for MGM in 1973.I read it in high school, and it was the first piece I'd ever read hat was formatted like an actual movie script.Glad to find it again on Amazon.

Not story. It's the script.
This is not the story. This is written in the form of a script and there is no further information included. Not sure what book the others read (if anyone knows, I'd like to know please), but this is not it. Waste of money IMHO.

My copy was different
I bought a "used" copy here, and it seems that mine was different than what other reviewers have seen. Mine was the actual script of the movie, with notations and all. But it was in a paperback book form. I really wanted the novel version.

Fun, relatively short read
I found this book in a used bookstore and read it, having not seen the movie.It did help with the movie (which itself is good) when I did see it, as it delved a little more deeply into what was going on (as books always do).The concept is vintage Crichton: a new technology (in this case, a theme park populated by robots) seems great, but then begins to go wrong in life-threatening ways (the robots become too independant, chasing the humans around).It's a fun, short read. ... Read more

Product Description
Hardcover First Edition ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Much better than the movie
Michael Crichton's The Lost World is a pure treat that allows you to leave the safety of your modern cocoon and enter the time before man's governing.He pits man's technology against primitave power and lets you see that it's the mind and morality that rules over both the care of humans for each other and the natural world.Asks the question, "Should we do things just because we can?" and answers, "Not unless it benefits both."Simple stuff, but truly classic humanity in action.

Excellent science fiction/fantasy
This was an incredibly well-written sequel to the original best-selling novel.The tempo is faster and the shocks are all there.Crichton was able to match the intesity and trhills of the first novel.

A Trip to where the dinosaurs still roamed the Earth
The Lost World utilizes excellent imagery and has a phenomenal setting. In this book some kids are in school and they were supposed to go on a field trip. Then that day, a sub walks in and they find out that their teacher is missing. Only they know that he is hunting dinosaurs. Then they know of a professor that is going to go look for their teacher....without them. They decide to sneak into a container and go along to some remote island where there are dinosaurs. On this island they are able to locate their teacher, but they do run into some very interesting difficulties. This thriller novel is one amazing book if you can just use your imagination.

The Lost World by Michael Crichton-- I loved it
While I didn't like this one quite as much as Jurassic Park, it was virtually impossible to put down.Very nice character development, a story that stood on its own (probably even if you hadn't read Jurassic Park first), and there were so many times I thought okay, he's written us right into a box, what now, only to be amazed at the grace in which he wrote us out of it.Fabulous.

Michael Crichton is an artist with words and worlds
This could have been a formula book and maybe the skeleton is formula. Toss in people with different personalities and backgrounds. Isolate them and let them act and react to real and imagined dangers.
That is where the parallel ends. The book comes up with excellent theories and speculation. The characters vary differently than you would guess under stress. And there is a cliffhanger about every five pages with does not give you much time to get your breath. The descriptions of the environment give you enough details to get a good mental picture of what is going on. He does not over describe things to the point that you fall asleep listing to irrelevant details.

This story is full of thrills; great questions and holds your attention to the end.

Strange beasts are turning up on the shores of South America. Meanwhile other people independently realize that there must have been another location where dinosaurs were raised called "Site B".

Does "Site B" really exist and if so what will they find there?
Worse still what there will find them?
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

When more would have been, well, more...
Less is not necessarily more. Binary is one of Michael Crichton's shorter novels, and its not at all bad, but it does feel a touch underdeveloped, rather like an adapted short story or a novelised television movie.

It's a curious novel about a security agent, John Graves (aptly named for he has to save the day) and his protagonist the ingenious plotter John Wright. Graves is the man assigned to track Wright, who is regarded as suspicious and possibly subversive. It's played out against a 12-hour countdown to mass murder and with Wright's knowledge of Graves' psychological profile built in to his intentions.

The word Binary is literally two chemical agents that produce a result together but it also represents the duel between the two men to `out-puzzle' each other's actions and motives. Both are intelligent gamblers. Wright is rich and crazed; Graves is hamstrung by bureaucracy. It's a good read, but in the end, its brevity prevents any real depth to the characters when this is a psychological thriller. I wanted to know more about them. It's hard to think Crichton would write this without considerably more depth today. Frederick Forsythe would have made a lot more from the very good idea that forms the basis of the plot. The two writers have a lot in common.

That said, it's hard to stop turning the pages. This is spare: no aimless diversions, existentialism or sub-plots. You just wish there had been more of it to bring the characters fully to life!

It's worth adding this was written in 1972 and Crichton has always been one or two steps ahead of the game. The detail he routinely deploys to add credibility to his plotting is good, though not as detailed as many of his best efforts, and his vision of political terrorism remains ominous and unnerving.

A great classic thriller that you should look for.
Although it took me a long time to find that this book was published under the pseudonym John Lange, and then it took me even more time to find the book itself, it was extremely worth it. It keeps a great pace and is betterthan many standard Crichton works. This book should be reprinted with theCrichton name so it wil be easy to find for everybody.

Amazing, brilliant, chrichton!
This is a great read.After exausting all of crichton's other books,finding one I haven't read was exhilarating.To make it better this novelis just as captivating and ahead of it's time as all of his more popular orwell know works. Buy it just for the sake that your friends will think thatyou're cool.........Punk Rock!

Binary: Hard-To-Find; But Worth The Effort!
Binary, by Michael Crichton/John Lange, is extremely hard-to-find. It is and out-of-print thriller written by one of America's most prefound authors, back in the early 70's. This book was not in print long, and because of that there are not many copies. I wish these old, out-of-print novels would be re-released for the readers enjoyment. Binary is non-stop action, if you can't find the book, check out the movie, called PURSUIT, directed by none other than the auther himself, Michael Crichton. Binary is a 10++++!!!!!

Liked it
I like some of Michael Crichton's "John Lange" work better -- "The Venom Business," for example -- but this was satisfying enough. I only wish I could find more of these now very out-of-print early novels. ... Read more

Product Description
A Play in the tradition of "The Importance of Being Ernest" by the author of Peter Pan. It's the story of a group of shipwrecked aristocrats who are stranded on a desert island and are totally out of their element. Much to their embarrassment, they are saved by a low born 'butler' named Crichton. The working class Crichton soon became their leader- Shock horror- what would proper society think back home? Author J.M. Barrie is a master playwright and is not afraid to take on the British class system. ... Read more

Product Description
Until now, Michael Crichton's many readers have had nowhere to turn for more information on one of America's most popular novelists. This companion features clear analyses of Crichton's life and literary influences, as well as chapters on each of his 13 novels to date. It will help Crichton's readers to learn more about how significant events in his life affected the development of his fiction and literary style and how the heritage of popular fiction, including mystery, gothic, adventure, and science fiction, influenced his writing. This study provides close textual analysis of each of his novels in turn, focusing on plot, character development, theme, and critical interpretation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

catching an elusive author
Narayan of Rebeccasreads recommends Dr. Trembley's MICHAEL CRICHTON for the snippets of information that even the hardcore Crichton fan might not know. Though the book jacket proclaims it to be a "critical companion" there is a biographical touch to the work that makes it even more interesting. Dr. Trembley is quick to admit that it would be difficult to categorize Crichton into any one stream of contemporary popular literature. His fictional contributions are myriad, varied & difficult to pigeonhole -- just like the author under inspection!

For its time, this volume is good, however, it does need an update.

The Only Crichton Analysis Out There
And what a great one it is. This book was the only considerable document I could find for thorough research on Crichton and his thematic ideas presented in his various works. With one solid chapter for each book, noarea was left uncovered.

Up to date and extremely accurate. Recommeded100% for Crichton fanatics and researchers alike. ... Read more

Product Description
In an Arizona desert a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world, archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival - six hundred years ago. ... Read more

Product Description
"The Most Powerful Tailer in the World" by Michael Crichton
(1-56740-500-2 01A)
"Used in Evidence" by Frederick Forsyth(1-56740-500-2 01B)
"King Bee" by T. Coraghessan Boyle(1-56740-500-2 01C)
"Yossarian Survives" by Joseph Heller(1-56740-500-201D)
"A Midsummer Daydream" by Donald E. Westlake(1-56740-500-201E)

(see individual titles for more information) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Short Story IS an Art Form all its own.
THE MOST POWERFUL TAILOR IN THE WORLD: THE BEST OF PLAYBOY FICTION:An anthology of short stories published in Playboy the best of which is
THE MOST POWERFUL TAILOR IN THE WORLD a very early work by Michael Crichton about a man who has the power to set things on fire with his mind and is blackmailing the United States
and
USED IN EVIDENCE by Frederick Forsyth..a clever murder mystery set in Dublin about which I will say nothing except recommended.
and then there is
KING BEE by T. Coraghessan Boyle. A nasty story that uses the torture death of a small dog as a dramatic trick and which I personally cannot stomach. Different tastes might think otherwise.

YOSSARIAN SURVIVES by Joseph Heller a lost chapt from CATCH 22. If you think that book was anything more than a childish piece of 60s counterculture literary masterbation then this is for you.

A MIDSUMMER DAYDREAM by Donald Westlake. An amusing Damon Runyon style trifle about the box office robbery in upstate NY in which a thief on the lam is falsely accused thus putting him in the odd position of playing detective.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Could've Been Better
Obviously, this is a collection of three MC books, so you know you are getting three good books. BUT, they are not his three best books. The Andromeda Strain is great, one of his best. The Terminal Man is good, butsub-par for him. Congo is a classic thriller but not one of his absolutebest either. These are three good books, yes, but there are better Crichtoncollections available. Get them instead.

By the way, if you want to readthe best of Crichton's works then read (in this order): Disclosure,Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Sphere, Timeline, The Andromeda Strain, andThe Great Train Robbery.

Ok Book
The Andromeda Strain was a good book, but not one of his best.I didn't like it, but a lot of people did.This book didn't keep me interested in the least bit, except for the part about the labs below ground, and the guy racing to close the door before he passed out.I have read better of his books. ... Read more

Product Description
1990s Los Angeles is the setting for Across Time and Forever. It is about Detective Mike Stewart hunting a serial killer, with a local reporter closely following the killings. This case is unusual for Stewart as he, along with the reporter and killer, are having the same nightmare: Stewart and the reporter were the killer's victims - a hundred years earlier.

The case is rapidly mirroring the timeline in the nightmares, and Stewart begins to worry the nightmares might be something more - maybe memories! If the dreams are real, can he prevent his own murder this time? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Baited and switched...
First and most importantly: this book IS NOT written by the famed and gifted writer, Michael Crichton, creator of masterpieces such as Jurassic Park, Timeline, Andromeda Strain and Pirate Latitudes. This is by another guy with the same name, yet nowhere near the talent. The story is okay, but the writing is pedestrian at best and when you add up the multitude of spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and prose that flows along like a boulder down a hillside this book is more akin to a creative writing assignment given to a sophomore in High School than a published author. I can only believe that the publisher of this book found a guy with a famous name and a manuscript and put his book out there hoping to fool a few people into mistakenly buying this book. Sadly, their ploy seems to have worked. Still, the story itself is not all that bad, and with proper editing could have been a decent read. If you see it in a bargain bin or someone gives it to you, go ahead and read it. Otherwise, move on. You're not missing much.

Buy this book
As a big fan of 'Somewhere in Time',
this novel was beyond enjoyment. I'm
awaiting Michael A. Crichton's next
book with great anticipation.

Great book
This paperback book from M Crichton is the BEST Crichton book that I have read, second only to Timeline. Good READ!

Not what I expected
I wish I had read the reviews. This is not the Michael Crichton we all know from Jurassic Park and Coma. And nowhere near his caliber. I'll agree with one reviewer, it might be able to be turned into a screenplay. It sounds more like a movie turned into a book. Great plot idea, but the writing is not riveting or believable. Lackluster ending. I wish I hadn't purchased this book, especially since I thought the author was the more well known Michael Crichton.

no Michael Crichton future
Ruth. I hope you realize this is Michael A Crichton. This is not the author of Jurrasic Park and so many other great reads. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Spanish Translation
"Acoso" is the spanish language translation of "Disclosure."

????????
I'm a huge Crichton fan, but i've never heard of this book.If anyone has any info on it could you write a review about it? i'd really appreciate it. ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Crichton (the creator of TV's "ER") writes about true stories of life in the emergency rooms of Massachusetts General Hospital: a construction worker is seriously injured in a scaffolding collapse; a young man nearly severs his hand; and three other true-life stories.Amazon.com Review
Michael Crichton, creator of many a blockbuster, began hiswriting career while still a student at Harvard Medical School. Thoughhe never practiced medicine, the education was enough to put a glossof verisimilitude on works like TheAndromeda Strain and the long-running television hitER. Five Patients is ER in real life--circa 1969,when Crichton graduated from medical school. Five different patientsare examined at Massachusetts General Hospital; each patient's storyillustrates some larger aspect of the hospital system. Thus, RalphOrlando's death from cardiac arrest engenders a brief history of themodern hospital and emergency ward. John O'Connor, who has anunexplained high fever and infection, spends a month in the hospital,leading to a discourse on the cost of medical care (perhaps the mosteye-opening chapter of the book--or the most unintentionally funny onefrom a 1999 perspective). The saga of Peter Luchesi, a worker whosehand is nearly severed in an industrial accident, leads to adiscussion of 20th-century surgical advances. Sylvia Thompson, atraveler with chest pains who is seen by a doctor via closed-circuitTV at an airport, benefits from new (at the time) diagnostic andtherapeutic technologies that have altered irrevocably the doctor'srole. Finally, the case of Edith Murphy, diagnosed with systemic lupuserythematosus, serves quite literally to educate the medical studentsand interns who take on much of her care, as the hospital staffhierarchy is dissected and explained. Crichton's style here tends tothe sober and bureaucratic--reading it is much more like brain surgerythan hanging out in the staff room with George Clooney and NoahWyle--but for the industrious it's a fascinating glimpse of pre-HMOmedicine. --Barrie Trinkle ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

A history of the Hospital and Modern Medicine built around five- case histories
This book is not primarily about what it's title suggests it is. Each chapter describing an individual case gives much larger space to historical medical background than to the case itself.. This medical information about the history of the Hospital and the history of Medicine, along with the for - the - time up-to- date description of medical practice is what makes this book so interesting. Only one case history was especially interesting. This was the first which describes how a patient was saved by modern medical means even though the doctors throughout never really understood the nature of the disease and were not responsible for the final cure.
Crichton writes in a very clear way, and truly knows his stuff. He also wisely emphasizes the idea of a Hospital as a work in process. He would be the least surprised at knowing how much has changed in the forty years since the initial introduction of this book.
So while this book does not have the kind of dramatic power that case- history works of Barton LeRouche and in another way Oliver Sacks have, it is a very informative and insightful read.

Good explanation of hospital realities and politics
This book, written in quasi-documentary form when Crichton was a last-year medical student, uses the stories of five semi-fictional hospital patients to explain how a modern hospital operates.It covers such topics as finances, how straight "medical" doctors view surgeons and vice versa, the history of anesthesia and aseptic procedures, and the education and training of doctors.

It is both fascinating and informative for the layperson.

Five Patients. Five Stories. A Unique View of Crichton.
A must-read for any fan of Crichton, Five Patients will take you through the story of five patients of Massachusetts General Hospital. Written while he was still a student, the reader can glean an understanding of why Crichton writes the novels he does now. The non-fiction aspect of the book is atypical Crichton, but makes the stories that much more engaging.

Along with a deeper understanding of where Crichton comes from, the reader will also get a deeper understanding of the modern day hospital and the things that go right, and wrong, inside its walls.

This is not the Crichton you think you know, so don't buy it if you want another Jurassic Park. Instead, buy it as a window to the past to see a Michael Crichton you won't see anywhere else.

Don't expect ER
You will probably have the wrong impression of what this book consists of before you read it; I did. Some may think, or hope, that it is an ER-type medical thriller. It is not. Some, as I did, may think that it takes the cases of five individual patients and goes into a detailed description of how they were treated and cured. It does not. What the book actually does consist of is a series of five separate medical cases that are used to illustrate larger aspects of the hospital in general. The five cases average about 30 pages apiece, with about 4 or 5 pages of that going into the actual details of the case. The book is somewhat interesting:it goes into detail about the inner workings of a hospital that those outside of the medical profession probably know next to nothing about. This glimpse into the academic medical communityis informative and makes for fairly interesting reading. The writing is dry and formal, often quite technical, which will, no doubt, turn off those who read Crichton merely for his page-turning suspense. Though the book has its merits, as mentioned above, one is ever aware, while reading it, that the book was written in 1969. Though some points of it are still valid and interesting, and Crichton's writing is always worth reading, it is inescapably quite outdated. One may get the most out of it by using it as a snapshot of how medicine was 30+ years ago. Of course, at any rate, this is a minor work in Crichton's canon. Reccommended only for hard-core fans of the author and perhaps medical historians looking for an objective look at medicine during the late 60's.

Not a must for Crichton fan, but still a good book
I was somehow misled by the title.I thought I was going to read five short stories of how doctor can treat (miraculously) five difficult patients, those I would read in Reader's Digest.But no, indeed I was surpised that those five patients are only mentioned in 1/5 of the book.The rest 4/5 of the book are talking about everything about hospital - its history, budget, organizational structure, politics, teaching versus community hospital, surgeon, urine, anaesthesia.....

I find most of these medical topics are interesting, though some are somewhat outdated.Also, I admire Mr. Crichton's writing skill to interweave these different topics together in a 200-page book.

My recommedation - do not treat it as a fiction.It is not that a waste of time (onlyl 200 pages!!) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

One happy customer
I give this seller 5 stars for super fast service, excellent pricing & great shipping.

Cover Description
From the cover:

"Take the 'High' road with Peter Harkness as he travels the Berkeley-to-Boston trade route for marijuana.Peter takes the money and comes back with tidy packages of little bricks of dope soakd in Coke (to diguise the smell).There's plenty of action and then plenty of hassle when Peter's lady gets busted for holding forty bricks (or eighty pounds) of marijuana.Suddenly, everything becomes very heavy for a formerly straight college student named Peter Harkness."

A Favorite
Love this book. It is NOT Chrichton's usual, that's for sure. It tells more truth about drug culture in the 60's than most scholarly tomes.

A Classic
What a fun read. So much less pompous than the rest of Michael Crichton stuff with a real feel for the 1960's drug scene.
I find myself quoting a line from the book repeatedly. There is a scene where the main character goes to his friends room and the girlfriend wearing only a robe, crosses her legs giving him a long slow shot. "Nothing offered," the character says, "just letting you know it's all there."

You holding NARC PLATES?
Michael's first (with his brother) venture into satire. How is your scat dropping? A bit diff than E.R. I'd say. Or Sphere, or 5 patients, or ?? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Three of His Best Books
All Michael Crichton books are good, but these are three of the absolute best. Sphere, an excellent science fiction thriller, quite possibly IS his best. And of course everyone knows Jurassic Park and how good it is. If you're one of the few who hasn't read it, I'll tell you that it's a lot better than the movie, and the movie wasn't that bad! A definite classic. Rising Sun is an excellent detective story set in modern times...complete with early 1990s Japanese paranoia. It was the first Crichton book that I read, and it got me hooked. Buy this if you haven't already read these works.

Sphere is the best Sci-fi book I've ever read
I think that Sphere is one of the best books that Michael Crichton has written.I've readseveral of his books and so far I think that Sphere is the best by far. I reccomend this book to everyone.

I read this book over the summer and I loved it!!!!
I really liked this book. I can't wait to see it in the movie theaters. I told all my friends they had to read it. Those that did agreed with me. If Micheal Chrichton sees this: Good Job!!! Write more books just as good as this was please!!!!!!!!

Sphere-by Crichton. A Great, information, suspenseful novel.
I was recommended to read this book by a friend, was a little relunctant because it was so big. But, i began reading it, and couldn't put it down. It has a great maze of very unpredictable plot turns, and a great ending. I recommend this book.

THE BEST!!
It is amazing what can happen 2000 ft. or more under water, in a 'safe' habitat; in a 'safe' park full of clonded dinosaur DNA; and in a Japanese-filled city, ina newly opened building!! There is so much going on, and there is never a moment you just can't stop... and think what's going to happen next, and why the PREVIOUS happened... Caught me, that's all I can say!! ... Read more