Jurassic Park: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Crichton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 13, 1991

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

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

From Publishers Weekly

Bioengineers clone 15 species of dinosaurs and establish an island preserve where tourists can view the large reptiles; chaos ensues when a rival genetics firm attempts to steal frozen dinosaur embryos, and it's up to two kids, a safari guide and a paleontologist to set things right. PW called this, "A scary, creepy, mesmerizing technothriller with teeth."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (November 13, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780345370778
• ISBN-13: 978-0345370778
• ASIN: 0345370775
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (849 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Crichton was born in Chicago in 1942. His novels include Next, State of Fear, Prey, Timeline, Jurassic Park, and The Andromeda Strain. He was also the creator of the television series ER. One of the most popular writers in the world, his books have been made into thirteen films, and translated in thirty-six languages. He died in 2008.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#48 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#62 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#63 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#66 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#48 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#62 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#63 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#66 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart And Thought-Provoking With Dinosaur-Sized Thrills August 10, 2005

By Stephen B. O'Blenis

Format:Hardcover

Although all three of the "Jurassic Park" movies were visually spectacular, and although Crichton's "Lost World" followup was a good novel, in my opinion you have to go here, to the original "Jurassic Park" novel, to experience the true greatness of this story.

Probably just about everybody knows the basic premise - scientists clone dinosaurs to create a massive theme park on a tropical island, and everything goes terribly awry. What may have been forgotten in the years since its initial release is that this is one of the most thrilling, imagination-igniting, adventurous and frighteningly Believable (an aspect which didn't quite make it through to the film versions; most of the ethical questions, pro and con, also struggled to be heard in the movies) novels ever written. In quoting early on actual tinkerings with the biological makeup of living things for man's scientific curiosity and potential profit, the book made it seem not only plausible that this could happen, but that, if this was in Any Way possible that it could happen, that someday, somehow, somebody is actually going to go and do something like this. Not necesarily a dinosaur theme park (although who knows?) but some kind of cloning/genetic engineering scheme on this gargantuan scale. And this book was written Before humanity started cloning sheep, cats, dogs and whatever else strikes its fancy (with huge rates of failure in terms of deformities and early deaths that just get swept under the rug), before the longtime specter of genetically engineering 'designer children' started to become feasible, and, if I have my dates right, before it was known that if somebody wanted to go ahead and attempt this we don't even need to go through amber-trapped insects for prehistoric DNA; we already have reasonably well-preserved, non-fossilized dinosaur marrow. And the scientific community has been openly talking for years now about cloning mammoths from fresh specimens that were frozen in the last ice age.

To get off the subject of the book's plausibility and its connection to current real-life states of affairs in ethical and scientific circumstances, and get back to the book's own merits, this is one of Crichton's alltime gems. Vivid desciptions of everything that make you feel like you're there, deeper and better characterization than in some of his earlier works, and some of the most amazing chase scenes and 'first appearance' of the monster' type scenes ever written, with more implied 'what if's and (that the author wisely doesn't than you can shake a Sauropod tail at. It's also worth noting that not all of the dinosaurs are ferocious; some are non-threatening, even charmingly oafish.

Captivating from the get-go; hand a copy of this to a person who's never willingly (that means school assignments excluded) read a full novel and you might get a book-lover for life. Other recommended Crichton titles: "The Andromeda Strain", "Sphere" and especially "Congo" (his other crowning achievement). Also recommended in the dinosaur novel genre: "Raptor Red" by Robert T. Bakker, taking place in the Cretaceous. "Balook" by Piers Anthony is another great book, involving prehistoric mammals instead of dinosaurs, and offering one of the few reasonable theoretical arguements in favor of cloning I've ever encountered.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blows The Movie Away July 4, 2000

By Bill R. Moore

Format:Mass Market Paperback

It's a shame that a lot of people won't read this book because they saw the movie and thought it was stupid. Yes, it was a pretty good movie, but this book is a lot better, simply because it focuses more on the scientific and character development aspects, rather than pure thrills and suspense (not that there isn't any of that). Also, the movie didn't follow the book at all, there are many parallels between the two. What's cool about this book is that dinosaurs aren't definately a part of the story until over 100 pages into the book! Indeed, if the movie was not so famous and you had just read the book first, you might not have known it was about dinosaurs until rather far into it (but the title of course, gives it away). But just look at the explanation of how the dinosaurs were created, among the various other scientific aspects of the book, everything is explained in painstaking detail, without ever becoming boring. Crichton really did his homework on this one.

If you are putting off reading this book because you think it is some stupid and unrealistic fantasy about the rebirth of dinosaurs, then not only are you totally wrong, you are missing out. This is a must read.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Crichton's Best? May 17, 2000

By R. Beier

Format:Mass Market Paperback

It's been a few years since I've read this book, but it still stands out to me as one of my favorite works of (modern) fiction. This book is very fast paced and when I read it, I had a really hard time putting it down. I read it cover to cover almost non-stop. I can imagine this book becoming a little more popular again with all the talk of cloning going on and while the ideas in this book are far-fetched, I'm sure it will help some people make opinions on whether or not cloning is good or bad. So, if you're looking for a great, faced paced sci-fi thriller, you may want to pick up Jurassic Park. I also feel the book is much better than the movie despite the fact that Spielberg directed JP in 1991. The story line is MUCH more devolped and the ending is entirely different! So, if you've seen the movie and liked it and have yet to read the book, I suggest you do - you will definitely enjoy this book.