The Andromeda Strain (Mass Market Paperback)

by Michael Crichton (Author) "A MAN WITH BINOCULARS..." (more)
Key Phrases: andromeda strain, post team, plastic suit, Jeremy Stone, Air Force, Scoop Mission Control (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Some biologists speculate that if we ever make contact with extraterrestrials, those life forms are likely to be--like most life on earth--one-celled or smaller creatures, more comparable to bacteria than little green men. And even though such organisms would not likely be able to harm humans, the possibility exists that first contact might be our last.

That's the scientific supposition that Michael Crichton formulates and follows out to its conclusion in his excellent debut novel, The Andromeda Strain.

A Nobel-Prize-winning bacteriologist, Jeremy Stone, urges the president to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility to sterilize returning astronauts, satellites, and spacecraft that might carry an "unknown biologic agent." The government agrees, almost too quickly, to build the top-secret Wildfire Lab in the desert of Nevada. Shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to Stone, the U.S. Army initiates the "Scoop" satellite program, an attempt to actively collect space pathogens for use in biological warfare. When Scoop VII crashes a couple years later in the isolated Arizona town of Piedmont, the Army ends up getting more than it asked for.

The Andromeda Strain follows Stone and rest of the scientific team mobilized to react to the Scoop crash as they scramble to understand and contain a strange and deadly outbreak. Crichton's first book may well be his best; it has an earnestness that is missing from his later, more calculated thrillers. --Paul Hughes

Product Description
"Relentlessly suspenseful...A hair-raising experience."
THE PITTSBURGH PRESS
The United States government stands warned that sterilization procedures for returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. When a probe satellite falls to the earth two years later, and lands in a desolate area of northeastern Arizona, the bodies that lie heaped and flung across the ground, have faces locked in frozen surprise. The terror has begun....


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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Other Printing edition (September 20, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345378482
• ISBN-13: 978-0345378484
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (381 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #699,839 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars
Crichton Way Ahead of His Time
, March 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Andromeda Strain (Paperback)

Michael Crichton must be a psychic. Thirty years before researchers discovered the effects of microorganisms, Crichton predicted a virus just as deadly. The Andromeda Strain is a classic, terrifying novel of biophysics. The way Crichton combines facts and fiction results in a masterpiece. With the exception of some intense scientific vocabulary, the descriptive language used by Crichton in this novel is brilliant.

When an unmanned satellite returns to earth lethally contaminated, four American scientists are ordered to a secret lab to work against the threat of a worldwide epidemic. There are no villains in this novel - only the microscopic organisms of earth's extinction. This is a perfect story line, written with immense detail. Crichton does a superb job of setting the scene and describing the characters. He leaves his reader not wanting to stop, having great cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. The suspense builds inevitably to a heart-stopping conclusion. It is an intelligent and tightly plotted suspense-thriller.

Many of Crichton's works masterfully combine fact and fiction. The Andromeda Strain is no exception as the scientific elements are expertly interwoven with the fictional world of underground laboratories and secret agents. Crichton's facts about bacteria and viruses are right on - he goes as far as using quotes from professors and scientists as well as diagrams to support his arguments. When he switches to fictional mode, Crichton does not lose a step. His theories about government testing grounds and secret government projects, written thirty years prior, do not seem at all unrealistic in today's high-tech world.

Although the novel grabs the reader's attention from the very first page with its crisp prose, there are some minor impediments in that this is a highly technical narrative, centering on complex issues of science. Even Crichton, in his acknowledgments preceding the novel, apologizes "...if the reader must occasionally struggle through an arid passage of technical detail." Fortunately, Crichton was also able to mix up his writing style. Here is an example of a beautifully written verse:

"He often argued that human intelligence was more trouble than it was worth. It was more destructive than creative, more confusing than revealing, more discouraging than satisfying, more spiteful than charitable."

This passage clearly shows how diverse Crichton can be in his writing. The metaphors he uses fit perfectly with the plot of the story at the time this passage is used. Crichton constantly switches from technical to figurative language as if to cater his novel to all of his readers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strain Relief, September 4, 2001

A Kid's Review

This book is the best, and I could never put it down! It describes the search for an organism that is killing people. The way Crichton portrays all of his characters is magnificent, which is why I really connected with this book. I felt as if I was the missing scientist from the team! I sincerely liked the way Crichton concealed the identity of the person who deciphered the mystery. I genuinely enjoyed reading about the long hours spent down in Level V of the Wildfire base. This is where Hall took care of Mr. Jackson and the baby, where Burton performed his autopsies, and where Stone and Leavitt worked on finding the organism. The other part I thoroughly enjoyed was reading about Burton and Stone while they were in Piedmont, looking for the satellite. What they found was so startling, that you hardly new what to expect next. I really believe you should buy this book, because it is such a wonderful scientific mystery!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Andromeda Strain, December 12, 2005

By	ns - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Andromeda Strain (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is about Project Scoop, a project used to find alien life, which sends a small, unmanned space craft up to retrieve samples of organisms in space. The craft comes down from space and lands in Piedmont, Arizona. Scoop sends men to recover the craft but they find something very interesting: lots of dead bodies all lining the street. What happened here? Does it have something to do with the craft? Or was it alien related? The government sends five biophysicists in to gather answers. The biophysicists find two people who weren't affected, and they can't find out what makes them special. Then there is a plane crash, and the pilot finds the rubber dissolving in front of his very eyes. Is there an outbreak? Will the scientist find an answer to what this is and how to stop it? Or will they be too late, and the world be doomed?
This book has a really good plot and at times, it feels like you are actually in the book. The characters have full backgrounds and are very relatable. An example is when: Stone gets pulled away from a dinner party and there are federal agents outside his house with guns. Granted this most likely will not happen but it proves that these men have very normal lives.
Some negative points were the use of scientific language, because I didn't know what they were talking about, and I couldn't get into the book. Sure I know they had to use scientific words because they were scientists but couldn't the author have explained a little more? The next negative point was the charts and maps. Every time I was really into the book, they through one in and I had to look at that and lost my place.
In conclusion, I really liked the book, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. If you really like science, go for it. Anyway, the rating would have to be a three because of the fact that I couldn't really get into the book because of the charts, maps, and not enough explaining of parts of the book. I give this book 3 stars.