belfong on 6/11/2008 at 12:55
I'm sorry to hear about his passing. Love his work. Sphere remains my all time favourite with Jurassic Park: Lost World in second.
Goblin on 7/11/2008 at 16:17
Sad the dude'll now never have his chance to overcome that awkward-dialogue stumbling-block that stood between his fine work and the brilliance it could have been if all his characters didn't interact like they all had Asperger's.
I'll be a sight morose next time I go through my annual 5-novel Crichton bender.
SubJeff on 7/11/2008 at 23:35
I didn't realise that his ideas were the basis for SO many films with interesting ideas (if not execution).
RIP.
Ulukai on 10/11/2008 at 19:49
Someone recommend me one of his good books.
Only one of his I recall reading was, 'State of Fear', which I discarded about 1/3 of the way through after not having much love for it.
fett on 11/11/2008 at 04:23
I would highly recommend Prey or Timeline, while urging you to avoid Congo and Sphere like a hooker with herpes. I was also surprised at how much I liked Jurrasic Park and Lost World at the time, though the premise is utterly ridiculous. Another lesser known of his is Airframe which is short on action and deep on detail, but an interesting read nonetheless.
demagogue on 11/11/2008 at 08:10
Quote Posted by fett
though the premise is utterly ridiculous.
For dinosaurs yes. But they are defragging Neanderthal DNA taken from old bone marrow right now, and I expect to see Neanderthal clones or at least hybrids within my lifetime.
I also read some business about, once they get the constructor-genes (not the technical term) down they'll be able to design dino bodies from scratch. I should shut up and let Vivian answer on the state of the art of that stuff, though, and what'll probably be possible and impossible within like 100 years. Where has he been lately, anyway?
N'Al on 11/11/2008 at 09:41
Hrm, I quite enjoyed Congo when I read it (which was some time ago, admittedly). What didn't you like about it, fett? The movie, though, from what I've seen of it, is dog poo.
Also enjoyed the two JP books, but thought Airframe was pretty lackluster (then again, that may be down to me reading the German translation of it).
Ulukai on 11/11/2008 at 17:58
Quote Posted by fett
I would highly recommend Prey or Timeline, while urging you to avoid Congo and Sphere like a hooker with herpes.
Prey or Timeline it is, ty.
Trying to get into State of Fear is also like trying to get into a hooker with herpes. You don't quite know what you're trying to get into and it's a poor waste of £7.99.
R Soul on 11/11/2008 at 18:47
I don't know about his other books but Timeline has an enormous bibliography listing books about quantum thingymajigs and the olden days.
BEAR on 11/11/2008 at 20:40
Timeline was a cool book, but the movie was beyond bad.
It had Paul Walker and "night arrows" (regular arrows at night lol get it), god almighty.