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A review by shansandler
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
3.0
After watching the film a while back I developed a fascination with the series and its quality demise but incessant continuation. Learning about the differences in book and film had me intrigued so I wanted to give Crichton's version a go.
It read very much like a film. The parallels to the film version can be seen but there were also a lot of variations, so that it seemed very much an alternate depiction of the film in my brain as I read. I like the science-y bits in the book that could not be included in the film, and Crichton brings a strong awareness of necessary information for the reader in his writing. The beginning really hooked my curiosity, being so different from the film's jump start with Grant and Sattler. Some of the differences were not better or worse, but made me interested in knowing why Spielberg decided to change certain elements (the involvement of the kid characters and the reason Hammond even invited them in the first place, the roles of Arnold/Muldoon/Sattler/Malcom/etc., deciding not to kill off a character who gets quite the deserved death in this book...). The ending too was interesting because of its difference from the film and does open the door for a sequel in a plausible and sensible way. After watching The Lost World: Jurassic Park and laughing at its horrendous-ness I am curious to see what Crichton did with his own material. Not my favorite book or genre by any means but it was well done.
Interesting points I marked that contributed to overall theme and nuance:
-Grant mentioned that when excavating he originally came with the most advanced camping tents currently available and they would just blow away in the wind. Only when he tried Blackfoot tipis which the local indigenous population would have used themselves did they find a hospitable solution...
-Hammond tells Gennaro that the secret to his profitting from Jurassic Park was to limit personnel costs and rather automate everything to rely on computer technology...
-"What we call 'nature' is in fact a complex system of far greater subtlety than we are willing to accept. We make a simplified image of nature and then we botch it up."
-"If you were going to start a bio engineering company, Henry, what would you do? Would you make products to help mankind, to fight illness and disease? Dear me, no. That's a terrible idea. A very poor use of new technology."..."Think how different it is when you're making entertainment. Nobody needs entertainment. That's not a matter for government intervention. If I charge five thousand dollars a day for my park, who is going to stop me?"
-Scientists have a tendency to bullshit about seeking truths about nature and the world when really they are irrevocably after the accomplishment of themselves alone. "Even pure scientific discovery is a penetrative act."
-Malcom spewing FACTS that even over 30,000 years when people lived and made cave paintings in Lascaux, life was essentially the same. We spend the same amount of time on average working as humans did back then to hunt/gather/make shelter and clothing. "We've had four hundred years of modern science, and we ought to know by now what it's good for, and what it's not good for. It's time for a change." And not just for the planet's sake. Even if humans ruin everything, the planet is going to survive and find a way to create life without us. But the humans won't. "Life would survive our folly."
---
"'You like the part where John Hammond is the evil arch-villain?' Grant laughed. 'John Hammond's about as sinister as Walt Disney.'" - Oof the irony there
"Real life isn't a series of interconnected events occurring one after another like beads strung on a necklace. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way...that's a deep truth about the structure of our universe. But, for some reason, we insist on behaving as if it were not true." - Malcolm spewing A+ Butterly Effect truths
"You can make a boat, but you can't make the ocean. You can make an airplane, but you can't make the air. Your powers are much less than your dreams of reason would have you believe."
It read very much like a film. The parallels to the film version can be seen but there were also a lot of variations, so that it seemed very much an alternate depiction of the film in my brain as I read. I like the science-y bits in the book that could not be included in the film, and Crichton brings a strong awareness of necessary information for the reader in his writing. The beginning really hooked my curiosity, being so different from the film's jump start with Grant and Sattler. Some of the differences were not better or worse, but made me interested in knowing why Spielberg decided to change certain elements (the involvement of the kid characters and the reason Hammond even invited them in the first place, the roles of Arnold/Muldoon/Sattler/Malcom/etc., deciding not to kill off a character who gets quite the deserved death in this book...). The ending too was interesting because of its difference from the film and does open the door for a sequel in a plausible and sensible way. After watching The Lost World: Jurassic Park and laughing at its horrendous-ness I am curious to see what Crichton did with his own material. Not my favorite book or genre by any means but it was well done.
Interesting points I marked that contributed to overall theme and nuance:
-Grant mentioned that when excavating he originally came with the most advanced camping tents currently available and they would just blow away in the wind. Only when he tried Blackfoot tipis which the local indigenous population would have used themselves did they find a hospitable solution...
-Hammond tells Gennaro that the secret to his profitting from Jurassic Park was to limit personnel costs and rather automate everything to rely on computer technology...
-"What we call 'nature' is in fact a complex system of far greater subtlety than we are willing to accept. We make a simplified image of nature and then we botch it up."
-"If you were going to start a bio engineering company, Henry, what would you do? Would you make products to help mankind, to fight illness and disease? Dear me, no. That's a terrible idea. A very poor use of new technology."..."Think how different it is when you're making entertainment. Nobody needs entertainment. That's not a matter for government intervention. If I charge five thousand dollars a day for my park, who is going to stop me?"
-Scientists have a tendency to bullshit about seeking truths about nature and the world when really they are irrevocably after the accomplishment of themselves alone. "Even pure scientific discovery is a penetrative act."
-Malcom spewing FACTS that even over 30,000 years when people lived and made cave paintings in Lascaux, life was essentially the same. We spend the same amount of time on average working as humans did back then to hunt/gather/make shelter and clothing. "We've had four hundred years of modern science, and we ought to know by now what it's good for, and what it's not good for. It's time for a change." And not just for the planet's sake. Even if humans ruin everything, the planet is going to survive and find a way to create life without us. But the humans won't. "Life would survive our folly."
---
"'You like the part where John Hammond is the evil arch-villain?' Grant laughed. 'John Hammond's about as sinister as Walt Disney.'" - Oof the irony there
"Real life isn't a series of interconnected events occurring one after another like beads strung on a necklace. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way...that's a deep truth about the structure of our universe. But, for some reason, we insist on behaving as if it were not true." - Malcolm spewing A+ Butterly Effect truths
"You can make a boat, but you can't make the ocean. You can make an airplane, but you can't make the air. Your powers are much less than your dreams of reason would have you believe."