If I remember correctly, the book opens with a prologue describing the business/finance hype in biotech, where a bunch of startups are raising funds and racing to get rich revolutionizing how to commercialize the exciting cutting edge in biological science in that era. It has nothing to do with the plot and the characters of the book, except that it establishes the tone, the background, and the incentives at play.
Michael Crichton was a successful novelist, and his first foray into show business was writing the screenplay for Westworld, about a park where everything goes wrong. It flopped commercially but basically planted the seeds for him to try it again, but with dinosaurs. Spielberg directed the adaptation and then there was a rush to adapt a bunch of other stuff. He was also an executive producer for ER, as it was adapted from a pilot he wrote, based on his own experience from med school (he graduated with an MD but never practiced).
The Lost World (the second movie) is also based on a book by Michael Crichton [pronounced cry-ton], but it diverges from the book even more than the first movie.
It’s worth a read, as is Disclosure by the same author (pretty much all of his books are good).
There’s a couple of caveats. One of his books denies climate change is a thing, but still has “sources” at the b9tt9m of pages to look real. And then there’s Next, which is… a piece of work.
I think those were Crichton’s last 2 books too, so I think he may have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas right before he died
I’d never considered how much this applies to the general “tech bro” mindset beyond the chaos theory parts of the book
If I remember correctly, the book opens with a prologue describing the business/finance hype in biotech, where a bunch of startups are raising funds and racing to get rich revolutionizing how to commercialize the exciting cutting edge in biological science in that era. It has nothing to do with the plot and the characters of the book, except that it establishes the tone, the background, and the incentives at play.
I never even considered that Jurassic Park was adapted from a book.
Michael Crichton was a successful novelist, and his first foray into show business was writing the screenplay for Westworld, about a park where everything goes wrong. It flopped commercially but basically planted the seeds for him to try it again, but with dinosaurs. Spielberg directed the adaptation and then there was a rush to adapt a bunch of other stuff. He was also an executive producer for ER, as it was adapted from a pilot he wrote, based on his own experience from med school (he graduated with an MD but never practiced).
That’s cool, Westworld is awesome too.
The original movie, which I suspect is the one being discussed here, was … Odd.
The Lost World (the second movie) is also based on a book by Michael Crichton [pronounced cry-ton], but it diverges from the book even more than the first movie.
It’s worth a read, as is Disclosure by the same author (pretty much all of his books are good).
There’s a couple of caveats. One of his books denies climate change is a thing, but still has “sources” at the b9tt9m of pages to look real. And then there’s Next, which is… a piece of work.
I think those were Crichton’s last 2 books too, so I think he may have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas right before he died
I liked that time travel book he wrote. It was fun. Timeline I think?