... by Michael Crichton. Who you might recall is the guy who wrote the original "Jurassic Park" that the movie and all the sequels were adapted from. Talk about a franchise!?! I have been googling and done a little research on the prolific author. According to Wikipedia, the book he seems to be most well known for is "The Andromeda Strain". I recall reading several of his publications years ago, but recall they were more medical fiction than works of science fiction, though there is certainly a lot of overlap between the two. On the edge of believable, the things I read decades ago were so creepy and realistic, they still stick in my head today.
Critchton was (died several years ago) a very prolific author. Dozens of short stories, as well as full length books and numerous screenplays/adaptions for movies and television, that I won't go into here. There is plenty of evidence that he is a capable writer, can afford a small army to help with researching any area he desires to know about in detail. The book I just finished was fascinating: based on facts, actual people who were paleontologists in the late 1800's when the Wild West was still wild. The main character William Johnson is fiction, but there were two opposing fossil hunters that are well documented in books as well as newspaper articles.
This is early on in the search for fossils, man's effort to discover the history of the planet. There is much debate about what sort of animal the bones would have belonged to, many opposing schools of thought by men with vehement opinions. Johnson starts out from Yale, on a dare, with a Prof. Marsh, who soon abandons him, leaving him stranded. Along comes Professor Cope, who takes Johnson on to serve as a photographer for his search in the Badlands for proof of dinosaurs. The story is convoluted, but very interesting, bringing in much geographic detail as well as individuals who are well documented in written history of the era. As you may have guessed, the title comes from the idea that no one living during this time was aware that huge reptiles populated the planet thousands of years before humans. A discovery of bones in the limestone cliffs, as well as unearthing huge sharp teeth was confusing, a mystery compounded: dragon teeth?
The book was published by his wife, with an afterword by Mrs. Crichton, reporting on some of the material used in the writing of the volume. I think he started the research when he was writing the book the Jurassic tales were based upon, and just never finished it, left to be discovered after his death. Filled with believable people and convincing details, an excellent book.
No comments:
Post a Comment