The Great Train Robbery

This book is about the Great Gold robbery of 1855. In 1854 a man named Edward Pierce who is a master thief hatches a plan to steal a shipment of gold being transported from London to the Crimean War front. Crichton takes you through Pierces thought process and the obstacles he faces on his way. I really enjoyed this book, i was afraid that i wouldn't when i first picked it up because i had read another one of his books before and i didnt really like it. But this one was so much better than the last, I think that it is amazing how Crichton can change writing styles so well and leaving you satisfied with a book you thought you would hate. i also like the development of his characters, and i also feel that he is really good at drawing a picture for his readers. I would recommend this book to others just because I thought that overall it was interesting and well worth the read.

Although this is by no means a bad book, I have to say that I was disappointed with it. Considering that it is heralded as Crichton's best, I really expected more. I've read Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Lost World, Congo, Binary, Sphere Airframe and Timeline. I enjoyed them all, especially Jurassic Park which is perhaps the greatest book ever written by anyone (I've read that about 8 times now). Andromeda Strain isn't, as I say, a bad book. I have a great deal of respect for Micheal Crichton and I love much of his work, but this one seemed to misfire a bit. It just didn't grip me like any of the above titles did. I didn't even finish it the first time I tried to read it.

A deviously complex tale told by Michael Crichton, the Great Train Robbery is his ultimate work (tied with Sphere). Told with breakneck pacing and energy, Crichton describes exactly how Edward Pierce planned and commited on of the most audacious crimes of the Victorian Era, the theft of 12,500 pounds worth of gold bullion. Crichton (and the reader) are thouroughly fasinated by the game of chess being played by a lively and original protagonist. Though Crichton provides his usual detailed descriptions and excellent research, his gallery of incredible characters is what makes the story run like clockwork.

Perhaps this story has simply faded with the passing of time. I found it too bogged down in explaining technical details that added little if anything to the story, and as in all Crichton books, ultimately dependent on almost ridiculous circumstances to achieve it's ending. The science is sound, and the out of the box scientific thinking (e.g. alien species are more likely to be microscopic than intelligent) is solid and thought-provoking. The story itself simply didn't move me that much.

Considering the fact that this book appeared in 1969, it is more than a thriller but rather a futurologist's view. From studying science closely Crichton could predict to a very large degree what would be happening 30 years later (like robotized laboratories etc.) Sometimes he overdoes it: the diagnostic computer chair, which seems to have made it anonymously into Newt Gingrich's "To Renew America". The story itself is very good but the final part is slightly disappointing (the Andromeda Strain is harmless after all). And: some things are taken for granted - the Wildfire planners seem to assume that life is based on DNA and amino acids except when it doesn't...

Can this really even be considered a novel? It's more like a series of lectures loosely stitched around a historical heist (a great train robbery, it so happens). The plot trickles out in dribs and drabs, frequently interrupted every few paragraphs by gracelessly inserted infodumps that go on for pages. There's zero characterization unless Crichton's repeated descriptions of the protagonist's red beard count (and there follows a mini-lecture on Victorian whisker fashions). The dialogue is nearly indecipherable coz Crichton decided to use every bit of Victorian slang he came across in his research. Victorians didn't even use this much Victorian slang. Much of the book is fairly interesting (if skewed slightly rightwing), it's just not put together very solidly. It reads like something that was researched for months, then slapped together in about a week.

The Andromeda Strain is a science fiction novel by Michael Chrighton. It's main idea is based on the possibility of encountering an alien microorganism that is harmful to life on earth. In the story of the Andromeda Strain, a military satellite called Scoop VII, tasked with finding harmful alien microorganisms for use in bioweapons, crashes in the small Arizona town of Piedmont. The organism onboard is then released amongst the citizens of the town, causing both instantaneous blood coagulation and insanity, and resulting in death either way. Only two survive: a senior citizen suffering from an ulcer that drives him towards bad habits that make his blood acidic, and a newborn child found crying in it's crib. A government project created by Jeremy Stone, entitled Wildfire, was created to deal with incidences such as this and it is assigned to clean up the mess. It's team of medical and scientific experts are tasked with both finding out how the bacteria, entitled the andromeda strain, functions, and what allowed the survivors to avoid it's effects.
Believing that Piedmont has been decontaminated via directive 7-12 (nuclear bomb), and that the Wildfire facility is the only possible source of contamination, the team takes it's time in finding a way to counteract the bacteria. However they soon discover that directive 7-12 was never put into effect by the president, who chose to activate directive 7-11 (surround area and wait) instead. With this new information the team is left racing against time to find a way to combat an alien bacteria that can grow in virtually any growth medium, contains no proteins, and kills anything with the exception of an acidotic old man, and a perfectly normal infant.
I liked this book because I found the idea behind the plot to be very interesting. Whenever you think of encountering alien life, you would never think that the said alien would be a harmful bacteria that life on earth has no previous experience with. I also enjoy the way the story was told, there was a lot of backstory and information mingled in with the main plot. This does a good job of explaining certain elements of the plot, such as scientific theories, to the reader in a non confusing way. In all I thought this book was good, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction.

This book tells the true story of how Edward Pierce, with several accomplices, robbed a train of it's substantial load of gold bullion. It's an incredible story, especially the details and planning that went into pulling off the robbery. It sounds like it's straight out of a movie (the story has in fact been made into a movie), but the story is true. This is different from the other Crichton books I've read, like Jurassic Park and Congo, but it's still pretty good. The only bad thing I have to say about it is the blinding orange cover on the book that makes you want to rip it off.

Although I thoughly enjoyed all of Michael's books, his medical ones are the best (have you read "A Case of Need". I t was this book that made me read the rest of Crichton's novels. All I can say is that Crichton is a genius! "The Andromeda Strain" is an amazing novel that is fast-paced, suspencful, and all around a great book! The only problem is that thoughout the whole book, the scientists worked to find a cure for the strain. But at the end everyone is just like " Oh Boy, the strain went away. Hoorey!" No way to end a book. Oh well, the rest of the book made up for that!

I've enjoyed a number of Michael Crichton's novels, finding his erudition and dedicated research and some of his philosophy in sympathy with my own interests and concerns. In looking through a list of his books, I found that I had read most of the later works but had missed one of his very first, The Andromeda Strain. I decided to correct the omission and fully enjoyed the book. Although it's a little dated (having been penned in 1969), it bears up well. I was amazed at the number of scientific discoveries that were already put to technological use as early as the 60's (fiber optics being the one that comes most readily to mind).
As in so many of his other works of fiction, Crichton introduces underlying issues of modern society, bringing some of the behavior we tend to accept as a "given" into question. In the case of the Andromeda Strain, he focuses on the hubris of the US military and of the scientific community. He highlights society's blind faith in technological "fixes" for every miss management of the environment, as though scientists and engineers can unfailing forestall the effects of every misdeed perpetrated by humanity on the rest of the planet.
In Andromeda Strain, the space program has been more or less subtly commandeered by the military to probe Earth's upper atmosphere for non-terrestrial bacteria with which to culture biological weapons of mass destruction--sound familiar? They succeed more fully than they are prepared to handle when the tiny organisms get loose among the naive biota of the earth, wrecking havoc with every living thing. To the rescue is a team of 5 carefully chosen scientists from a variety of fields, sealed away in a hyper-isolation facility in the middle of the Southwestern Desert. Can they save the earth in time? Read on!
An excellent early book, worth reading even in the 21st Century.

My first experience with The Andromeda Strain was seeing the movie about twenty years ago. I absolutely thought this was based on real life and I watched it over and over and over! My neighbors were beginning to think I had a crying baby in my apartment! Awed by the story I was determined to find and read the book, so I searched the local library.

At first my search was in the historical and science books sections, but I didn't find it there. So I looked in fiction and there it was! I was relieved to know that the story wasn't based on fact, but I knew the concept of biological warfare is a reality. I read the book and even though there were a lot of dissimilarities to the movie, the story floored me.

The Andromeda Strain still remains my number one movie and the remake should not have happened!

A very good book to read on a rainy night. You become completely immersed in the Victorian culture and at the same time Crichton involves you in an intriguing soon-to-be robbery. This is not necessarily about the characters, but about the times the robbery took place. The amount of detail is quite voluminous, but not enough to stop reading. Every chapter, I said to myself "Oh great, another thing I have to learn about the culture and the society before reading about the robbery", but after the first page of each chapter, I'm into it again.
This is up there with "Jurassic Park" - highly recommend.

I thought this book was way ahead of it's time and fairly interesting. The idea that a disease as deadly as the 'andromeda strain' is very unsettling. 'The Andromeda Strain' is also very realistic and it doesn't seem that unlikely to me. But it seems like I hardly knew anything about the main characters. They were sort of mysterious in regards to their background. They told what they did and where they were from but he didn't really help me to know them real well like in his other books. It was also a little boring at times. But besides those problems it was a greaet book.

I still haven't been dissapointed by a Michael Crichton book. This is a great book that I went through in a week. The introduction really made me think the story was true which I'm sure added to my excitement in reading. This book was published in 1969 so you may have to put up with some age difference. He tells about how expensive microscopes are(pretty darn cheap now) and explains briefly how a computer works and what they're for(everybody has them now). The ending was something very unexpected for me and not like I may have wanted it, but it was still a great Crichton book.

"The Andromeda Strain" may be an antique in science fiction, having been published in 1969, but that hardly diminishes its excellence. The caliber of Michael Crichton's research is such that I still found the technology and science in the book impressive (though the computers were obviously dated) despite the book's age. The plotline is thrilling, and though some of the scientific and philosophic asides are lengthy, most are equally fascinating. I was slightly disappointed by the ending; however, the rest of the book was amazing and made the reading worth it.

I love this book. I have re-read it many times and I also enjoy the movie, which closely follows the novel.
From the binary code in the beginning to the decontamination lab underground, this was solid storytelling. In fact, in my opinion it almost read like a documentary. Only the X Files is more compelling in its science and mystery. Sadly, I feel Crichton has lost his way. Perhaps it is his wealth or success, but that "you are there" feel seems to be missing, except for Jurassic Park. I will continue to buy and read every book, but I keep waiting for another compelling story. Maybe he could re-write this one.

I just finished the Andromeda Strain this morning and was very impressed. Not just with a good story, but with how a thirty year old book that has a strong scientific theme does not read as outdated. The use of fiber optics, electron microscopes, and clean rooms are just a few examples of his ability to predict what is commonly used in modern times . I've noticed each of Chrichton's books have a theme. With Jurassic Park, it was DNA and the Chaos Theory. In Congo it was Lasers, and in each book, he gives you a breif lesson in them to continue the story. In The Andromeda Strain, the lesson is molecular biology and since it is one of his first, the story suffers for it. Especially toward the end. If your looking for a fast paced thriller, your not going to get it. But as a thinking mans thriller it is outstanding. I wish my biology teacher in high school was more like Chrichton, because he makes it interesting and easy to follow. But again toward the end, it is trying, which is why I'm giving four out or five stars. A great book for Chichton fans. If your just now getting into him, I would suggest Jurrasic Park first.

The Andromeda Strain is an excellent book. Michael Crichton's best work. He has a lot of good books, this one is different though. Because the stuff that happened in The Andromeda Strain could actually happen to man kind. And what then? Sphere and The Andromeda Strain are neck and neck for Crichton's best work. And i still haven't even said anythin about The Terminal Man or Airframe which are two more great Crichton novels. Crichton and Stephen King rule. The Andromeda Strain rules. When you're done reading it it leaves you with the question: Are we safe?

I'm not a big sci-fi fan, but when this book first came out I was hooked by its premise: that an extraterrestrial life form entered Earth's atmosphere on the body of a returning artificial satellite. Add to that the fact that the military was involved, looking for more deadly biological warfare, and that the military's tactics backfire. I read the book and I enjoyed it: a real page-turner, with everything going wrong that can go wrong. Of the Crichton books I've read, this is my favorite.

I must admit, I end up learning more from reading a Michael Crichton novel than from most science classes I took in high school (which probably says more about my efforts in high school, or perhaps some of the teachers I had). His way of taking a hypothesis -- even an outlandish theory -- and turning it into a novel is admirable. Andromeda Strain was no exception, and the book had the suspense of an action book, the intrigue of a mystery, and the depth of a textbook. If you have enjoyed Crichton's work, you'll like this first novel from him.

The book was incredibly captivating and exciting. It's about the Great Train Robbery in Great Britain in the mid 1800s. The book had an exceptional plot and sensational characters. It started off with an introduction to a master con-artist and introduced other characters as the plot un-ravelled. It truly brought you into hte criminal's head which made the plot easy to understand. The book contains some mature parts, however so I would recommend this to any teen or older. Everyone who read it in my class, enjoyed it and I believe you will too.

I'm never really big on reading for a long time. Usually I'm content to read for about fifteen minutes and do something else. When I do finish a book, it usually takes several months. But then I picked up Michael Crichtons The Andromeda Strain, and I seriously could not put it down for eight full hours. I had things to do that weekend too. I love Crichtons classics such as Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Airframe, but The Andromeda Strain, without a doubt, his very best work ever. I would recomend this book to anyone without a thought.

I read many books by this author and others like him. This is by far the best book I have ever read! I reccomend this book to everybody who likes books that lead you to different conclusions about the virus every chapter. I feel this book is for mostly adults, however I am 13 and I loved this book. The reason I think mostly adults will like this book is because you need to have a backround on biology. You don't need to know much, just a little bit. I know most of my friends like and understand it, but some people don't. I LOVE THIS BOOK!

I think this was one of the best "first books" of any author I've read. It seems even today to have this uncanny timeless quality, as if its plot could be going on right now. Oddly enough the characters seem better developed then his later works, they seem human. The book did provide some interesting theories to trifle with, a little bit of mystery, and even a smidge of psychology thrown in if you look hard enough. The only real complaint I have about it is I found it a bit anti-climactic, but in being so it was certainly unique. It is deserving of its reputation and place in science fiction literary history.

If you're familiar with Mr. Crichton's more recent string of hits, you should instantly divine that this was an effort of long ago. One of his first novels, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, Mr. Crichton's premise for a biological Apocalypse shuffles along at a snail's pace. What could've been a truly zip-along read is plagued and ultimately bogged down with interminable sequences of 'faction.' Understanding why the long passages of facts are present does not counteract their tedious and painstakingly detailed drone. The flip-side of this, however, is that The Andromeda Strain is a powerful science document. Unfortunately, it exhibits little else. Bottom line: A nice effort from a fledgling writer; Mr. Crichton has matured remarkably throughout the advancement of his career.

I have read many books by Mr.Crichton. This book is not one of his best. I have read over 21 books for my reports this year and I wrote this opne was one of the worst. The book Postman was the only worst one. The character development is very impaired. I am unable to assosciate with any of them. Association to a character is something I need to get into a book. I belive other books such as Sphere and Jurasic Park were much better. The content in both books were closer to sci-fi than other books. Empidemics are something we are used to reading and seeing nowadays. I teachers at school taught u to write with adjectives which this book is lacking. Do not read this book if you have something better to do.

I had heard of this book for years but never picked it up.After reading a few other Crichton novels, I decided I had to try hisfirst. I am glad I did because the novel was quite intriguing. I found it very realistic despite some dated technology, particularly in the medical arena. Yet that didn't stand in the way of a good plot and strong characters. Like many others, I found the ending disappointing, which is why I gave it a 4-star rating. Nevertheless, it is easy to see why Michael Crichton is such a successful novelist today.

First of all, I thought it was very interesting at the begining. But as I reached the middle I found myself skipping paragraphs, just so I could get it over with. I can understand why they had to go through all those procedures but Crichton could have made it a little more thrilling. And to all the people who keep commenting about the bacteria itself, relax. Just try to imagine that such a bacteria exsists, it's only a book. Use your imagination !!!!

How do you fight a deadly micro-organism brought to earth by a returning satellite? You know nothing about this micro-organism other than it has completely wiped out an entire town's population except for a sickly old man and a crying baby (clues!). Exposure to this organism will kill you instantly. Do you dare try any of the conventional methods for destroying viruses and germs? Anything you do (even nothing) may cause the micro-organism to multiply faster, mutate, etc, and you risk decimating the earth's population!
That's the challange faced by Michael Crichton's team of elite biophysicists in their top-secret, ultra-sophisticated underground research facility (code name: Wildfire). Rich in scientific details, the book speeds along from the shocking discovery of a town full of dead people, to the cloak-and-dagger process of alerting and assembling the team of civilian experts (some of whom have secrets), to the action occuring in the facility itself (a central character with a few secrets of its own).
The ultra-biologically clean government facility is equipped with automatic safeguard mechanisms that I will only characterize here as extremely thought-provoking. I was intrigued by the elaborate procedures and mechanisms for decomtaminating the scientists prior to entering the facility (not as straight forward as one would think). Also interesting was a side story involving the unexpected results of an experimental drug that kills absolutely every single bacteria, germ, virus, and organisim in the human body.
Logically plotted, highly technical and suspensefully timed, this is a thinking-man's sci-fi story which constantly reminds you of time running out with everything at stake. If you've read Michael Crichton's work before, you'll recognize his recurring theme involving the unpredictability of the universe (chaos theory), and man's mistaken belief that he can change and control nature with technolgy.
The subject was highly topical in the late 60's and early 70's when Apollo missions were bringing material back from the moon on a regular basis. Today, who knows what micro-meteorites bearing alien bacteria may be captured by space shuttles, space stations, etc?
A SIDE NOTE:
If you like this book, you should check out the 1971 film that was based on it. Considering when it was made, it is a surprisingly well-made science fiction film directed by Robert Wise. This is one of the few films that is actually as good as the book it is based on. The acting, production values, set design, and art direction are all very impressive. Sure, the computer hardware may be dated, but this was the real equipment in use at the time and actually increases the film's realism (no ultra flashly graphics, talking computers, over-produced effects, etc.). Like '2001: A Space Odyssey', the film still plays well today. Rent it!

The Andromeda Strain is a fictitious book written by Michael Crichton. It is about five scientists who are trying to understand an extra-terrestrial organism by finding out how it works, and how it kills people so fast. Like every other book written by Michael Crichton, this book is suspenseful and fast paced. The setting of the story is in a huge laboratory. The book is very suspenceful and it relates to something that isn't real but could actually happen at some point. I loved this book and I am sure that you will too.

I like Michael Crichton, and I have read many of his books, but this one was a bit of a disappointment.
Michael is notorous for somewhat bad endings, and this ending stands out above them all. I won't tell you what happens.
Anyway, I suggest reading the book. I found it very entertaining, and I also found it profoundly interesting with all the questions given like "how do you define life?", and there are also many interesting scientific aspects of biololgy stated in the book, of of which hold merit as Crichton does his homework and simply does not BS this stuff.
Overall: 4/5 with one star off because of the bad ending.

The ANDROMEDA STRAIN is one of Crichtons best. It is very exciting and makes you think about how scary being sick can be. It is about a small town called Peidmont in Arizona. A government satlelite lands there and is opened. Inside is an unknown terestrial virus from space. The virus is taken isolated and contained while the government biological wildfire project is executed. But the virus mutates and then the real danger starts. The ANDROMEDAN STRAIN is an interesting novel from the author of JURRASIC PARK.

These days, Michael Crichton is (along with John Grisham) synonomous with literary cheese. So it's good to go back and see exactly why he became a superstar author in the first place. I've read most of Crichton books and I have never much cared for them, but this book is different. The Andromeda Strain, Crichton's first novel, is quite simply the best thing he has ever written, a classic of solid science fiction. It is a masterpiece of suspense and attention to detail, about a showdown with an alien disease that provides an eery precursor to modern biological boogeymen like the Ebola virus. Even some 25 years after it was written, it still seems fresh. Highly recommended, even for people (like me) who don't like Crichton's other work.

not only suspensfull powerfull story WHAT if scientific, itsey bitsey bit in SPACE PARTICLE ADHERE TO,SATELITE AND CRASHED EARTHWORD,AND UNLEASHED A NASTY SPORE BUT FOR ME ITS THE SIMPLE EASE IN WHICH images flow off the pages INEXPLICABLY from simple writing... words uses ;used to full effect , like a full frontal lobe mother lode onslaught the SHOCK OF THE GOOD SIMPLE [PURE CRAFT OF IT ALL] IN AN ERA OF THE,STONED SMYLEY FOR FOR SURE. GRUNT .THE MELLOW YELLOW OR THE GONZO EMPTY THIS BOOK IS REFRESHINGLY GENUINE.

This book is great for anybody who loves history. Not only do you get a great look into the Victorian Society of England but Crichton does an amazing job at developing the story.
He takes you through the planning, the delays, the execution, and the aftermath of one of the greatest crimes of all time.
In this book, as with Crichton's other works, he really get you familiar with the way life was in England during the time period.
This is Crichton's most underated novel and comes highly recommended by me.

This book starts out a little slow as Chrichton sets the scene and characters. Then it picks up to his usual gripping pace. The book shows many interesting details of Victorian London and its society. In addition, it enumerates the unusual detail and outside-the-box ploys used to facilitate the robbery. I read quite a bit but this book kept me glued to the page.

I struggled to get through this book. The science and plot are really outdated. It may have been a lot more interesting when it was written. It relies heavily on trying to interest you in science behind this space organism they find, but it's a drag. I found it fairly boring and struggled to maintain interest.

This is now the sixth Crichton book I've read and I always seem to come away with the same feeling...slightly disappointed. I always enjoy the immense amount of detail he provides in his books about the subject matter at hand but am always disappointed in character development. His characters are typically very thin and I am left at the end of the book not really caring about how the story ends. If rating this book based on the interesting background on biochemical studies I rate this book a five. If rating the book on character development I rate it a one. Overall a three.

I have read all of Crichton's works, and usually come away well satisfied when I close whatever book I happen to have read. I can't say the same for The Great Train Robbery. Yes, it is very well-written, and portrays Victorian England in a realism I've rarely seen before. Yes, the characters are lively and interesting. But I was so bored! I literally had to force myself to finish, and to be honest, don't remember much of the plot. I feel that this is a departure from the quality of much of Crichton's other work. While most fans are going to read it simply because it's Crichton, I wouldn't recommend it to new readers. Try Time Line or Jurassic Park first.

Would you like to travel on a scientific adventure, where you are trying to solve something literally out of this world? Well, in The Andromeda Strain, you are able to travel a difficult five day journey with the scientists, trying to find the answers to this extra-terrestrial organism or virus. In my opinion, I feel that it would be at your best judgment to read this book. Besides being filled with many biological facts, one can also gain an exciting thriller of a plot line, as well as connections with the characters.

If you have a passion for science and love trying to find the answers, then this book is for you. Constant situations and facts are thrown at you, and you must try to organize them so you can solve this problem. With the detailed descriptions by Michael Crichton, you can even feel like you are one of the four scientists struggling to find the solution to it all. As I read, I could not stop especially with those moments of discovery, suspense, excitement, and even surprise.

When analyzing this book, I find many strengths and weaknesses. I believe that Michael Crichton is an incredible scientific writer. Somehow he finds that perfect combination of science and suspense, to deliver a fantastic book. He created a fascinating story with science; writing interesting dialogue, using a colorful vocabulary, descriptive settings and situations, which were all able to tie in with the reader. Trust me, I am not always the person interested in sci-fi books, but this book was so much more. Although this book delivers a creative idea, it has only one miniscule problem. Sometimes Crichton becomes too descriptive with his situations, creating a confusing and exaggerating picture for the reader. Besides that, Michael Crichton delivers an incredible book that will keep you guessing till the very end. The Andromeda Strain is a great review for Biology as well as a thriller for reading. I suggest that you read this book because I give it two thumbs up!

A man in a ghastly white robe passes over plies of dead bodies. A young infant is found, howling in the ominously silent night. 46 of the 48 people in Piedmont, Arizona were dead. How could such evil be found on our beloved planet? On the other hand, how is it possible that there were survivors, when all the rest had been killed? Drs. Jeremy Stone, Peter Leavitt, Charles Burton and Mark Hall had met, in order to solve the scientific mystery. These four scientists create a group project known only to the government as "Project Wildfire". It is up to these people to either rescue, or let loose a virus that may wipe out the world. These scientists begin to investigate and observe everything and anything that may give them even the smallest of hints, in order to find the answer to this question: How do you stop something that is utterly alien-and savagely lethal?
These four scientists start their research and lab work in a secret government building in Nevada. Jeremy Stone, a balding and very thin man at the age of 36, was without doubt the most successful and known scientist out of the four. He was a man that "knew everything, and is fascinated by the rest", quotes a friend. Dr. Charles Burton, however, was quite the opposite of Stone. Burton is a 54 year old pathologist who is very logical, and a great observer. He was different however, because "where Stone was organized, Burton was sloppy; where Stone was confident, Burton was jumpy and nervous." Dr. Peter Leavitt was a pessimist who was experienced in the works of the treatment of infectious diseases. He was also very imaginative and thought logically. He suffered a common disorder known as epilepsy, and "he suddenly doesn't know what happens to him, where he loses just a few minuets of his life" The last member of the Wildfire team is Dr. Mark Hall, the only single man on the project team. He is the only person that can turn off an automatic nuclear bomb, should something go wrong. Thus, these four men put their differences aside and work as a team, in order to save earth from being exposed from this virus.
Project Scoop had been setup in order to retrieve deadly microorganisms from space. Six of the seven sent were complete failures...yet the seventh was knocked off its orbit pattern, and had landed near the township of Piedmont. Stone and Burton had entered the town to find and observe nothing but a nasty stench from the heaps of corpses. The two scientists began to search the town, and found what they had been looking for: Scoop VII, the contaminated satellite. Yet, they find more than they intended to: an old man and a young infant, both had survived death and insanity. Thus commenced long hours of examination and research for the answer of how an old man who is acidosis and a baby that is alkaline, were similar, when they were suppose to be completely the opposite. All of a sudden, on the fourth day at the Wildfire centre, strange things began to happen: first Burton had actually been infected by the virus, and then Leavitt suffered strange seizures. While Stone attempted to keep Burton alive and well, Hall was forced to do some serious thinking. He received a newspaper article stating that another person, Officer Willis, did survive the Andromeda Strain for a few hours before he went mad and shot not only himself, but five others. Officer Willis also had been acidosis. So, the old man and Willis had some things in common, yet, why did the baby survive? When Hall and his colleagues finally solved the mystery of the Andromeda Strain, an alarm went off and a voice came on: "There are now three minutes to self-destruction." Three minutes...until the world, all of humanity, would come to an end.
The entire story took place in the laboratory that was underground. It was isolated from everything else, for if something had gone wrong, the virus would have spread. The laboratory was also located in Nevada, a very large state, with a small population, reducing risks of endangering people as well as making sure that no one becomes suspicious. Although the book does not describe the setting very much, because of its underground location, it created more tension, danger, and anxiety.
From the beginning with a man walking amongst the corpses to the end in which the world may come to an end, this book has been unbelievably uptight and bloodcurdling. The mysterious and horrifying events in the beginning led to a suspenseful and hair-raising plot with a great and incomparable ending. Though it is in the science fiction genre, it includes a little bit of everything, making the situation seem so realistic and so close to us. Although the use of many difficult scientific terms and the complexity of the story made it hard to understand for boys in my age, it is sure to be a pleasure to all those who love and follow science fiction adventure and even horror books, because there is nothing that The Andromeda Strain does not have.

The Andromeda Strain is a great science fiction book. It will leave your heart pounding every second that you read. I don't really like reading books, but this one was just too hard to resist. The book is about a bug that comes from outer space that kills forty seven people in a little town called Peidmont. There is alot of bravery and alot of killing in this book. It is probably the goriest book that I have ever read, but don't be turned off by that. Get it today and I'm sure that you'll love it.

The Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton is an intense book about several scientists racing to eliminate deadly bacteria, which came from outer space. In some ways I see it as a horror because of its direct applications to real life, its believability. It doesn¡¦t infer any blame on the government, like a lot of biological thrillers do. Yet it does surmise the possibility of underground facilities in which the equipment is tech enough to handle many kinds of biological disaster, or outbreaks. The premise of the book was good and the action sequences were nail biting. Although there was a lot of dated components, old computers, methods, etc., I feel it still ran miles ahead of its time, for a book that was written in the 60s. I felt awfully empty when reading the parts of the book in which the town was described. It made me feel like I was going to die. The scientist that did the fieldwork wore these moon-suits with tube for oxygen bulging from the sides. The people they found were dead, when the veins were cut open on the corpses the blood rolled out like sand. But before they left, two brought along¡Xalive. All of these things were part of plot development and key to the book's clincher. The characters in the book were easy to identify with. They had families, personality flaws, and compassion. Characters, I feel, make or break a book¡¦s quality level. The Andromeda Strain is a good book to read if you¡¦re a fiction junky. It also tantalizes the intellectual, and entertains the novice.

The Andromeda Strain is a science-fiction thriller, based and written in the 1970s. The story begins when a secret military satellite designed to collect extra terrestrial organisms from orbit crashes in a small town in Arizona. The retrieval mission seems to be fairly routine, until it is discovered that all but two of the population of Piedmont has mysteriously died. This causes major concerns for the Wildfire team, a group of several scientists recruited to determine the threat factor of alien organisms, and if necessary, destroy it. The mission soon turns to one that could determine the fate of all life on Earth.
Working in a top secret government facility in Nevada, the Wildfire team struggles to find an explanation for the deaths of the people of Piedmont, and the nature of the alien organism codenamed Andromeda. The nature of the deaths and the two survivors with seemingly nothing in common also contributes to the mystery that is the Andromeda strain. The scientists encounter one problem after another, and the fate of the planet is in their hands time and time again.
This suspenseful story will keep you interested from beginning to end. Although this book seems less suspenseful than some of Crichton's other books, it is still a great read. The only problem I had with it was the constant scientific jargon that plays into the story at some points. However, I would still recommend this book to any science-fiction reader.

This is the book that got me hooked on science fiction and medical thrillers when I first read it in junior high school 25 years ago. I re-read it recently and, aside from some medical technology advances since then, I was still engaged in this story of alien virus decoding. My health and science students seem to agree. Even though they start to read it because of a book report assignment, this book has failed to be returned several times because, "I gave it to my friend to read..."

This was the first book I ever read. Back in the early 1970's my mother worked at a hotel and this book was left in a room. For some reason it caught my interest. I began to read it and could not put it down. I read it in less than two days!
This book is responsible for me becoming an avid reader, which should be enough to convince you of how good it is!
It is a story about how a virus kills a town and the edge-of-the-seat adventures of those who must address the situation.
The movie was good, but the book is better!

While the book successfully expresses some of human kind's most insecure thoughts of lethal bacteria or viruses from outer space and provides well-researched information concerning modern technology as well as some data about modern science, the book, overall, is a huge overreaction.

It had been exciting in the beginning as the new virus was introduced into Earth's atmosphere, but the resolution was a disappointment, especially for an author such as Crichton.

The scientists trudged through all that research, spent all those sleepless nights in the facility, and it turned out their work has amounted to nothing. The reader basically suffers through the information that Crichton bombards at us, and that is what made it seem as if the novel was a biology textbook - it contained countless pieces of information that was useless in the very end.

I admire Crichton for his characterization and the suspense he carefully builds, but I do not admire the overall plot. I suggest, unless you absolutely adore microbiology or if you have time to kill, that you do not read this book.

This is another great book by Michael Crichton. He describes the setting and characters thoroughly and it was very interesting to read, I couldn't put it down! I could see everything in the book unfold right before my eyes. I loved the characters (even the bad ones) and I loved the action, the setting and just everything is this book! This is a definite read for anyone who wants a book that will take you away to another world and make you read the whole book in a couple settings! Enjoy!

Really liked this - in fact I couldn't put it down for a majority of the book. It's amazing to think that this was written in 1969 - especially when reading about the technology that Crichton envisioned. My only issue with the book was it's anticlimactic ending - was hoping for a bit more of a payoff at the end.

Michael Crichton's first book ever has us in the situation of a virus from space. Five biophycists warn the U.S. government that returning space might be contaminated. 2 years later, Project Scoop sends satellites into space to collect organisms for study. Then one of them falls to the earth landing in Arizona. The virus spreads, grows, and causes havoc. Some government agents have to find the perfect cure in time before "The Andromeda Strain" wipes out Earth. A Sci-Fi classic!

The basic theme of the book is that an outer space bacteria enters earth and starts affecting people - this is a life form which is unfimiliar to our environment and bodies, and a group of scientists are assigned to explore it and find a cure for it.
The book itself is full of suspence and makes a good read, but I think the author did overdo the technical bit a little, especially since they are really old fashioned and are either irrelevant or known to many people nowadays.

It all started when the Scoop VI satellite landed from the earth's outer atmosphere with a bacteria and landed in the tiny Arizona twon of Piedmont.

Quickly the government organizes a team of experts to examine the satellite and and find a cure for the bacteria (if they can) that clots the blood and kills the individual within 3 seconds.
The team works day and night to find the link between the towns only survivors and the novel reaches a horrifying climax

This book will keep you up till it is time to get up the next morning. If you like Michael Chrichton you'll be stuck to your chair long after your normal curfew. A great story dealing with science. I've already read Airframe and this one was almost as good. Most of Chrichton's science is pretty simple even if the diagrams don't make much sense. If you liked The Lost World and Jurrassic Park this book isn't as brutal. A book well worth reading even if you don't like it.

Fellow asked me the other day, "What is the most suspenseful novel you've ever read." Without blinking or thinking, I said "The Andromeda Strain." I bought the book when it first came out, like what? 30 years ago. I opened the cover on Saturday morning, called my three golfing buds at 11:30, cancelled my golfing date (they haw-hawed when I said I couldn't put a book down), read through lunch, piled up on couch during the afternoon, grilled outside that evening --- all the while reading the book. Finished reading, served the burgers to my family and handed my wife the book, saying: "This is the only book I have never been able to put down!" And that, gentle readers, is a carved in stone fact. I'm neither a techno-philiac nor much more than remotely interested in science fiction. This book is not science fiction. This book doesn't miss a beat; it seems real. Like an eyewitness account of an extra-terrestrial virus wiping out mankind. And no way to fight it. The virus takes no prisoners and just when it is ready to launch itself out of its prison in the Nevada lab ......... Crichton hasn't written a book this good ....(I simply cannot use the hackneyed term "taut and riveting?").... since Andromeda. Some of his books have been downright goofy. Most have been okay. The success of 'Andromeda' is probably why he hung up his stethoscope and said goodbye to whines, aches, and pains of patients. (He admitted once that he had an abysmally bad 'bedside manner.') Anyhow, what is the most suspenseful book I have ever read? ..... Buy it. Don't haggle.

The book started a bit slowly for my tastes, picked up my interest, and then ended so abruptly I thought something was wrong with my copy of the book.

Kindle edition has some problems displaying several of the "print out" or "computer display" pages which makes reading the information a bit difficult. Luckily none of this is necessary to follow the story.

I figured I would try to get into reading some of Michael Crichton's novels so I started with "The Andromeda Strain". It seemed it would be a frightening story of a satellite that fell to earth accidentally and carried with it a deadly virus that wreaked havoc across the nation. More or less it was an isolated case of scientists and doctors trying to figure out what happened in small town Arizona. It never seemed to evolve into the hair raising story I wanted it to be, but it was a good book nontheless.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I recall waiting anxiously for the next Crichton novel to appear back in the mid-1970s and was disappointed when I saw this title. But, I read it anyway and I was glad I did. I didn't put it down until I was finished. The novel is based on the very first train robbery by Edward Pierce in Victorian London in which gold heading for the Crimea was stolen. The story was made into a film starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

Michael Crichton has done it again! This is one of his best novels ever!

I usually try to wait to watch the movie until I read the book, but I admit to watching this movie prior to buying the book. The book was 100 times better than any movie I have ever watched! I loved it!

This is a story that could actually happen, developed by an author who has the skill of no other author in recent memory. You will love the characters, and the hundreds of pages will fly by like they are nothing. Enjoy the ride as you read this legitimate thriller!

Enjoy!

This is another great book by Michael Crichton. He describes the setting and characters thoroughly and it was very interesting to read, I couldn't put it down! I could see everything in the book unfold right before my eyes. I loved the characters (even the bad ones) and I loved the action, the setting and just everything is this book! This is a definite read for anyone who wants a book that will take you away to another world and make you read the whole book in a couple settings! Enjoy!

Really liked this - in fact I couldn't put it down for a majority of the book. It's amazing to think that this was written in 1969 - especially when reading about the technology that Crichton envisioned. My only issue with the book was it's anticlimactic ending - was hoping for a bit more of a payoff at the end.

Michael Crichton's first book ever has us in the situation of a virus from space. Five biophycists warn the U.S. government that returning space might be contaminated. 2 years later, Project Scoop sends satellites into space to collect organisms for study. Then one of them falls to the earth landing in Arizona. The virus spreads, grows, and causes havoc. Some government agents have to find the perfect cure in time before "The Andromeda Strain" wipes out Earth. A Sci-Fi classic!

The basic theme of the book is that an outer space bacteria enters earth and starts affecting people - this is a life form which is unfimiliar to our environment and bodies, and a group of scientists are assigned to explore it and find a cure for it.
The book itself is full of suspence and makes a good read, but I think the author did overdo the technical bit a little, especially since they are really old fashioned and are either irrelevant or known to many people nowadays.

It all started when the Scoop VI satellite landed from the earth's outer atmosphere with a bacteria and landed in the tiny Arizona twon of Piedmont.

Quickly the government organizes a team of experts to examine the satellite and and find a cure for the bacteria (if they can) that clots the blood and kills the individual within 3 seconds.
The team works day and night to find the link between the towns only survivors and the novel reaches a horrifying climax

This book will keep you up till it is time to get up the next morning. If you like Michael Chrichton you'll be stuck to your chair long after your normal curfew. A great story dealing with science. I've already read Airframe and this one was almost as good. Most of Chrichton's science is pretty simple even if the diagrams don't make much sense. If you liked The Lost World and Jurrassic Park this book isn't as brutal. A book well worth reading even if you don't like it.

Fellow asked me the other day, "What is the most suspenseful novel you've ever read." Without blinking or thinking, I said "The Andromeda Strain." I bought the book when it first came out, like what? 30 years ago. I opened the cover on Saturday morning, called my three golfing buds at 11:30, cancelled my golfing date (they haw-hawed when I said I couldn't put a book down), read through lunch, piled up on couch during the afternoon, grilled outside that evening --- all the while reading the book. Finished reading, served the burgers to my family and handed my wife the book, saying: "This is the only book I have never been able to put down!" And that, gentle readers, is a carved in stone fact. I'm neither a techno-philiac nor much more than remotely interested in science fiction. This book is not science fiction. This book doesn't miss a beat; it seems real. Like an eyewitness account of an extra-terrestrial virus wiping out mankind. And no way to fight it. The virus takes no prisoners and just when it is ready to launch itself out of its prison in the Nevada lab ......... Crichton hasn't written a book this good ....(I simply cannot use the hackneyed term "taut and riveting?").... since Andromeda. Some of his books have been downright goofy. Most have been okay. The success of 'Andromeda' is probably why he hung up his stethoscope and said goodbye to whines, aches, and pains of patients. (He admitted once that he had an abysmally bad 'bedside manner.') Anyhow, what is the most suspenseful book I have ever read? ..... Buy it. Don't haggle.

The book started a bit slowly for my tastes, picked up my interest, and then ended so abruptly I thought something was wrong with my copy of the book.

Kindle edition has some problems displaying several of the "print out" or "computer display" pages which makes reading the information a bit difficult. Luckily none of this is necessary to follow the story.

I figured I would try to get into reading some of Michael Crichton's novels so I started with "The Andromeda Strain". It seemed it would be a frightening story of a satellite that fell to earth accidentally and carried with it a deadly virus that wreaked havoc across the nation. More or less it was an isolated case of scientists and doctors trying to figure out what happened in small town Arizona. It never seemed to evolve into the hair raising story I wanted it to be, but it was a good book nontheless.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I recall waiting anxiously for the next Crichton novel to appear back in the mid-1970s and was disappointed when I saw this title. But, I read it anyway and I was glad I did. I didn't put it down until I was finished. The novel is based on the very first train robbery by Edward Pierce in Victorian London in which gold heading for the Crimea was stolen. The story was made into a film starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

Michael Crichton has done it again! This is one of his best novels ever!

I usually try to wait to watch the movie until I read the book, but I admit to watching this movie prior to buying the book. The book was 100 times better than any movie I have ever watched! I loved it!

This is a story that could actually happen, developed by an author who has the skill of no other author in recent memory. You will love the characters, and the hundreds of pages will fly by like they are nothing. Enjoy the ride as you read this legitimate thriller!

Enjoy!

The Andromeda Strain was the first Michael Crichton book I ever read. I discovered it when I was in junior high school, and from there I went on to become an avid reader of science and medical fiction. Although this book was written almost 20 years ago, it's still scary today. (Perhaps even more so after the events of last fall.) Crichton has a way of keeping up the suspense while still making the characters believable. The Andromeda Strain remains one of my "must-read" books.

Space bug problem.

Some in the scientific community and military are becoming worried that astronauts may bring back rather nasty diseases from space. When measures are taken to prevent this they are undermined by the military's desire to turn just such bugs into weapons.

Cue outbreak, death, and desperate search for a cure.

A decent early book of Crichton's, definitely.

3.5 out of 5

Wow! I started Crichton's The Great Train Robbery saturday and finished it Sunday, what a cool book. I've read a lot of Crichton's other stuff--Jurassic Park, Sphere, Congo-- but this book was his best. The book does a great job of taking the reader back in time to England in the 1800'S. Plenty of intrigue and suspense wrapped up in the seamy underwold of old London, and a great surprise ending! Best of all the book is based on a true story; it fits the old saying that truth can be stranger than fiction.

Crichton's 'The Andromeda Strain' was a pretty good read. I didn't have much trouble getting to reading many pages at a time. Sometimes I did have to use my mind some to figure out the scientific theories and such, but once I got past all that intellect, the story was pleasing. It is a sci-fi, mystery book in that the entire novel was based on figuring out what wiped out an entire city's population, and how to stop that thing from killing more cities' populations.

The last 50 or so pages I did not find any trouble in reading, putting it down was where I found the trouble. So many things started happening at once right at the very end that I was totally spellbound. I didn't, however, like the way Crichton ended the novel. It was a little too basic. Everything leading up to it could have gone for so much more. Crichton seemed to be doing so well, and then just ran out of time and needed to end it quickly and chose the way he did. But, aside from the quick, base ending, I really enjoyed and would recommend 'The Andromeda Strain' as an easy read.

As a high school student with high degrees of interest in medical technology and great literature, I can say this book caters to both. This thriller is based on an upper atmosphere-born contagion being unleashed upon a small town, and possibly the world. To counteract it, a top secret project, known as project Wildfire is set in motion. Several things about the novel pleased me. First off, I read this book in the year 2000. Keep in mind that it was written in the 1960's. Yet, the science fiction aspects avoided that outdated death sentence and were as interesting as the day they were written(the completely automated medical examination device was my favorite). Second, the detail in which the virus and the facilities to stop it were described was incredible. This was so believeable that I find myself remembering technology from the book as fact! To put it the short way, if you love science fiction, medical thrillers, science mysteries, or any kind of thrilling tale, read The Andromeda Strain!

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.

I absolutely loved this book - my copy of it has a torn cover and the corners are rounded from being thumbed through so often. I have read it about ten times and each time the suspense and excitement is still as potent as the first time I read it. I love the detailed, accurate scientific terminology - Crichton's dedication to detail makes this book read like fact rather than fiction, which I think is great. Read this book now!

I liked this, but not an exceptional novel. The good bit is the pace and the tension it builds up, but ends on a whimper, almost. Contains portions that are too heavy on scientific technicalities, though some parts are informative. Reading this reminded me of high school biology classes - refresher courses on what are enzymes, proteins, etc.! Though written almost four decades back, the story, the science and the technology referred to in the narrative does not feel dated or stale. Overall, read it if you have don't have a better sci-fi on your shelf for the moment.

"The Andromeda Strain" was written by Michael Crichton in 1969, though it was decades ahead of its time. The novel was published in May 12, 1969 by the Knopf publishing company located in New York. I recommend this book because the Andromeda Strain is a classic, frightening book of bio-physics. The way Crichton combines real life technology and fiction results in a masterpiece. Though there are quite a few technical terms, the graphic language used by Crichton in this novel is incredible.
The book starts off with an unmanned military satellite touching down in Piedmont, Arizona. When a recovery team is sent to retrieve the satellite, they discover too late that the whole town is dead. They soon suffer the same fate. The government decides to activate Wildfire, a program that enlists the best minds from around the country to help fight against extraterrestrial biological micro-organisms. Two survivors emerge from Piedmont, a stubborn old man that is addicted to Sterno and an infant that won't stop crying. These two are the key to unlocking the mysteries that this never before seen crystal-structured microbe presents the world's brightest minds.
This book differs from most in that there are no villains in this novel, only the microscopic organisms that might cause earth's extinction. This is a perfect story line that is written with immense detail. Crichton does a marvelous job of setting the scene and portraying the characters. He leaves great cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, urging the reader to continue. An example of Crichton building tension in his novel is “Nothing ever happened at night.” You now know something is going to happen but he gives no hints on what it could be. The rising action builds predictably to a heart-stopping conclusion. It is an intelligent and strongly plotted techno-thriller that is packed with suspense.
I would recommend this book to an audience that loves when authors combine fiction and non-fiction. Crichton's facts about all the scientific equipment and viruses are spot on - he even goes to the degree of using quotes from real-life professors and famous scientists as well as intricate diagrams to support his novel. This book is very technical and it wasn't uncommon for me to stop and look up definitions at least a couple of times a chapter. Here is an example of how Crichton writes his books. “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.” It is highly advanced and seems to be around a college reading level. After reading this book, the movie Interstellar came to mind. The novel and the newly released movie share many similarities, such as real life scientific equipment, extravagant equations and unsolved problems. If you are interested in a book that will not only keep you on the edge of your seat but also enhance your knowledge in subjects unknown to the masses, I strongly urge you to read "The Andromeda Strain".

The Andromeda Strain is the most exciting book i have ever read. I was a first time reader of Michael Crichton, but after reading this book I became a life time lover of his work. This is a great book to add to your collection or if you are a first time reader, it is a great book to start on. Michael uses a great mix of science and action to create the recipe for a great book that not many authors can match.

Perhaps this book has less of a high profile than the more science-oriented science fiction he writes, but I found that I enjoyed this more than any of the other Crichton books. It exceeds even his normally high standard of producing entertaining reading. Strong characterization combined with a wealth of historic detail make the book both compelling and engaging. Worth a go whether or not you're a Chrichton fan.

I've just started to love Michael Crichton so I picked up this book, mostly because it is a true story. I thought it was boring at times, but I learned a lot, The book was like a documentary/ fiction story. I thought the characters were described very well and I marvelled at how genius Edward Pierce was and cool through-out the entire book. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn a lot and are smart, if your not smart and hate or hated school then you probably won't like this book.

What a snooze-fest. I almost DNF-ed it, but I'm nothing if not persistent. There are only so many reports written in scientific jargon and government red-tape you can take before you give up trying to understand how it all fits together. The characters were basically non-existent so there was no real chance for development. However, the facility got a lot of page time and I think I know more about it than the main characters.

I listened to the audio version and the only thing more boring than reading the book is listening to David Morse drone on and on in the most monotone voice imaginable.

one word: WOW! I am a huge fan of Michael Crichton, and I'm only 13. I'm not a dorky brainer either. I just like the books. He puts things into simple terms. I've read: Congo (which was sooo boring), Jurrasic Park, Lost World, Sphere, and of course Andromeda Strain. I'll admit, it's not the best thriller, but I've read it 3 times already. If you want a book to read to keep you awake, read ANDROMEDA STRAIN

An awesome Sci-Fi novel that makes you truly wonder, what is the government keeping from us? Andromeda Strain is a book about a biological crisis when all the people in a quiet Arizona town are found dead in an unthinkable way. The cause: bacteria from space are found on a government satellite that landed near the town. It is now up to the secret society created in case an event like this occured, the Wildfire team.

I am a huge Crichton fan. This is the sixth book I've read by him and it is definetly, my favorite! It was thrilling, I finished it in about 3 days. It was so exciting, even if you have never read a book by Crichton before, this is a great start. Critchon has a special knack for keeping things exciting right up to the last few pages. When reading this book I had no doubt in my mind that these exact events had taken place.

The are only downsides to Androdeda Strain, one being that it is very graphic. Another being that the main charectars are in the same place for a large part of the book. These things did not bother me, nor did the fact that it does get a little technical, but I would have to say not as technical as some of his other novels.

~Enjoy!~

All of Crichton fictional books are great, (Sphere, Congo, Disclosure) and I am glad to say that I have read them all. The way Crichton combines facts and fiction always result in a masterpiece, this is why The Andromeda Strain is no exception since facts about bacteria and viruses combine with a fictional world of underground laboratories and secret agents. I give this book 5 stars and a two thumbs up!!

In order to read this book you either have to understand lots of science or be able to let things slide over your head, and accept them without understanding. This a story about a little town in Arizona called Piedmont. A satellite has fallen to the ground and it has brought a deadly organism to the town. A team called Wildfire is sent to collect samples and study them. Throughout this book, Wildfire is trying to find what the organism is composed of, and how to cure it or destroy it. This book is a really good one for science buffs and anyone that enjoys an interesting story. I don't suggest this book to anyone who doesn't like science or the study of life. I enjoyed this book a lot, but I enjoy a story more when it's about one person's conflicts in his life instead of a story with a bunch of people all with the same conflict. So make sure you know what kind of book you like because if you start this one and think it's terrible, you'll have to finish it anyways because you just have to know what happens.

Re-read after a (10-15?) year hiatus from my original reading. Crichton makes for a quick read and he throws out some compelling ideas in his prose. This one is a real page-turner. I enjoy the novel-as-historical-document style that he adopts here (and (if I recall correctly) in some of his other work) but it also colors the text a bit and makes for some awkward passages in places.

If you want a fun filled book with lots of action, then this is the book for you. The book is placed in Victorian London with the main characters Robert Edgar and Edward Pierce. The master minds behind the great train robbery. They are planning to do what no one has ever done before. On the way it takes some turns that you don't really under stand until the very end.

My favorite part of the story is when the main character Edward pierce is over at the train station manager's home trying to get the location of the 3rd key to the strong box. It is not as easy as it sounds.

The main idea of the book is to show you that any thing is possible if you try hard. I gave the book a 4 it was vary go and if you read it al then it is very rewarding.

A long-time favorite, The Andromeda Strain presents a believable scenario for first-contact with extra-terrestrial life. Not the intelligent, bipedal humanoids of most space opera, this life is microscopic - as we might well expect our first encounter with other life to be. Building on well-defined characters who struggle to agree with each other or even the value of the program that has confined them several stories underground, the book is filled with suspense and moves along at a quick pace.

Crichton has told a fabulous story about pulling of a fabulous crime. He mixture of historical narrative and story-telling is superb and made the novel a fascinating read. I actually learned something about 1850s England! Could be a text for a history class - or should be!

Another example of how Michael Crighton can make learning history fun. Well researched, the author brings you into the mind of master criminal Edward Pierce. The reader follows along as the theft of 12,000 pounds sterling is planned and executed from a secure payroll train bound for the Cremian War front. The story is reconstructed from actual court testimony of probably one of the best documented court cases in Brittish history. One thinks "Why would the master criminal Pierce be so brazen as to seal his own fate with such open boasting? But, the story does the reader one better by suprising you with the Master Criminal's escape from the clutches of the Law never to be seen again.

The Andromeda Strain is a fantastic book filled with scientific themes and drama. It was a book that increased my knowlede of the biological field. The book did not drag on like books from other authors. It just got to the main points and told an interesting tale of a virus that was unknown to human kind that we were not prepared for even though there were scientists that recomended that special facilities be built the facilitities just were not good enough. The cure for the virus was not hard to find even though the scientist could not find out the cure right away. They just overlooked a few facts that I am sure they would have found if they took there time like scientists should in a non emergency such as the case was because it was not spreading anywhere. I was not able to put the book down through all the excitment that was going on. I am sure that if Michael came out with another book even if it was along the same lines I would enjoy it.

Michael Crichton's account of the Great Train Robbery of 1855 reads more like a sociology textbook than a novel. He expounds at great length on many aspects of Victorian society. These mini-essays become tiresome after a while, and one begins to wonder about the scholarliness of Crichton's theories. From the standpoint of a novel, or at least historical fiction, the pacing is slow, the characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue (featuring supposedly authentic Victorian speech and dialect) is often unintelligible. Cricton employs the tactic of introducing an unfamiliar word in a brief scene and then going into textbook mode to explain the word's historical and societal implications. By then end of the book, I had come to resent Crichton's tone, which comes across as lecturing and talking down to the reader.

I have enjoyed all of Crichton's purely fictional writings, but "The Great Train Robbery" was not of interest to me.

I think this was one of Crichton's finest pieces to date. Unfortunately, this might be due to the fact that the original story was not his creation. If you look up the train robbery, a few names are switched around, but obviously Crichton does so to avoid some confusion that could arise in the story had he kept the original names. He does put the piece together well, and the story keeps you turning page after page in awe. A lot of blurbs on Victorian history are thrown in between paragraphs of plot, but they aren't as boring as a textbook would be, and they help you understand the culture surrounding the characters at that time. Crichton takes a lot of artistic license on the true, historical story, but he does it well, and the ending is one that every reader would root for. It's a book worthy of your bookshelf, at the very least.

An awesome Sci-Fi novel that makes you truly wonder, what is the government keeping from us? Andromeda Strain is a book about a biological crisis when all the people in a quiet Arizona town are found dead in an unthinkable way. The cause: bacteria from space are found on a government satellite that landed near the town. It is now up to the secret society created in case an event like this occured, the Wildfire team.

I am a huge Crichton fan. This is the sixth book I've read by him and it is definetly, my favorite! It was thrilling, I finished it in about 3 days. It was so exciting, even if you have never read a book by Crichton before, this is a great start. Critchon has a special knack for keeping things exciting right up to the last few pages. When reading this book I had no doubt in my mind that these exact events had taken place.

The are only downsides to Androdeda Strain, one being that it is very graphic. Another being that the main charectars are in the same place for a large part of the book. These things did not bother me, nor did the fact that it does get a little technical, but I would have to say not as technical as some of his other novels.

~Enjoy!~

All of Crichton fictional books are great, (Sphere, Congo, Disclosure) and I am glad to say that I have read them all. The way Crichton combines facts and fiction always result in a masterpiece, this is why The Andromeda Strain is no exception since facts about bacteria and viruses combine with a fictional world of underground laboratories and secret agents. I give this book 5 stars and a two thumbs up!!

In order to read this book you either have to understand lots of science or be able to let things slide over your head, and accept them without understanding. This a story about a little town in Arizona called Piedmont. A satellite has fallen to the ground and it has brought a deadly organism to the town. A team called Wildfire is sent to collect samples and study them. Throughout this book, Wildfire is trying to find what the organism is composed of, and how to cure it or destroy it. This book is a really good one for science buffs and anyone that enjoys an interesting story. I don't suggest this book to anyone who doesn't like science or the study of life. I enjoyed this book a lot, but I enjoy a story more when it's about one person's conflicts in his life instead of a story with a bunch of people all with the same conflict. So make sure you know what kind of book you like because if you start this one and think it's terrible, you'll have to finish it anyways because you just have to know what happens.

Re-read after a (10-15?) year hiatus from my original reading. Crichton makes for a quick read and he throws out some compelling ideas in his prose. This one is a real page-turner. I enjoy the novel-as-historical-document style that he adopts here (and (if I recall correctly) in some of his other work) but it also colors the text a bit and makes for some awkward passages in places.

If you want a fun filled book with lots of action, then this is the book for you. The book is placed in Victorian London with the main characters Robert Edgar and Edward Pierce. The master minds behind the great train robbery. They are planning to do what no one has ever done before. On the way it takes some turns that you don't really under stand until the very end.

My favorite part of the story is when the main character Edward pierce is over at the train station manager's home trying to get the location of the 3rd key to the strong box. It is not as easy as it sounds.

The main idea of the book is to show you that any thing is possible if you try hard. I gave the book a 4 it was vary go and if you read it al then it is very rewarding.

A long-time favorite, The Andromeda Strain presents a believable scenario for first-contact with extra-terrestrial life. Not the intelligent, bipedal humanoids of most space opera, this life is microscopic - as we might well expect our first encounter with other life to be. Building on well-defined characters who struggle to agree with each other or even the value of the program that has confined them several stories underground, the book is filled with suspense and moves along at a quick pace.

Crichton has told a fabulous story about pulling of a fabulous crime. He mixture of historical narrative and story-telling is superb and made the novel a fascinating read. I actually learned something about 1850s England! Could be a text for a history class - or should be!

Another example of how Michael Crighton can make learning history fun. Well researched, the author brings you into the mind of master criminal Edward Pierce. The reader follows along as the theft of 12,000 pounds sterling is planned and executed from a secure payroll train bound for the Cremian War front. The story is reconstructed from actual court testimony of probably one of the best documented court cases in Brittish history. One thinks "Why would the master criminal Pierce be so brazen as to seal his own fate with such open boasting? But, the story does the reader one better by suprising you with the Master Criminal's escape from the clutches of the Law never to be seen again.

The Andromeda Strain is a fantastic book filled with scientific themes and drama. It was a book that increased my knowlede of the biological field. The book did not drag on like books from other authors. It just got to the main points and told an interesting tale of a virus that was unknown to human kind that we were not prepared for even though there were scientists that recomended that special facilities be built the facilitities just were not good enough. The cure for the virus was not hard to find even though the scientist could not find out the cure right away. They just overlooked a few facts that I am sure they would have found if they took there time like scientists should in a non emergency such as the case was because it was not spreading anywhere. I was not able to put the book down through all the excitment that was going on. I am sure that if Michael came out with another book even if it was along the same lines I would enjoy it.

Michael Crichton's account of the Great Train Robbery of 1855 reads more like a sociology textbook than a novel. He expounds at great length on many aspects of Victorian society. These mini-essays become tiresome after a while, and one begins to wonder about the scholarliness of Crichton's theories. From the standpoint of a novel, or at least historical fiction, the pacing is slow, the characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue (featuring supposedly authentic Victorian speech and dialect) is often unintelligible. Cricton employs the tactic of introducing an unfamiliar word in a brief scene and then going into textbook mode to explain the word's historical and societal implications. By then end of the book, I had come to resent Crichton's tone, which comes across as lecturing and talking down to the reader.

I have enjoyed all of Crichton's purely fictional writings, but "The Great Train Robbery" was not of interest to me.

I think this was one of Crichton's finest pieces to date. Unfortunately, this might be due to the fact that the original story was not his creation. If you look up the train robbery, a few names are switched around, but obviously Crichton does so to avoid some confusion that could arise in the story had he kept the original names. He does put the piece together well, and the story keeps you turning page after page in awe. A lot of blurbs on Victorian history are thrown in between paragraphs of plot, but they aren't as boring as a textbook would be, and they help you understand the culture surrounding the characters at that time. Crichton takes a lot of artistic license on the true, historical story, but he does it well, and the ending is one that every reader would root for. It's a book worthy of your bookshelf, at the very least.

Well, I won't go into the details of the story (that's what your job is), but I'll give you my opinion. Crichton integrates a tremendous amount of medical/biological, and scientific knowledge, clearly influenced by his time at Harvard Medical School, and large amounts of research, with elements of fiction that mix so perfectly, it seems as if it's actually happened. His vivid descriptions of events, locations, and everything else appearing in the story set the scene beautifully, so you can visualize everything to the smallest detail. Overall, an amazing book, just as his other novels were, and follows Crichton's usual medical/scientific theme for a great read.

I haven't read a book by Michael Crichton that I haven't loved. I love the way that he writes, he always tells a good story, and you come away from any of his books knowing more than you did before [of a lot of things]....

I loved this book, assigned to me as an outside reading assignment. Aside from the great story, there is a large amount of techincal information. The plot twists, which many people loathed, added to the realism of the book. After all, every twist in real life does not lead somewhere. A must read for anyone who likes modern literature. The scarriest thing is that it could someday happen!!

The book The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a fascinating book that shows what could happen if a lethal alien pathogen is introduced to earth. I thought the book was very interesting, and was just the right mix of science (fact and fiction) and action. Although some parts of the book were a bit slow, there were many pages of what I would consider worthless military talk, I was hooked, and excited to see what was going to happen next through the entire book. What I did not like about the book is the ending; it was almost like it was to movie like, and it seemed like the entire book was getting you ready for the end, where there was the main climax, than suddenly everything was resolved. The pathogen from space mutated, stopped killing humans, and than harmlessly floated out of earth's atmosphere. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science, and has at least a small background in biology.

This was a good, quick read. The story was constantly moving forward and never dragged on. The only thing I didn't like was that you never sensed any real threat to the plan. It was all very ordinary. But still a good read and the main character, Pierce was perfect for this story.

The Andromeda Strain is a book that is worth reading. It is exciting and full of surprises. So exciting, in fact, that you might not even be able to put the book down once you have started. It takes extraterrestrial life into a new direction of exciting possibilities. It makes you wonder if what we have to worry about are the things we can't see. The Andromeda Strain has many strong points. It goes into great detail about the things that are going on throughout the story. It shows and tells how many of the machines and tools are used or their function. It has many interesting turns and unexpected events. Though the Andromeda Strain has many strengths, there are also some weak points too. Some of the beginning and a few other parts of the book are slow reading and quite boring. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy science-fiction. If you have read other books by Michael Crichton, then you will probably enjoy this book.

Andromeda Strain was an exciting story which combined unusual circumstances with a classic, thrilling ending to create a litereary masterpiece. The plot: four of the best scienctific minds must race to find the answer behind an unknown, unidentified organism that threatens to abolish human life as we know it. The setting: a satellite, Scoop IIV, crash lands in the small town of Piedmont, Arizona. The organism that the satellite brought down with it quickly spreads throughout the town, killing everyone but two. A crying child and an old man. The government calls into action Project WILDFIRE, who must figure out what is going on. What is this strange space organism? What really happened in Piedmont, Arizona? Why did the organism not infect the old man and the baby? For these answers and much, much more read Andromeda Strain by: Michael Crichton. A definite must read!

The book is the best of Michael Crichton's work. It follows Edward Pierce, a daring "gentleman" who plans to steal a valuble shipment of gold pay for british troops. This happens in Victorian era england, the same setting as Sherlock Holmes.

Crichton immerses you into the story with excellent description of the era- criminal slang and short asides on aspects of Victorian era culture richen the experience. Ocassional humor and irony keep interest high, it makes for a very fun book.

The plot never lags and builds to a suspenseful ending.

This book is perfect for anyone who has enjoyed any other Crichton books. 5 stars.

An educational book of mid-1800s in London. Filled with puzzles to solve and problems to tackle, the main character skillfully handles them. The author throws you into a novel of adroitness and intelligence of how a difficult flash pull can be done. Things that you will never have thought of!! Very well-written, and fast paced.

And I learned a lot of stuff about 19th century London from this book that I wouldn't have from a boring textbook!

Don't get me wrong.. The book was great, I didn't want to put it down, and it made me think. But, some of the parts were boring and were lagging on a bit (kind of like he was trying to take up space maybe). The ending was also pretty dissapointing, partially because it was somewhat predictable. But hey, buy the book, it will make you think twice about some things . . .

All in all, the book left me hungry for more details and deeper relations to the characters, a climax that was suspended or lengthened would have been nice, and an ending that didn't leave you feeling empty would have been much appreciated. Compared to Crichton's other works, this was a failed attempt to win millions of fans, but surely one that left you thinking. Instead of mesmerizing you chapter by chapter, he waits until you have completely finished the book, laid it down, and then he lingers in your head while you contemplate what just happened. If he wants you to remember this book, he should get five stars. If he wants you to like this book, two stars is the result!

This is my second reading of Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain", and it hasn't lost its luster. In fact I think this is the authors best work. A simple storyline: the bugs against humanity. And I found it as interesting, and suspenseful as the first time. However, like other authors I'm sorry to report Crichton's more recent books don't measure up to this classic.

I found this book fairly interesting and a quick read. It was about a new strain of bacteria from space which had the potential to cause a plague-like epidemic. However, even though I'm a scientist, I found that there was too much scientific detail at the expense of a more involved plot. I got the impression Crichton was trying to impress everyone with his knowledge of science, and it detracted from the story.

The story "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton is one of the best books I have ever read. It is about five prominent bioshysicists who give the U.S. government a very urgent warning. They tell them that sterilization procedures for returing space probes shouldn't be done because the probes might be contaminated. The government ignores the warning and continues with the dangerous project.
Two years later, another Project known as Scoop sent out 17 satelites to collect space dust and organisms for examination procedures. Tragically, one probes falls to Earth and unleashes a dealy alien virus. Peoples dead bodies are ending up everywhere, and they all have been victims of the deadly virus. It is a very convinceing story and will tempt you to not put the book the book down. It will give you nightmares. I would give it a five star rating.

I read this book for a book report several years ago. It definately kept my attention. It's a tough write, keeping a story going amidst a historical perspective, as this book does. But Crichton does a good job of accurately protraying the entire plot, front to end. A good read. I could have done without some of the sexual content but otherwise it was a recommendable book.

Michael Crichton really knows how to subliminally teach science to people. It's really easy. Place all kinds of facts in a wonderful book, and Voila.
This book covers many bases. It has a little sci-fi in it. A little top-secret, hush-hush stuff. Some mystery. A few parts of a thriller. All in a book that has become a must-read. If you are still reading this, and not out thier getting this book, you should be covered with the Andromeda Strain itself.
Now go get this book!

Crichton's writing skills are truly amazing. After you read other books written by this famous author, you will not believe that this book has been written by him. The reason that I say this, is because when I started reading the first few pages, I thought I had ordered the wrong book. With an old English writing style, you will be amazed at how he can use various different writing styles, and still produce a fantastic book.

The story is exciting in its own right, but Crichton takes it to a whole new level.

Aliens attacking your circulatory system? Oh it can happen! You just check out the Andromeda Strain and eat your heart out! Literally! I don't want to spoil it for you, but man, you better hope it doesn't happen. A mysterious outbreak of unexplainable deaths has occured in this small town in New Mexico in 1971. Wearing the tackiest bubbles, these Top Secret government officials go in to check out the scene. If I tell you what they saw, I'd prolly have to kill you. These scientists go through all of these decontaminization levels to rid themselves of this "alien" bacteria then they get to level five, WHOOOHOOO! I have to watch my words, but they all go scenile in the end, that'll catch your attention! The red lights go off! AAAHHH!It's an excellent story, but carry along a bag of chex mix--It's gonna be a loooonnnngggg riiiddeee.
Have fun! And rock on sci-fi channel!

The Andromeda Strain...the best fiction book I've ever read.

This book will have you on edge of your seat. What Crichton accomplished here is almost impossinble; he made technical description very interesting, and, easily understandable. The movie, while very good, cannot begin to approach the book. This is science fiction at its best; captivating story, suspensful anticipation, and heartpounding.

Joe Arrigo
Author of, The Secret Factor for Uncommon Sales Success

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a book that deals with a foreign bacterium that is brought to earth by a space probe, and then proceeds to kill many people. The book is very suspenseful and exciting ...for the most part. The book starts out with a bang, introducing many exciting themes and situations. Soon after though, the book tends to slow down, almost to a crawl. Sometimes there were parts in the book where he would spend six or seven pages just talking about scientific lingo that no one, unless you had a science major, would understand. This seems to be the common theme through out the book; he talks for a long time about science then throws a chapter of pure action and suspense for a chapter, but then its back to the science. I personally found this to be quite annoying. I also found the ending to be a total let down, It was very uneventful and it seemed as if he had to find a way to end the book quickly, other than that I found the rest of the book to be fairly interesting. Overall I would give this a 6/10, it was a decent read and was fairly exciting, but it had some flaws.

THis book shows how easy a robbery of this nature can be pulled off and how long it takes to plan for something like that. The story was very well written and the extra detail given only enhanced the mood and suspense of the book. The details of Victorian England were seemingly spot on (having never lived in Victorian London), especially down to the fact that they were always on the look out for new and needless inventions and their morbid fear of being buried alive. This book can be read by anyone wishing to escape their lives and live a life in Victorian London watching a master criminal at work. This book also shows that the ideas of the time, that was only the poor that commited crimes was wrong, Edward Pierce was seemingly a gentleman and he went out of his was to see that no one knew who he really was.

I read this book years ago and it has to be be one of the best books I have ever read. In all, I have read about 400 books in my lifetime and this has got to be in the top 5. It moves along at a good clip and never boring. If you like true adventure, this book is for you.

I really think this one one of my favorite Crichton books, maybe because it is scary how easily something like this can happen. i enjoyed the characters and the flaws that are a part of each of us that make them believable.

The Andromeda Strain was the first novel by Michael Crichton I ever read, I picked it up on a whim when I was in 6th Grade. I'll be the first to admit that it is not Crichton's best work, it is short and lacks depth in both characterization and plot. That said, I still loved it when I read it the first time, and continue to love it to this day. The author's medical background provides an authentic weight to the novel that makes up for the lack of deep characters in my opinion. This is even more true for me now, as a college student with some formal biology courses under my belt, I understand the plot much better than I did when I was a teen.

As a college student, I have very little time for extra-curricular pleasures such as reading. Luckly, this book was a VERY fast read (once you get past the initial chapters) and it kept my interest the whole way through. I read the last 40 pages in a half hour. I was crusing! The climax was pretty good, I've read better, but very nice. I recommend it.

Since passing on the book as a teenager, I decided to read it now 20 years later. It's completely believable!!! It still makes your skin creep with its "real-life, documentary style", creation of personality in each character, even the expected? unexpected? mutation of the strain. It was a great book in those years, and IS a great book these years. A mark of a truly ACCOMPLISHED writer who knows the issues he writes about and creates a world real and unreal at the same time.

A very enjoyable read that keeps you captivated and thirsting for more. The fact that it is based on a true story just makes it all that much more interesting to me. I am very stingy with my stars, and for me a 4 star review is a high mark indeed.

Michael Crichton is my favorite author, and this book shows his ability to write a very good book without a lot of action and blood. This Book misleads you and many places, (E.g., you think the man in the white robe, Peter Jackson, killed the men retrieving the space probe)and eventually leads up to a good yet unsatisfying ending. Crichton also does a good job explaining some of the terms he uses. He also lets the reader know about things the characters don't, like that Leavitt is epileptic, and that Burton made a big mistake when he forgot to autopsy the anticoagulated black norway rats. Overall, this is a great book, although a little more action would be nice.

Andromeda Strain grips from the first sentence and does not let go. Crichton lets you the reader know the same things as the main characters, and it is a mystery to the reader just as much to the scientists of the book what killed an entire rural town in one night. The book takes place over a four day period and it only took me 2 days to read it. The book is that quick and good of a read. I don't want to give away what happens but i was just a little disappointed by the end, but it made sense. I really enjoyed this book and i think that it isvery entertaining.

Crichton's earlier stuff really was cutting-edge, excitement. Lately, however he's become an industry-a good one too. Another doc author out of australia, richard greenwald is really hot and brings an indiana jonesish spin to his thrillers- his books are hard to get in the us-but well worth it - the spear of golgotha is really a great book

Crichton's earlier stuff really was cutting-edge, excitement. Lately, however he's become an industry-a good one too. Another doc author out of australia, richard greenwald is really hot and brings an indiana jonesish spin to his thrillers- his books are hard to get in the us-but well worth it - the spear of golgotha is really a great book

I read this book for a school report in which I had to read a book by an American author. When I checked it out from the library, I didn't think I'd have much fun reading it, because I don't like reading very much. However, when I did read it, I became so interested in it I read all three hundred pages in only four days. The book was that interesting. The only fault of the book was that it used some words that the average person wouldn't know. I knew them only because I had recently been through a biology class. The author of this book is great, having written many books, including the first two Jurassic Park books, and directing a few movies. Anyways, I like the way he writes because he doesn't use too many words to describe one thing, and makes the book pretty easy to understand. Also, he uses the omnipotent style of third person writing, which is my personal favorite. So, if you're looking for a good thriller with a little irony in it, and have a pretty big vocabulary, at least in biology, then this is a great book for you.

The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton is a potential masterpiece but left me with much disapointment. The plot is about a group of scientists that gather in a maximum security research facility to deal with the problems that arise after a lethal virus kills the inhabitants of a small town. At the time this suspense thriller was written in 1969, none knew years later that a similar outbreak would occur of the Ebola virus years later. In what some scientists hail as a prophetic work of fiction, I was not so enthusiastic. Reading the book I struggled somewhat with the medical jargon and detailed images of binary code which were skimmed circumspectly. Plot twists occured but often any sign of creativity by the author was overshadowed by his scientific knowledge. As short as the book already is (283 pages) it could be condensed to a novella by taking out the filler present within much of the book. A general response to sum up this review would be of dissapointment because the book begins to build up an interesting plot but falls short of the goal. I would recommend this book to anyone who holds an appreciation for science and the unknown but not to those who are looking for excitement.

When I read words from Michael Crichton, I can visualize them all. I imagine visually the entire story. His stories are technical and flowing. This book is highly recommended. I won't bother to tell you about the book because you should read without knowing to make it more exciting. This book is for techincal thinkers who can visualize.

Despite my age of 12, The Andromeda Strain has been the best book I've ever read. Non-stop reading that will make your mind go into a fantasy world. "Science action" throughout the book. There is not a chapter that will bore you. Read The Andromeda Strain... it's the best. Also, see the corny movie for a few chuckles. :o)

In the 28th chapter " the finishing touch " Mr crichton talks about panar man eater being a topic of discussion in naini-tal near burmese border in 1855 . he got his facts wrong ... Panar man eater appeared in somewhere around 1900 and was killed by jim corbett in 1909 and naini tal is near the nepalese border . it is strange that a guy like crichton who is knowledgeable could also muck up his facts. i wish somebody could bring this to his notice comments are welcome at [email protected]

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is an interesting look into the world of science. Under the code name Scoop the govern ment sends a satallite into outer space to collect unknown organisms. The government thinks while in orbit the satallite hit a meteor, and crashed land in Piedmont, Arizona. When they send a team to recover the capsule they find everyone dead except an infant and a sixty-seven year old man.
The government created a high tech lab for such things as Scoop called Wildfire. They also got together the best scientists and doctors in the U.S. Once the team isolated the organism they gave it the name the andromeda strain. One day during testing one of the doctors became contaminated when his rubber suit was eaten throught by the virus. The team found out that the virus had mutated and that is why the doctor hadn't instantly died. But the government had installed a self-detonating bomb to go off three minutes after contamination, which meant the one team memeber with the key had to stop the bomb. I would definintely recomend this book because it is great for all people, and is easy to understand because the author details everything perfectly. This book is a classic and will be popular for a long time, READ IT.

This is an oldie but a goodie, and now with MERS in Korea and Ebola in Africa, it is even more topical. This is the second time I have read the book, and I think I enjoyed it more now than the first time.The author has made millions form his work, but it is deserved. He has a way with words and draws the reader inside.

The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton, is a book about four scientists struggling to understand an extraterrestrial virus that literally kills in seconds. This book is extremely interesting and scientifically in depth. If you are a science enthusiast, you will love this book. I liked the book, but there were some things that I would have changed. There was a lot of background information during the book explaining why certain events happened. This information seemed too much and the novel could have been much more interesting if some of it was removed. Like I said, people who are interested in the science background would definitely like this book. Anybody who didn't take biology in high school wouldn't understand the basics of the virus in the story. If I were to change anything about this book, I would remove some of the background information and unnecessary events in the story. Overall, it has a good storyline and makes complete sense at the end of the book.

The Andromeda Strain is a story about a virus that was exposed to a small town in Arizona, Piedmont. Piedmont was a desolate ton to begin with, and only got worse after a strange and unknown virus took the lives of all the citizens, save two. This is when the story begins to get juicy. These two survivors, a small child and an old man, are then transferred to a maximum security laboratory in Nevada. From here a team of scientists work toward investigating the virus.

As I was reading I often became confused and sidetracked, in particular in the beginning, when Michael Crichton explained the background information on the team of scientists. That section was not especially necessary and somewhat useless. However, quickly I came to find that the book would take a turn for the best when the plot became exciting and interesting. The story in roughly the fifth and sixth chapters became interesting when the team of scientists were sent to work on the case in Nevada. If I were to recommend this novel, I would recommend this book to science fiction fanatics and people interested in a virology or bacteriology field. I, personally am not much of a science person but I too was entertained and enthralled all the way throughout. I wouldn't change much except the scientific terminology. Overall, I felt the book was very good and it maintained my attention throughout the entire book.

I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to think I should just quit reading Crichton's books. "Prey" was OK; "State of Fear" was pretty dreadful. Thankfully, those and this book are the only ones I've read so far. I'm not even going to touch "Next," from what I've heard. I picked up this early book of his, hoping maybe it'd be different. But no -- it's the same old cardboard characters whose quirks are told to us rather than shown (did he never attend even one writing workshop?). The same old making science into an image that fits the plot, bending facts at will and just making some up (eg, having the guys swim open-eyed through some mysterious disinfectant, like that's going to get all the bacteria...). The same old blunt-force foreshadowing. The same old lecturing and moralizing. Ugh. The one saving grace was that it was a fast read.

The Andromeda Strain is a very suspenseful book about a pathogen that invades a section of the Untied States. I liked the book because the author makes sure to make the book seem real. The book has a large number of charts that either describe or elaborate the text. This makes the book all that much more real and interesting to read. When there is a chart the author always makes sure that there is also an explanation of the chart. The one thing that I think that I would change is how the book starts. The beginning is very slow but as soon as you get into the middle of the book the pace picks up a lot. The people that would enjoy this book the most are those that read science fiction and are old enough to understand basics in both mathematics and science.

Michael Chrichton has done an excellent job in making this scientific thriller a modern day masterpiece. Although the story was written thirty years ago, It still holds true to what could happen today using equipment that most of us are familiar to, thanks to high school biology. If you are looking for a fast paced, on the edge of your seat thriller, don't expect to get it here. The Andromeda strain is more of a psychological thriller, right down to computer printouts, and the bibliography to the end, leaving you in a state of mind of "wow, this could really happen." Chriton masterfully executes even the small aspects of the story. I was particularlly fasinated with the drug Kalocin, inveted for the story. This book isn't just a story, but a work of art. Make this your next read.

Well, the first 150 pages ruled, then it got dull. Mr. Chrichton seemed to forget what he was doing, and tried to "fill space". I actually wet myself in the first 100 pages it was so intense. But something was missing from the second half. I recomend it. But don't expect the most emmaculate of endings.

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a book about a virus that has never been heard of. Mr. stone is investigating the death of a small town. The town was an ordinary town before the virus hit. Mr. stone needed help so he got it from a man named Mr. Hall. Fortunately there were two survivors in the toen that lived through the virus. Mr. Stone and Mr. Hall were able to do tests on them. Mr. Stone started a top-secret program called wildfire. This program was designed to make a vaccine for the virus. Whenever they got real close to finding an solution they would always find a problem. They could not find a relationship between the 65-year old man and a baby. They looked everywhere. They thought of everything that they could think of. They kept running into the same thing. Mr. Hall was convinced that there was a relationship that wouldput all the pieces together. They kept going back to the same thing. The were convinced that there was something to do with the old man's ulcer. Eventually they found out that the mysterious germ could live with no protein. They could not believe this descovery because there was nothing else known that could run with no proteins. They also concluded that the virus started at teh lungs and then would clot the blood so the person would suffocate. Throught the whole book they kept thinking otf the most complex answer but it was right beneath their nose.

I enjoyed the book. It really showed me how it felt to live in the victorian days. I liked the way the characters pierce got all the people he needed to pull the robbery off. It really showed Pierce as a person of many alliuses and disguises. The book was enjoyable because of the fact that it made you antisipate if they were going to get caught or get away with it. Pierce is portraid as sharp and as quick as a snake. It is a book of action, adventure, and laughs. It provides a great story with amazing victorian age history. The book shows how the thieves thought, acted, and did at that time. I would recomend this book to any reader who likes a story that they can get into and feel as if they are there. I know I enjoyed the book and I hope you will read it.

The Great Train Robbery was recommended to me by a friend who read the book (I was reading all of Crichton's books anyway, so I decided to put the others on hold and read this first) and I positively loved it! It was wonderfully written, and the story was magnificent! Although it is not Crichton's best (Sphere, Jurassic Park) it definately deserves the 9 I gave it.

This isn't my first Michael Crichton book, but i think it's the best. I've read Jurassic Park, and the Lost World before this, and they were fairly good. But this book topped both of them. It was assigned summer reading for me this year, and i thought, "Oh great, another boring book that i have to read." But when i started reading it, I found myself reading for 2 hours just striving to complete the next chapter.(I'm a slow reader) The words that he uses are sometimes hard to read, and i pulled out a dictionary for all the ones that i couldn't figure out. I don't really like reading books, but this book has changed my mind on reading. It was so suspenseful in the end that i found i chewed my fingernails down to stubs when i finished reading. Anyone who loves suspense will be over powered by the amount of it generated by this book.

I'll admit it right from the start, I prefer the science in my science fiction to be lighter. Yet, there have been writers who can combine great characters, intriguing situations and hard science. Michael Crichton isn't one of these. A classic worth reading but unless you are very into medical mystery, perhaps not worth buying.

I am an avid Crichton fan and have read every novel he has written. This was his first Novel and I did find it good, but not as good as his newer ones. It is a very interesting subject, but there are points in the novel that seem to drag on a bit to long. I would suggest getting it and reading it, but dont expect to be hooked page to page.

Michael Crichton does his magic again in this spine tingling tale of an alien virus brought to Earth by a sattelitte. It helps us to realize and fear our own fraility and inability to adapt to new diseases. Once you pick this book up, you WON'T put it down! This is truley a new Classic in the Sci-Fi genre

This novel is written incredibly well, and leaves you knowing just what happened. The clever plotting of the characters and Crichton is incredible, and the way that everything seems so natural makes this book such an easy reader. Once again, Crichton's research shows in this book, from the amount of knowledge portrayed on topics from lockpicking to nobility. I read it a few times over, just to imagine it all over. The book is descriptive enough to be imagined as a movie.

The book puts you in the place of the scientists. That also gets the reader to wondering what is going to happen next. The book is a good book for people that are into suspense novels. It also gives an accuret account of what happens during those five days of the biological battle with andromeda.

a problem is the absence of common sense. There is a happy ending because the virus or whatever it was, mutated into something benign. But as my father pointed out a long time ago, so what if one of many many individuals of a certain species of virus mutates into something nicer? It does nothing to lessen the virulence of the vast majority of that species. If the original virulent strain burned itself out by killing all its hosts and then was successfully quarantined, that would make a sensible almost happy ending.
If you want good "hard" science fiction with a human element, try early Heinlein instead.(pre 1963)

An amazing book. I could recommend this book to Michael Crichton fans or any science fiction fan. Crichton does a wonderful job explaining technical scientific information so anyone can understand what is going on. I loved this book and if you want an excitind and suspenseful read, you shoud do the same. And for some extra information, the movie based on this book isn't that great at all. Maybe if they mae a remake of it.

This book really caught me all throughout the book until the end. It was a shocker. It was unexpected. It was a weak ending! I really couldn't see why Crichton just had to do that... You'll know what i'm talking about when you read it for yourself. But you'll be dissappointed in the end because until the end your predictions of the ending will be nothing more than a great exageration of the actual ending.
It's great and all but if you only like books with great endings this is not your book. Otherwise it's Excellent!

I read this when I was 16 and this book sealed my fate as a scientist. I loved the deductive reasoning applied to a science mystery. As a physician. I apply this every day. This book was the seed that sparked my professional life.

The Andromeda Strain was a thrilling book. I cringed at the descriptions of the dead bodies. I couldn't breathe when it reached a peak of suspense. I stayed up half the night, not wanting to put it down. This, like all of Crichton's books, was a page-turner and excitement to the extreme

Normally, I have come to like most Crichton books that i have read. However, this book was sort of disappointing to me. Dont get me wrong his almost trademarked used of suspense make this another thriller but the ending to the book just did not work for me. I felt as if he had this create build up to a what would be a huge climax to the book but then put in a twist ending and called it a day.

Trust me, crichton has done better.

The Andromeda Strain is an amazing book. The characters are likable and the story is enthralling. I couldn't put this book down!

A great read, in my opinion, his finest work.
If you're new to Crichton, this is a MUST!

**** SPOILER ******
The only thing I did not like was the ending of the book. The way the strain had just died due to an unknown reason... I felt like it was a cop-out, I felt cheated. The entire book was so amazing, and it just kind of ended, but then again, I'm no writer, so I really shouldn't be complaining.
**** END SPOILER ****

Once again, his finest work, and is a MUST read!

Enjoy!

You might think when you first start reading this that it is a boring history lesson. Your wrong! Michael Crichton is the master of turning a history lesson into a action packed book that is non-fiction. This is a must have for Michael Crichton fans and anyone who likes a good read.

The book kept me interested. The best part of the book was that it was not far-fetched and that Michael wrote this book about 25 years before diseases like the ebola virus where in the news. Michael Crichton is an excellent writer! He know how to make an ordinary story amazing!

I read "The Great Train Robbery" when it fist appeared in paperback. The balance of his books don't measure up to this one. I'm going to get "Nano" from the public library in hard cover out of curiosity.

The way the story was told was refreshing as it was unlike most other modern fictions. I also enjoyed how the author explained the life style and culture of Victorian London to provide background information for the story. It made the book easier to understand and more enjoyable to read.

This book is endlessly fascinating, and surely more educational than most novels of a similar type. But if you've gotten used to Crichton's dinosaurs, aliens, and diseases, you may find yourself wondering where the thrills went this time. The pacing is very deliberate, almost as if you had picked up an entertaining textbook rather than a novel. In the end, it's hard to find anything wrong with this book; I give it four stars rather than five only in contrast to his other stories. Highly recommended in any case.

The Andromeda Strain is an exciting and tantalizing book by Michael Chrichton. The idea that a foreign organism from space could do so much damage is entirely possible. Especialy since recently they have descovered bacteria on Mars!
This book will keep your interest!

This is an excellant book about all that scientific stuff. This is the best book i have ever read that doesnt have any human or animals for bad guys. Andromeda Strian is put together well and is one of his best. It starts out pretty slow but it picks up towards the end.

I read this book every other year or so for a reason. It's my comfort book, one I can truly get lost in while reading. The chapters are short and sweet, right to detail, filled with substance. I wish I could find a similar read to enjoy as much as this. It's the one on my shelf that has seen its fair share of use, a real gem.

Even though it was a summer reading book assigned for school, I was excited to read this after reading the enthralling reviews online. Now after reading it I can say that not only was it a huge disappointment, it was quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. Take "Jurassic Park" (another book by this author), shrink it down to the biological scale, and give it the most disappointing and least energetic ending possible. The book is loaded with meaningless outdated pseudo-science, flat characters and brief encounters with exciting events unrelated to the actual plot. It is in my opinion a bad turn in a book when characters start having seizures simply to add a lively turn to the monotony of the current sequence of events. Any thrill the reader may have for the solution to the problem itself will be firmly beaten down by the ending of this book. Since the events themselves are simply not exciting, the author's attempts to make them seem like action-movie material fail utterly.

I found this book to be ponderous and quite a bit less than the thriller it is touted to be. Although it was apparent the entire saga was going to take place in short period of time, I was never drawn to the "Oh my gosh, they better hurry!" that I'm sure was intended. The ending was somewhat anticlimatic, and the processess kind of outdated. I don't know: Maybe I should have read it when it came out and I was in High School... Definitely not Chrichton at his best.

The Andromeda Strain comes across as a book that should be an on the edge of your seat, nail biter type of read. This was my misconception. The book is actually very information and a little bit interesting for scientifically gifted people. Most of the book uses many techinical and scientific terms I was not familiar with, but I could catch on. The last part of the story really carries the weight of the entire book. There is not much progress in about the first fifteen chapters of the book, but near the end it picks up and the plot thickens, making a person nibble, not bite their nails. Overall I found the book to be satisfactory, but not a best-seller in my humble opinion.

The Andromeda Strain had great potential, but does not exploit it. The book's action is thinnly widespread, and the technical and scientific terms are a nightmare to read if you don't know them. On the good side, the virus was great, and so were the descriptions.

I thought that The Great Train Robbery was very interesting. Michael Crichton really captured the Victorian atmosphere. His use of slang vocabulary added more flavor. I greatly enjoyed reading about the foibles of genteel robber and I recomend this book to all.

The book was good no doubt.The only thing which I would like to comment on is the language used in the book.The language was of the typical Victorian era with all the slangs and jargons which sometimes made me very dirricult to understand.This may be due to the fact that I am from India.But overall I liked the book very much because it not only told a real life daredevil story but also lots about the Victorian era and about old England and its culture.I would like to request you to please tell me more about the main pratogonist ie:Edward Pierce.This is because I find his character very interesting.
thank you kunal

This was a good book I believe. However the thing that bothered me the most was the ending. It almost seemed as though Crichton got bored with writing it and cooked up some ending to get it out the door. Otherwise, it was entertaing and I would recommend it to anyone.

The great train robbery is a great book about well a u train robbery. A group of men in 19 century England that are bent on robbing alone of the most heavily guarded shipments of gold in the country, and they will do anything to get it. The whole book is not just the fast action read that the train robbery part is but also the exiting buildup to the robbery. I liked this book because of all the things these men do to complete the goal of the great train robbery. If you would like an interesting story about a group of people getting what they want and doing whatever is Necessary to get there, then you will like this book.