Congo

by Michael Crichton

In fact, Africa is called the Dark Continent for one reason only: the vast equatorial rain forests of its central region.

parasitic orchids sprouted from the trunks.

Porters could generally be counted on to invoke some local superstition to increase their wages, once an expedition was deep enough into the field to be dependent on them.

ERTS dealt in information, and as R. B. Travis, the head of ERTS, was fond of saying, the easiest way to obtain information was to steal it.

just the Landsat imagery alone amounted to more than five hundred thousand pictures, and sixteen new images were acquired every hour, around the clock.

Funny how, in today's terms, that does't seem like very much.

“I’m leading the next team.” Travis shook his head. “Out of the question.” “But what about this?” she said, pointing to the screen. “I’m not buying that image,”

Oh, yeah, this is before a female math prodigy would have simpy said, "Fuck you," and found a way better job.

Accounts, Diplo, Remote, Geo, Logistics, Legal.

Because, with accounting, legal, logistics - yawn - boy needs his best DJ, Diplo.

Language studies with dolphins and apes made it clear that these animals were not only intelligent but self-aware; they recognized themselves in mirrors and photographs.

In February, 1977, there was a case involving a dolphin named Mary, released by a lab technician into the open ocean. The University of Hawaii prosecuted the technician, charging loss of a valuable research animal. Two trials resulted in hung juries; the case was dropped.

But by 1990 there will be ‘close of business’ data—an executive can call us in the morning for information anywhere in the world, and have a complete report transmitted by computer to his desk before close of business that evening, say ten to twelve hours.”

You have no idea

It was farther across Africa from Tangier to Nairobi than it was across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to London

experts anticipated that by 1990 there would actually be one billion computers—most of them linked by communications networks to other computers. Such networks didn’t exist, and might even be theoretically impossible.

Whaaat?!!!

People were denied movement in the 1970s; but they will be denied information in the 1980s, and it remains to be seen which shortage will prove more frustrating.”

Hahha

Even further, Rumbaugh anticipated that within ten years electricity itself would become obsolete.

Regular Nostradaus.

“Are you married or do you live in Kenya?”

Claaaaaassic

Ross’s computer had a 189K memory and

!

The rain forests of the world had circled the equator in a green belt for at least sixty million years—but man would have cleared them within twenty years.

Not quite

He went rigid and there was this terrible smell as his whole body burst into flame, and he fell to the ground. Munro rolled on him to put out the fire but he was dead, and we ran on.

That death was predictable, because the African characters are treated as expendable clichés by this author.