The Andromeda Strain

by Michael Crichton

crisis is a situation in which a previously tolerable set of circumstances is suddenly, by the addition of another factor, rendered wholly intolerable. Whether the additional factor is political, economic, or scientific hardly matters:

A crisis is made by men, who enter into the crisis with their own prejudices, propensities, and predispositions. A crisis is the sum of intuition and blind spots, a blend of facts noted and facts ignored.

A characteristic of all crises is their predictability, in retrospect.

Whenever people around him became excited, Manchek seemed to grow more disinterested, until he appeared about to fall asleep. It was a trick he had for remaining totally objective and clear-headed.

May God have mercy on my soul and upon those who have shown mercy to me. To hell with the others. Amen.”

Perhaps the human brain had become a kind of dinosaur for man and perhaps, in the end, would prove his downfall.