What's a good Michael Crichton book to start with?

[Lisa]

Amazingly I've never read anything by Michael Creighton. Can anyone recommend a good one to start with? I like books that are thoughtful, well-written, not too violent (or not graphic anyway - I do love mysteries, which tend to be violent no matter what!). Thanks!

[Cary]

Jurassic Park is the only one of his books I ever read. I have always had a thing about dinosaurs. As always the book is better than the movie.

[Lacy]

My mom really liked Next:

[Lisa]

Thanks Cary and Lacy. I had forgotten that Jurassic Park was a Crichton book. If it's better than the movie, I'll check it out!

[Michael]

A couple of his lesser known ones are also very good, Airframe and State of Fear. My favorite though is probably Timeline.

[Lisa]

Timeline looks great. I love time travel stories if they're done well. It looks a bit (at first glance) like Doomsday Book, but hopefully better written (the writer of Doomsday had a style that was irksome to me). Will check it out, thanks.

[Joe]

Jurassic Park...much better than the movie and I thought the movie was VERY good. Pirate Latitudes is also very good. This was his the first book published after he passed away. Timeline is the next one I will read.

[sonya]

Andromeda Strain

[Lisa]

great! Actually, sounds like a can't go wrong! I think I'll start with Timeline though, and then try JP. And yes, was reading how Pirate Latitudes was found on his computer after he died. It sounds like he was a really interesting person.

[Mia]

Timeline's my favorite of Crichton's work. Definitely a good one to start with.

[Lisa]

Great to have the confirmation Mia! I just ordered it from the library.

[Larry]

Thanks for the great comments I am reading here!

[stormhawk]

I love Michael Crichton's books and have read quite a few (although, frankly, not all of them).

My favorites are The Terminal Man and The Andromeda Strain, but neither of them is my MOST favorite ... that honor goes to a simple medical mystery that he wrote while still practicing medicine, consequently it was published under a pseudonym and I didn't find out it was a Crichton book until many years later. It is A Case of Need and was published under the name Jeffrey Hudson. I don't know how effective of a mystery it is these days, I mean the mystery is still good, but one of the plot elements stems from the pre-Roe v. Wade days, and will seem odd to today's younger readers.

I've enjoyed other books of his, including Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922, Five Patients, and of course, Jurassic Park.

I did not like Sphere or Timeline, although I do know that a lot of people enjoyed them.

[Lori Tatar]

I really liked "Pirate Latitudes" and "Prey"...among others, of course.

[Lisa]

I've started Timeline and so far like it a lot! Though the plot has hardly gotten rolling--I'm just 'meeting' the owner of ITC who's a sort of genius monster boss from hell. I'm just reeling with relief that he writes so well and so intelligently. The book I had to finish before getting to this one was dreadful, so it's a 'palate cleanser' if nothing else! But I think I'm going to like it - I love love love history and time travel (if done well). I used to do 'hard science' research and am a doctor, so lets see how that aspect 'vets'!

[Lisa]

Oh and Stormhawk, A Case of Need sounds interesting. I'll check it out at some point.

[Lisa]

Jurassic Park is probably next, I think! Will check out Airframe as well. Thanks all for the recs. I'm really liking his style so far!

[Lisa]

I'm 120 pages into Timeline and loving it! That bit where they excavate a manuscript and says in Johnston's writing "help me" Gave me chills! Thanks all for the recs.

[Karen M]

I enjoyed The Terminal Man, Jurassic Park and Disclosure but I loved Congo.

[Anne]

Hi all. Congo was the first Micheal Crichton book I read and I loved it.

[Lisa]

Will check these out too. I'm love'in him! Timeline is one of those where you read at a bit at bedtime and can't put it down till 2AM!

[Lori Tatar]

Lacy wrote: "My mom really liked Next: "

Yeah, "Next" is really good, too.

[Cindy]

Love them all. But I couldn't put State of Fear and Next down, perhaps because of their relevance with hot button topics in the news. Also loved Jurassic Park and Lost World...loved the movies but as always the books are better and you'll find bits from all three movies spread the two...it's fun to pick out how they came up with the script for the third. Also, Congo and Airframe. Enjoy!

[Amanda]

I have only read Jurassic Park. It was a very good book.

[Anne]

His books are really good reads.

[Carolyn F.]

I agree with Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain both were great.

[Lisa]

I read Timeline and had mixed feelings about it. I love the way Michael Crichton integrates science and story, and he really does know a lot about science. And love that he loves history and seemed to do a lot of research - I really got a sense of the 14th century. But the story was just go go go without a lot of development or realism in terms of characters, so it ended up feeling more adventure comic book to me. I'm not sure if all his stuff is like that.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

My fiances favorite author, so we have a few of his books but I haven't read him yet much. I did read Sphere and it was identical to the movie pretty much, enjoyed both. His favorite is Andromeda Strain

I read terminal man - good to try because it's short and you can get a feel for the author fast

[L.Y.]

Jurassic Park and Lost World. I'm a little pokey about the language (lol) but the books were good enough for me to like anyway. I also enjoyed Sphere, and Prey. Prey was the first one of his I'd read that he wrote in first-person. Very interesting.