Beat the Backlist: The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Do you know how many times I've spelled "Crichton" wrong when trying to help library patrons find his books? Turns out it's a big deal if you put the H before the R, as far as finding his books on the shelves goes.
Today, I'll be talking at you about one of the great pieces of thriller/science fiction literature, The Andromeda Strain. And how, uh... I thought it was maybe a little bit boring??
I really enjoy Crichton's work. He's fast paced, he has a tendency to write tropes I really like (including this one - killer alien plague that threatens to wipe out all of humanity? I'll take two.) He's very edge of your seat, and seems to get the science at least in the ballpark. (I say seems because I don't know a photon from a hole in the ground, and wouldn't know to start fact checking if I wanted to.)
To that end, I will say that I found the initial people dying horribly bits super interesting. The whole premise was interesting! It was very full of tense moments. But it was also full of science-y talk, which to some people would be great, but to me was not. I had to wade through the science to get to my juicy bits a.k.a possible mass extinction. I won't say this was a bad book, even though I'm giving it 3 stars. It was a good book! It's on every apocalyptic reads list ever put together, including my own.
Definitely check this one out if you enjoy science, people bleeding from orifices, talk of aliens, or tense moments in highly contagious laboratories.
Three stars for a rollicking good time that just happened to be not my rollicking good time.
Yours in disease fanaticism,
Lady Peekabo
Today, I'll be talking at you about one of the great pieces of thriller/science fiction literature, The Andromeda Strain. And how, uh... I thought it was maybe a little bit boring??I really enjoy Crichton's work. He's fast paced, he has a tendency to write tropes I really like (including this one - killer alien plague that threatens to wipe out all of humanity? I'll take two.) He's very edge of your seat, and seems to get the science at least in the ballpark. (I say seems because I don't know a photon from a hole in the ground, and wouldn't know to start fact checking if I wanted to.)
To that end, I will say that I found the initial people dying horribly bits super interesting. The whole premise was interesting! It was very full of tense moments. But it was also full of science-y talk, which to some people would be great, but to me was not. I had to wade through the science to get to my juicy bits a.k.a possible mass extinction. I won't say this was a bad book, even though I'm giving it 3 stars. It was a good book! It's on every apocalyptic reads list ever put together, including my own.
Definitely check this one out if you enjoy science, people bleeding from orifices, talk of aliens, or tense moments in highly contagious laboratories.
Three stars for a rollicking good time that just happened to be not my rollicking good time.
Yours in disease fanaticism,
Lady Peekabo
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