Novelists have always loved artists, and artists have always loved novelists. They love and admire the other's talent, but--most important--they are not competitors. Crichton's love of Johns' work certainly comes forth, and Johns' seemed flattered that a best-selling novelist, and not an art professor, wanted to do a book on him. That mutual admiration underlies why this is such a solid book.

The author well restrained himself from "digging into the painful childhood" that produced such an unusually remote "negator of impulses." He brought out the positive aspects of Johns personality--his ability to laugh at himself and not always to take himself too seriously. "His work is a constant negation of impulses" said the critic..."wouldn't you say so Jasper?" "NO" says Jasper, laughing. Jasper can laugh. That is nice. The author respected his need for privacy in his personal life. He presented a very difficult, complex personality with dignity, humor, and good taste.

Jasper Johns is a very large, and expensive book. It has many illestrations, and lots of commentary. This is a Crichton that has faded into the background, and in some cases can be very hard to find.

This is the way that real comedies should be written, acted, and directed. Who knew that this farce came from the founding fathers of Monty Phython. A true comic smash filled with breakthorugh performances especially from the talented Kevin Kline who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor! You should see it!

Micheal Crichton's Jurassic Park is a great piece of writing. In Jurassic Park, an imaginative tale is told about dinosaurs being genetically engineered. A rich old man uses DNA from the blood of fossilized mosquitoes to bring dinosaurs back to life. The old man plans to open a theme park, Jurassic Park, with these dinosaurs as the main attraction. Before Jurassic Park is opened to the public, a group consisting of a paleontologist, a lawyer, a mathematician, and the old man's two grandchildren are given an exclusive tour of the park. Shortly after their arrival, total chaos breaks out when the dinosaurs start escaping.
Before reading the book, I watched the movie version. Putting aside the flashy eye-opening special effects of the movie version, it held on to the book's exciting storyline. Seeing the movie only made me want to read the book more. Once I picked up a copy of the book, I couldn't stop reading it until I finished. The book's storyline moved quickly and was full of action just like the movie. Unlike the movie, the book takes more time to develop characters as well as explain the detailed scientific process behind the dinosaur breeding. Yet, none of this takes away from the book's fast-paced adventure. The plot keeps the reader glued to book to find out what happens next and who will stay alive. Although, I found both versions of Jurassic Park to be very enjoyable, I highly recommend the book over the movie. Micheal Crichton's book truly allows your imagination to run wild with this thriller.

Hello my friends! How are you doing? I have a question for you. Have you ever wished dinosaurs were alive? In this book your wish comes true. InGen has started an extremely special park in Isla Nublar wich is20000 miles west of Costa Rica. By extracting DNA from mosquitoes caught in amber they have brought back to life the dinosaurs. Dr.Hammond (president of InGen) has hired Alan Grant and Dr.Elli (2 paleontologists) and the scientist Dr.Ian Malcolm to go and look at the park before it's open to public. He hopes they decide to endorse the park. But when they get there things go wrong, terribly wrong.

This book is filled with imagination and suspense. It will have you in the edge of your seat. Director Steven Spielberg made this book into a movie. This book is about how dangerous is for us, humans, to play with nature. If I could describe this book in 5 words they would be: Imaginative, suspenseful, amazing, intriguing, and clever. The author held my attention by showing me in detail each and every page of the book. This book was written by author Michael Crichton who also wrote its sequel: Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This book has different prices in different places but it is worth every penny, nickel, dime or quarter. And even if you don't want to read the book you can still go watch the movie. This book was fictious. The characters of this book are: Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Elli, Dr.Hammond, Dr.Ian Malcolm, Lex and Tim, and Dr.Hammond's lawyer. This book has a lot of action too. I give it five hearts, I recommend this book to teens, adults, seniors, and to anyone who likes to read amazing books. Although you could just watch the movie. The End and Thank You.

I'm in 9th grade and I had to read a novel for my English class. My teacher said to pick a book I haven't read before, so I looked and found "Jurassic Park." I noticed that it was by Michael Crichton, my brother always talks about him, so I decided to read it.

When I read the first couple of pages I noticed that Crichton puts a lot of time in describing his characters. Though I usually don't like long descriptive books this seemed to be all right so I kept reading it. I got interested when little chicken sized dinosaurs attack a family, because Michael Crichton described how the dinosaurs crawled up the arms of the family and started to pick at there faces, it was pretty gruesome.

The book it self is about an old man named John Hammond, that tries to create a park of cloned dinosaurs. He gets the DNA from Mosquitoes that are fossilized in amber. Before he opens the park he invites a group of people to tour the park. The group includes a paleontologist, a mathematician, a lawyer, and Hammond's two grand children. When the group is on the tour the power goes out causing the dinosaurs to escape and roam freely. Now the group has to get back to the main complex and call for help.

When the book was over I was surprised that I liked it. Now I am reading Michael Crichtons sequel to "Jurassic Park," it is called "The Lost World." It has some of the characters from the first book. But since I read "Jurassic Park" I haven't been able to set Michael Crichtons books down since.

Congo opens on a grizzly gorilla attack on a group of explorers. Crichton goes on in telling how the search and or rescue party gets there and the horrific things they experience. With the company of Amy the most advanced ape in the sense of sign language, they learn many things about gorilla life and their past. From Chrichton I've also read Airframe, Sphere, Jurassic Park and The Lost World; personally this is my least favorite of the books. I admit the first few pages grab you with quick and intense action, but the main part of the book, I thought, was extremely boring, no action what so ever not even flared emotions. Written in 1980 it is expected to have out dated technology information, in fact some of things they mention weren't even fathomable then, but now are a part of everyday life and I made a note of that in the back of my mind, but while reading it seemed as though it was in bold print and it simply got annoying. Don't get me wrong it is a well writen book, it's just that I feel is other books are definately more worth reading. The ending as in all books is the most exciting part of the book, overflowing with action that almost makes up for the eye drying middle; almost.

This novel kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I read. Michael Crichton does a good job displaying realism in this realistic science fiction novel. He creates a story in the darkest region of the Congo, near the Lost City of Zinj,where an eight-person expedition dies brutally in a matter of seconds. At the home base back in Houston, supervisors watch a gruesome video transmission of the ill-fated team: dead bodies, tents crushed, and a blurred dark moving image. A new expedition is sent to the Congo. Some are in search for diamonds while a primatologist is taking his gorilla Amy, who knows sign language, back to her home in the Congo. During the expedition they encounter trouble with the native tribes and man-eating gorillas. Many people die and there is a lot of action in this thriller. Life threatening creatures and jungle weather creates a setting which makes this book so entertaining. This book can be compared to "Jurassic Park." Both display great action scenes and interesting stories by the same author. I recommend this book greatly if you are either a science-fiction or suspense thriller fan.

A Review by Brendan

Michael Crichton has done it again, he wrote a bestselling book once more. If you liked Jurassic park 1+2 you'll love Congo.in the depths of the jungle in Africa, people have been mysteriously killed by some unknown animal. When one scientist discovers and ape is having bad and unnormal dreams he decides to find out what they are. This book is full of adventure and excitement. If you want to know the rest pick up a copy at your local library.

There are so many things Michael Crichton did perfect in this book, but there were a few he could of left out. About 1/3 of the story talks about things we didn't know existed, like all that scientific junk. Do we really care about that? We want the blood and gore{well a lot of us do}.
What he did do well on is the detail and explaining the confusing points. This was a good book and very interesting.

I would recommend this book to readers that like blood and gore. I would also recommend this book to people that like science and mathematics. This book is very good and there are always part that include all readers.

Aside from the lack of character development, Crichton gives us a nice start with riddles, a death, a policeman and a doctor in the first few pages. I felt there should have been a build up of pressure from the medical and legal sectors towards ITC, but Crichton blows that direction off with a paragraph or two.

Others state that the story read like a screen play. I agree. Even Star Trek always sent one or two security personnel to the adventure site so they could be killed. Losing one or two futurists to the hardships of mideval times would have made the story more compelling.

It was a fun read; like spending time at an amusement park. I blew through the book, but once finished I didn't have that lost friend feeling--wishing the story could go on forever--that a 5 star story would leave me with, but it sure beat watching TV! Rising Sun and Jurasic Park--lost a few characters in that book to the dangers of the environment!--were better examples of Crichton's story telling capacity.

Glad it was a Christmas present for two reasons--fun story and I didn't have to pay for it!

If you have read and enjoyed any book by Michael Crichton, it is well worth your time to read Timeline. The book is Chrichton's traditional mix of high-tech science and old-fashioned adventure. In short, Timeline is to time travel what Jurassic Park was to genetic engineering. While the similarities between the two might be enough to call them overly formulaic, it is definitely a good formula. This story will clearly become a movie in the near future (when reading it, try Sean Connery as Johnston and Antonio Banderas as Marek), and sell millions of copies, but don't allow Crichton's commercial success to spoil your enjoyment of the product. Timeline flows smoothly from cutting edge physics to obscure but interesting history to heart-stopping suspense, all Crichton trademarks. Few authors are able to make the reader simultaneously think and be entertained, yet with Timeline Chrichton does just this. This book is his best since Jurassic Park, perhaps because of a shared literary algorithm, and it may sound simple, but if you liked Jurassic Park, Timeline is worth your while.

This book is my favorite of all time. Very vivid, adventourous, and just A number 1! Crichton really broke the mold with this one! It describes it in very practical, reality terms making it almost believable. It's a must read for anyone that loves history, Crichton, or adventure.

Somewhat disappointing for a LP guide, lots of text but not as much "meat". After travelling in the Solomons and talking with others one gets the impression that the author did quite limited travelling throughout the islands and largely relied on other's reports. The hike to Mataniko Falls is way more strenuous and dangerous than hinted. (It is still an awesome sight, especially if you're a caver) Likewise a hike along the Weather Coast is more challenging than one would gather from the text, there are places where villagers go by boat because of the vertical exposure. Makira Island is only marginal habitat for salt-water crocodiles according to a Conservation International report and not as abundant as stated in the guide. Given the dearth of information about the Solomons it is still worth buying, but prudence is recommended.