Helpful Score: 1
I've never been one for the Sci-Fi or science type stuff but I had to read this for a class in college and WOW!.. I had to keep checking and double checking because it was so good I thought it was a true story. All the extra documentation and "printouts" were an added bonus that helped with the believabilty. If you read only one Sci-Fi book, make it this one. (It's *much* better than the movie which I had to watch for the same class.)
Typical Crichton style, lots of scientific explanation to wade through at the beginning. However, this book at least introduces you to the plot first thing before getting to the wading. But also typical Crichton, if you perservere, you will be rewarded. Excellent read.
It was probably cutting edge technology when it was first released in 1969 - heck, it was probably quite futuristic in many ways considering the first PCs didn't appear on the market until the 80's. He goes into a remarkable amount of technical detail which is pretty interesting and some of the speculative theories concerning alien life forms were new to me. All in all it is still a pretty good page turner.
loved it spine tingling when it was new we had just had a scare that coincided with this book .
Excellent
Andromeda Strain is classic, really on the same level as Jurassic Park (yes, I know the movie JP was much better than the movie of this, but the books are equally great!).
Highly recommended, you won't regret the time spent reading it.
Highly recommended, you won't regret the time spent reading it.
By far his best.
If you've never read his one you should!
Saw this movie when I was a kid and the book is great. The techincal stuff adds to the realism without killing the story. Those interested can pour over it, those not can skip over and not lose their way. Great suspense and style. A good start for those getting into Crichton.
I've never been a Crichton fan, but this was a good story. So I would say, yes, it is a good book.
Exciting!
Good Book.
Interesting and suspenseful. I found the ending disappointing, but it was a good read.
Due to governmental 'secret' programs a contaminated space probe has landed that seems to end up killing everybody around quite quickly. Even the laboratory set up for this eventuality is having problems. A novel about what people fear will happen someday -- good flow and easy to read.
Very exciting thriller, all the more sinister because the events depicted could well come to pass! A bacteria from space - kills in seconds - how to combat it, how to understand it? Technical in places, doesn't really detract from the story if you don't "get it".
Five prominent biophysisicists give the United States government an urgent warning: sterilizationprocedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated reentry to the atmosphere.
'Have re-read this book more than one - still a great one.
Suspense about a deadly virus.
And my streak of reviewing thrillers continues with the second epidemiological thriller in a row! The Andromeda Strain is another reread. I picked it up because (a) I had the book sitting on the shelf doing nothing, and (b) I had already reread Carriers so I figured, "Why not?"
It is the story of a bunch of scientists doing their scientific thing in trying to find the cure to a plague that originates in outer space. Well, not really foreign outer space so much as simply really, really, really high up in Earth's atmosphere outer space. As it so happens, we do have such archaebacteria that can live in these totally inhospitable environments on Earth, so the premise isn't that far fetched. Yes, I know the culprit in this case is a virus and not a bacterium, but still ...
This novel is chock full of government (in)efficiencies, (pseudo?)epidemiological jargon, computer read outs, and time pressure to cause the suspense. The climax and problem that beset the novel aren't what originally appear to be the case. Many reviewers are incredibly upset that the initial problem resolves itself, while completely missing the point that the race-against-time to save the lab from certain destruction is the actual climax.
This novel reminded me a lot of Mount Dragon , or perhaps Mount Dragon reminded me a lot of The Andromeda Strain as they both greatly detail the procedures in place to keep the contagion from spreading out of the lab and becoming an epidemic, and in both cases and explosive is the ultimate failsafe.
It is the story of a bunch of scientists doing their scientific thing in trying to find the cure to a plague that originates in outer space. Well, not really foreign outer space so much as simply really, really, really high up in Earth's atmosphere outer space. As it so happens, we do have such archaebacteria that can live in these totally inhospitable environments on Earth, so the premise isn't that far fetched. Yes, I know the culprit in this case is a virus and not a bacterium, but still ...
This novel is chock full of government (in)efficiencies, (pseudo?)epidemiological jargon, computer read outs, and time pressure to cause the suspense. The climax and problem that beset the novel aren't what originally appear to be the case. Many reviewers are incredibly upset that the initial problem resolves itself, while completely missing the point that the race-against-time to save the lab from certain destruction is the actual climax.
This novel reminded me a lot of Mount Dragon , or perhaps Mount Dragon reminded me a lot of The Andromeda Strain as they both greatly detail the procedures in place to keep the contagion from spreading out of the lab and becoming an epidemic, and in both cases and explosive is the ultimate failsafe.
5 prominent biophysicists give the U.S. government an urgent warning:
sterilization procedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated reentry to the atmosphere...
sterilization procedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated reentry to the atmosphere...
Typical Crichton - suspenseful, thought-provoking. A quick read and hard to put down!
Great writing--Crichton's very good at pulling you into the meat of the story. Highly recommend this for a fast, intriguing read.
I read this book because I saw it listed on SurvivalBlog's suggested reading. It gives you an idea of how a biological threat would be handled by the government.
It is written as an "expose" of the government's handling of an extraterrestrial bacteria that has returned to earth with a satellite and is causing bizarre deaths. Sort of anticlimactic at the end, in my opinion, but very enjoyable read.
It is written as an "expose" of the government's handling of an extraterrestrial bacteria that has returned to earth with a satellite and is causing bizarre deaths. Sort of anticlimactic at the end, in my opinion, but very enjoyable read.
Great Book, but I didn't like the ending.
Another enjoyable read with a lot of suspense.
What if there was a virus so lethal it ould kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death....but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus ever known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busiest cities in America...and the world? What, if anything, could stop it?
Good classic Sci-Fi "What if" book.
What if there was a virus so lethal, it could kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death....but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busies cities in America and the world?
What if there was a virus so lethal, it could kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death...but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus ever known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busiest cities in America...and the world? What, if anything, could stop it?
There are no villains in this hot zone. Only the microscopic seeds of Earth's extinction. It is stealthy, sudden, savage. And we are all susceptible to it...
There are no villains in this hot zone. Only the microscopic seeds of Earth's extinction. It is stealthy, sudden, savage. And we are all susceptible to it...
Copyright 1969, later made into a movie starring Arthur Hill as Dr. Jeremy Stone
Mine has a different cover from the one pictured.
Great book.
My fiancee read it; he enjoyed it but said he was a bit disappointed by the ending.
(My book has a different cover) "Relentlessly suspenseful...a hair raising experience" - The Pittsburgh Press
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