Sadly, the other characters in the book tend to be one of two options – two-dimensional or non-existant.
(That’s something I really like to feel in books.)ĭespite some pretty “out there” concepts of science (and, by “out there” I mean both complicated and suspect), the book was accessible throughout, due in a great part to choosing as the main character Norman Johnson, a non-scientist that asks the questions that the reader has almost as quickly as the reader comes up with them. It also picks up speed as it goes along, until the reader is nearly racing toward the end.
#Michael crichton sphere squid how to#
Crichton knew how to connect with the reader, as proven in his other books, and it is no different here. Based on that, I decided to give the book a chance. When I came across Sphere at the thrift shop, my immediate thought was, “blech!” Then, I realized two things: My feelings were based entirely on the film, and Sphere was written by Michael Crichton, who also happened to write Jurassic Park. I liked the movie, and a lot of people told me I should read the book, because it was even better. Sometimes, the film can be pretty good as well, and then you seek out the book, which is what I did with a little art film titled Jurassic Park. I’m not knocking film, it is just really difficult to transform a tapestry woven over 300 pages or so into a 90-minute film. In that case, why did I pick up this book? We all know that, generally speaking, books tend to be far superior to the films made of them.
And, I have not thought of it since then, other than to think, “Well, that was a waste of money.”
#Michael crichton sphere squid movie#
I have to admit something – I saw the movie Sphere in the theater in 1998. Eventually, the team member that entered the sphere comes out of it.Īnd, that is when things start to get really interesting, as an unknown entity begins to contact them. Unable to evacuate, the team is stuck as the storms come and they are cut off from the surface world until the weather clears. In the exploration of the ship, the team locates a large, perfectly polished silver sphere about 30 feet in diameter, and completely alien.Īpproaching storms require the team to return to the surface, but, before they leave one of the team members does the unexpected… and enters the alien sphere. The team sets up shop one in an artificial underwater habitat, and soon begins exploring the mysterious ship that yields yields more questions than answers – such as, why are all the signs on the ship in English? Navy to proceed with a top secret plan written during the Carter Administration, titled “Recommendations for the Human Contact Team to Interact with Unknown Life Forms (ULF).” The author of that plan, psychologist Norman Johnson, is called in, along with mathematician Harry Adams, biochemist Beth Halpern, and astrophysicist Ted Fielding, as the civilian team to assist Captain Harold Barnes as they investigate the finding. The ramifications of the find spur the U.S.
In the middle of the South Pacific, a spacecraft is located near the bottom of the ocean floor, and, based on the surrounding environment, it has been there for at least 300 years. I’m pretty sure that you’ll be reasonably safe reading this review, but if you don’t want to know anything about the book, STOP NOW!!! This review was written with as few spoilers as I could manage and still give you, the reader, an idea of what the book was about. Now, let’s get to it, with the very book that EG picked up on that day when the concept of this feature was born: Michael Chrichton’s Sphere! It is a chance to prove that there is cheap, literary treasure out there to be had! Or, on the other hand, there is a chance that reading some of these books might also explain how they ended up abandoned to a resale shop. The rules are simple – the books reviewed in this feature have to be purchased either at a resale shop (thrift store, Goodwill, whatever). As he started looking through the books, he noticed that there were several science fiction and fantasy books among the myriad of diet books, self-improvement books, and thirty-year-old textbooks.Ĭonsidering that the average paperback now rings in at $7.99 and up, the chance to pick up a couple of books for a dollar or less appealed to him!Īnd, thus was the seed of this feature planted! What is Secondhand Selections? Recently, EG was in a thrift store (We’ve established he is cheap, right?), and came upon a shelf of books. Greetings, faithful readers, and welcome to another new feature here at The Steve Austin Book Club – Secondhand Selections!