by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
Publisher: Harper Publishing
Release Date: 2011
ISBN: 9780060873028
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Library
Time to read: 1 day
aStore Link (Real Book): Micro: A Novel
aStore Link (Kindle Book): Micro: A Novel
Summary (from Amazon.com)
In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye.
In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting. Trillions of microorganisms, tens of thousands of bacteria species, are being discovered; they are feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up. Nanigen MicroTechnologies dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii, where they are promised access to tools that will open a whole new scientific frontier.
But once in the Oahu rain forest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals profound and surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power. To survive, they must harness the inherent forces of nature itself.
An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.
My Reaction
Since having to read endless pages of technical and theoretical textbooks for grad school, I've found it extremely difficult to get myself back into reading for fun. Add to that having an extra hour per day to drive to and from work along with a 2.5 year old son, working that into my schedule has become even more complex. It seems that it took the author who pretty much started my love of reading as a young adult to get my back in the swing.
Michael Crichton's The Lost World was the first adult book I remember reading, ordering it from Scholastic in 9th grade because of my fanaticism with the movie Jurassic Park. It wasn't long before I read all of his books up to that point.
Last week, I took a long overdue visit to our local library and found the newest and posthumously published book from Crichton and borrowed it on impulse. For the first time in probably a decade I read a book cover to cover within a day, staying up until past midnight to finish. I couldn't put it down.
I'm not sure if the story was lighter on background information than most of Crichton's other books or if I could breeze through it faster being familiar with the biology of the book's protagonists of nature: insects and creatures of the forest floor. Either way, because I wasn't trying to absorb all the facts and details I was able to get through chapter after chapter like I was reading a Goosebumps book. It was a very refreshing feeling.
The introduction, which typically lasts a couple dozen pages in a Crichton novel, ended abruptly in the middle of the third page with "Michael Crichton, unfinished," which immediately made me sad that my favorite author would no longer be producing new works. Then, the book featured a layout map of the site of the main action of the book and (uncharacteristically of his novels) a cast of characters. I referred back to these several times while reading just to get my bearings and remember which character I was just following.
The novel was completed by Richard Preston, whose work I have never read. Though I don't know his writing style, I do know Crichton's. So a little beyond halfway through the book, it almost felt like I walked through a door that led out of Crichton's head and into a different writer's. It was distracting enough to make me aware that the narrative had changed, with some character statements and actions that did not seem Crichton-esque. This and some rather one-dimensional characters are the main reasons I did not give this a ranking higher than 4.
I would certainly read this book again, especially if I go back and do a Michael Crichton anthology reading marathon, like I used to do in high school.
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