Rating: 
Summary: Jurassic Barf
Review: Michael Crichton's dinosaur thriller kept some people on the edge of their seats; I fell asleep. Jurassic Park brings dinosaurs back to life and turns an island into a zoo. Except this is no ordinary zoo, this is the biggest, the best, most realistic zoo ever. Now only if the book was as good as the idea of the story. This book is at best a mediocre novel and, unless the reader has a vivid imagination, needs left on the bookshelves.
The characters in the story can tell a lot about the quality of such a novel. A reader is supposed to relate to the protagonist and like him the most. Grant is a simple-minded paleontologist that is working in the desert of Montana. (Page 31) At the age of 40 he is obviously no superman, he has a dull personality and never says much. He is about as intriguing as a rock, and leaves much to be desired. Some of the other characters include Ian Malcolm, a depressing mathematician; Gennaro, an executive who has no idea what a dinosaur is; and Hammond, a seventy-year-old ignorant man who refuses to do anything about the island even though he is the owner. (Page 113) Put all these together and you have one big boring family, with which no one can become attached. Overall, the characters are as colorful as the people on Antique Road Show; and they die as soon as you learn their name.
The plot of Jurassic Park could also use some major improvement. The main problem the characters face is that the power is out. (Page 182) As Grant and some kids are on the electronically controlled tour of the island, they stop by the T-Rex paddock. This is when the power goes out, which means the electric fencing is down. This moment is supposed to be scary and suspenseful but I just found it predictable. After that, the power keeps being turned on then back off. After the third time it went out, I just stopped caring. After the power is out all the dinosaurs start running around the island, which causes all the little humans to be snack food. (Page 196) As soon as the main characters find out that the dinosaurs are loose, they start running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to fix things. The dinosaurs are thrown into the Grant's path every once in awhile so that things are "scary". Overall, the plot is unimaginative, predictable and overall weak.
I would never recommend this book to someone. Unless they were in love with either dinosaurs or Michael Crichton, in which case, I am sorry they had to hear such things about this book. However, for the average person this book needs to remain on bookshelves or in a fireplace. The only thing that this book is good for is a paperweight or a dust collector.
Rating: 
Summary: Jurassic Park
Review: The Wonders of Reading
Action. Death. Destruction. The book Jurassic Park contains this and more in a very provoking format. The author of this book, Michael Crichton, did an excellent job of taking a controversial new science, and showing what could happen if it was used without discrimination. Because there is no real information on how this technology works, Crichton was able to "go wild" and think of many things that probably wouldn't happen in real life, but made the book a lot more exciting. The novel Jurassic Park is a riveting adventure that keeps you on the edge of you seat the whole time. The main characters, Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, John Hammond, and the children Lex and Tim, help the plot flow by acting and sounding like real people. For example, the character Alan Grant, an under-funded paleontologist, keeps most of the ideas in the book grounded in reality by constantly questioning everything he sees. By doing this, Grant is able to uncover the dark secrets that John Hammond, creator of Jurassic Park, has tried so hard to keep hidden. Armed with this knowledge, plus his intense knowledge of dinosaurs, Grant is able to to save himself and his companions from an early death. Additionally, the two children, Lex and Tim, help the plot develop by observing things that the adults overlook (p.172). Without the children, book would be unable to progress because they add a little flair to situations that would otherwise be intensely boring to the reader. The little idiosyncrasies that the children have, like making snide comments about other characters in the book, make the reader laugh, thus making him or her more interested in the book. Without characters like Grant, Lex, and Tim, many parts of the books would be left with an incomplete feeling, making the reader want to put the book down in disgust and just walk away. No one would want to put this book down, because it is such an excellent read, but there were a few parts that I would have changed to make this book. For instance, when the main characters go out a tour of the island, the jeeps that they are in stop suddenly, and the characters cant get them to start again (p.180). I would have had the dinosaurs break out of their cages, with the cars still going, and have a dramatic chase scene. This would have added more suspense to the book, which it needed, and it would have been a lot more fun to read. Additionally, the parts where Grant and the children are on a trek across the island of Isla Nublar needs to be improved. Instead of them making it back, I would have had them build a boat to escape the island, and bring back the Costa Rican Army. With the army at their back, rescuing the rest of the characters would prove to be no problem at all. Excluding the parts that I changed, this novel was excellent, opening my mind to the possibilities of the scientific world. Jurassic Park was one of the best books I have ever read. I am an avid science fiction/fantasy reader, reading books by the likes of Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, and David Eddings. Michael Crichton's book does not quite reach the same level as those books in my opinion, but it is a great book in its own right. I would suggest that you read this only if you are a person with an open mind, willing to contemplate what COULD happen, as apposed to what SHOULD, because the concepts in this book, like many byMichael Crichton, are things that are not likely to happen in the future, but they are remotely possible. I would give this book 4.5 stars, only because of its lack of suspense.
Rating:
Summary: The Amusement Park from Hell
Review: Thump. THUmp. THUMP. As the sound gets closer and closer the pounding in the hearts of the few people on the island gets louder. Even though the paleontologist, Dr. Grant, got paid $20,000 a day to be there; he wishes he could be anywhere else. In this terrifying, yet interesting, book the main characters have to overcome great disadvantages in the wild, fearful place of Jurassic Park.
The plot in this novel pulls people into it until they flinch when a dinosaur growls. The T-rex that brutally attacked the kids, Tim and Lex, was in the brush waiting for the humans to make there losing move in the game of life or death. Even though Dr. Grant is a strong man, after he got lost in the park with Tim and Lex, he will never be as strong again (233). They are all exposed to the meat-eating dinosaurs that roam the coniferous land. In fact Tim and Lex locked a meat-eater, the raptor, into a refrigerator when it was trying to get them. The raptor got its head through the door, but it didn't know that it got the door open because it isn't that smart to know that. It was hard to lock the door because it was pitch black in the room, so then the kids were being brave because the raptor wanted to eat them badly. All of the suspense makes this a well written book by Michael Crichton.
Jurassic Park is the only book that made me want to read. Everywhere on the island small people were getting bit by and small lizard like creature. For instance, my favorite part of the book was when the little girl, Tina, was bitten by the procompsognathus; it is a small lizard like dinosaur that Ingen cloned. Dr. Grant got a little piece of the supposed lizard that was running around the island and decided that it in fact was a procompsognathus. Ingen needed a place to do all of there illegal cloning so they bought an island. In fact the island is 100 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. The people out there could do whatever they wanted to and not get caught. Ingen has the money to buy top of the line security, but it cannot hold the great dinosaurs that the have cloned for the amusement of people.
In conclusion the dinosaurs don't care about the people on the island, all they want to do is get out of there cage, and that's what they are going to do. Dr. Grant is going to do all that he can to stop them from escaping, but a human can only do what a human can do. To emphasize that is not enough to stop the rampaging dinosaurs on the island of death and destruction.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I loved this book so much but get this i'm 12 years old so might think that's strange. But this book is the best book i have ever read. The only problem is the word use he has vary bad words. And in the lost world. But other wise this is a book you should buy!
Rating:
Summary: Scientific Accuracy = Book > Movie
Review: I have always been drawn to science and fiction, and thus one of my most favorite books are almost always science fiction. This is a stunning example of the Genre. Scientific fact, a dash fantasy, and a lot of realism and you have a book like "Jurassic Park". The way Michael Crichton writes in a reporting, nonbiased way that acually propell the book further into your mind, because of the fact that this is acually possible. In short this book is wounderfully ambisious and accurate. A wounderful book indeed.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderfully written book!
Review: I'm a huge movie fanatic! I can't stay without watching atleast one movie. I'm also a huge Spielberg fan, and since I've always loved his fantastic movie, I thought I'd give the Book a shot. The book starts with an incident in Costa Rica. A little girl travelling with her family to Costa Rica gets bitten by something that the locals thinks is a vampire. However, after some research on the little girl, the skilled scientists discovers that this is no Vampire or a regular animal attack; she was bitten by a pre-historic lizard. The lizard then goes through a lot of research by scientist to figure out what type of animal it is and where it came from. This is were the beloved Dr. Alan Grant makes his apperance. The Lizard is sent to Grant, and to his amazement, it's a dinosaur. His partner, Ellie Sattler, who is a Paleobotanist, also gets amazed at the at the sight of it. However, they both have their doubts. How could this dinosaur survive? They died 65 Million Years ago. Only minutes later, Grant gets a phone call from a rich old man named John Hammond. He is the leader of a comany called Ingen, and he wants Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler to come visit his new theme park. Both Grant and Sattler accepts, and they join Lawyer, Donald Gennaro, Mathematician, Ian Malcom, and Computer programer, Dennis Nedry on a flight to Isla Nublar. On the island, Grant and Sattler are in for a big surprise. John Hammond has over the years at Ingen developed a huge theme park with living dinosaurs. However, the question on everybodys lips is: how did he do this? The rest of the book I'm not gonna tell you about, you'll just have to read it for yourself, and I highly recommend that you do! Me being a fan of films and Steven Spielberg feel kinda funny saying this, but the book was indeed better than the movie. I knew there were many scenes lost in the movie, but I didn't know there were this many. When I started reading the book, I thought that what would make this book more exciting than the movie? I mean, I've seen every scene, so what can possibly be any better? Well, the death scene of Dennis Nedry, in the movie, he simply just gets spit on, and thats basically it. In the book, it will send chills down your spine... You must read this book! Michael Crichton shows here what a great writer he really is. It's full of drama, action, suspense, horror, comedy and more. Buy this book today!
Rating:
Summary: Fasinating Book
Review: This book was about a man who wanted a to build a park...Jurassic Park. A rich seventy year old man named John Hammond wanted to build a childs theme park with none other than dinosaurs. The main character is a paloetologist named Alan Grant. The book takes place on an island 100 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. The island turns bad when a storm hits the island knocking down power, and the electric fences. I thought the story was really good, and I really liked it.
Rating:
Summary: Jurassic Park
Review: Roaming between the worlds of science fiction and science fact, Crichton's neo-Luddite book works best as a cautionary tale. Michael Crichton writes in his simple non-literary style, and the science (DNA, chaos theory) is brilliantly explained. The scenario of a theme park of dinosaurs, genetically engineered from ancient DNA certainly makes for a great escapist thriller, but the soul of the book is its subtext: Crichton traces in the introduction the radical shift that has occurred in science since 1976, from sharing scientific information for the good of mankind to secrecy for commercial gain. Crichton voices his concerns about the runaway commercialization of biotechnology. Can genetically-engineered organisms accidentally escape from the lab? Yep. Crichton simply substitutes a virus for a dinosaur. This important message was only hinted at in the film as Hollywood turned Jurassic Park into nothing more than an excuse to build a theme park at Universal Studios.
Rating:
Summary: great book - better than the movie!
Review: The book was better done than the movie, but isn't that always the way? The movie was a bit melodramatic, and I really enjoyed the details that were necessarily left out of the movie. If you enjoyed the movie, read the book. Very suspenseful, and as well written as we've come to expect from this author. Exactly the kind of thoughtful escapist reading I love.
Rating:
Summary: A heart-pounding adrenaline rush in a paperback form
Review: A selection of experts has been collected by InGen to look around a new amusement park. This park is different, InGen has created an amusement park that is populated by dinosaurs. The panel of experts is there to decide if the park is safe, because there have been accidents - fatal ones. Dr. Ian Malcolm warns them that despite all their safeguards, the park will not work, that chaos will win. When he is proved right, no one is prepared for the danger that is about to be set loose on a bunch of scientists, and two kids spending time with their grandfather. I read this book just after "The Lost World" was released because I had been told how different it was from the movie. I am glad I waited because the book deserves to be read on its own instead of being compared to the movie the whole time. I can not get over how well written this book is - but then almost all of Michael Crichton's books are exceptional. If they had followed the book more closely for the movie then I think that the movie would have been even creepier - but then they ended up using a lot of the ideas in the movie "The Lost World". The characters in this book will make you either love them or hate them - and the poetic justice at the end of the novel was a nice touch on Michael's part. You have got to read this book -even if you have seen the movie - because the book blows the movie totally out of the water.
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