Rating: 
Summary: An excellent early book, worth reading even in the 21st Cent
Review: I've enjoyed a number of Michael Crichton's novels, finding his erudition and dedicated research and some of his philosophy in sympathy with my own interests and concerns. In looking through a list of his books, I found that I had read most of the later works but had missed one of his very first, The Andromeda Strain. I decided to correct the omission and fully enjoyed the book. Although it's a little dated (having been penned in 1969), it bears up well. I was amazed at the number of scientific discoveries that were already put to technological use as early as the 60's (fiber optics being the one that comes most readily to mind).As in so many of his other works of fiction, Crichton introduces underlying issues of modern society, bringing some of the behavior we tend to accept as a "given" into question. In the case of the Andromeda Strain, he focuses on the hubris of the US military and of the scientific community. He highlights society's blind faith in technological "fixes" for every miss management of the environment, as though scientists and engineers can unfailing forestall the effects of every misdeed perpetrated by humanity on the rest of the planet. In Andromeda Strain, the space program has been more or less subtly commandeered by the military to probe Earth's upper atmosphere for non-terrestrial bacteria with which to culture biological weapons of mass destruction--sound familiar? They succeed more fully than they are prepared to handle when the tiny organisms get loose among the naive biota of the earth, wrecking havoc with every living thing. To the rescue is a team of 5 carefully chosen scientists from a variety of fields, sealed away in a hyper-isolation facility in the middle of the Southwestern Desert. Can they save the earth in time? Read on! An excellent early book, worth reading even in the 21st Century.
Rating: 
Summary: Started out promising but then turned very disapointing
Review: For thr first 30 - 40 pages I was really into this book. But then it just got worse as every page went on. It took me 2 weeks to read this book, which is way too long for a book this short. It was just too dry. It seemed more like a scientific manual than a novel. I like reading Sci-fi but it almost seemed like you had to be a Dr. to understand what was going on. Michael Crichton is a very good author but this is defenitly not a good example of that.
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Summary: NicK's Super Review
Review: The Andromeda Strain is a sci-fi thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.....sometimes. This book was sometimes really boring because half the time they are in a labratory trying to figure out what the virus is. However, there are some very interesting and action-packed parts that made it an ok book. I have not read any other Michael Crichton books but I hear that they are very good. The Andromeda Strain may be one of his worst, I disliked most parts because they were very boring to me, they just test things in a lab and I don't understand it. I liked the very end and when they go to the town, those are the best parts. This was an ok book that would be good if they had spent less time in the lab testing stuff.
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Summary: Jimbob's Favorite Book
Review: The Andromeda Strain is a fictitious book written by Michael Crichton. It is about five scientists who are trying to understand an extra-terrestrial organism by finding out how it works, and how it kills people so fast. Like every other book written by Michael Crichton, this book is suspenseful and fast paced. The setting of the story is in a huge laboratory. The book is very suspenceful and it relates to something that isn't real but could actually happen at some point. I loved this book and I am sure that you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: A bore strain.
Review: Okay. I really didn't like this book. The characters were too blah. The story and setting really needed a tune up. After the frist chapter I was yawning and popping Hrry Potter into the DVD player. There were no girls characters (and I found that sexist),
and if the ending would have been decent Michael should have at least given a little effort.
Don't get me wrong. I think Michael Crichton is a great author. I just think this book was really tacky.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not his best.
Review: I like Michael Crichton, and I have read many of his books, but this one was a bit of a disappointment.
Michael is notorous for somewhat bad endings, and this ending stands out above them all. I won't tell you what happens. Anyway, I suggest reading the book. I found it very entertaining, and I also found it profoundly interesting with all the questions given like "how do you define life?", and there are also many interesting scientific aspects of biololgy stated in the book, of of which hold merit as Crichton does his homework and simply does not BS this stuff. Overall: 4/5 with one star off because of the bad ending.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent idea, mediocre work
Review: The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton is a potential masterpiece but left me with much disapointment. The plot is about a group of scientists that gather in a maximum security research facility to deal with the problems that arise after a lethal virus kills the inhabitants of a small town. At the time this suspense thriller was written in 1969, none knew years later that a similar outbreak would occur of the Ebola virus years later. In what some scientists hail as a prophetic work of fiction, I was not so enthusiastic. Reading the book I struggled somewhat with the medical jargon and detailed images of binary code which were skimmed circumspectly. Plot twists occured but often any sign of creativity by the author was overshadowed by his scientific knowledge. As short as the book already is (283 pages) it could be condensed to a novella by taking out the filler present within much of the book. A general response to sum up this review would be of dissapointment because the book begins to build up an interesting plot but falls short of the goal. I would recommend this book to anyone who holds an appreciation for science and the unknown but not to those who are looking for excitement.
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Summary: Great book, simple ending
Review: I loved this book all the way through until the last page. It ended so simply. Either way, I highyl recommend buying this book. Don't worry about the ending, its the "meat" of the book that matters here.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Crichton made all the science, thought and suspense get thrown into one book, amazing. i loved how he described Piedmont, it was so realistic that i could put a detailed picture in my head of how it really would be. it was a great book, i finished it in two days, i was glued! i couldn't stop reading because i wanted to know what happened next and what they did to stop this and how they did that, it was great, i would reccomend it
Rating:
Summary: A Crichton classic
Review: This book is classic Crichton, and perhaps a classic by any standard. It put Crichton on the map, and, as far as I know, laid the foundation for a "race against technology/the unknown" formula that he has used many times in subsequent novels. This book is gripping and suspenseful, moves with relentless pace, and demands to be read from start to finish without being put down. It achieves what most thrillers hope to achieve without being overly pushy with the reader. The characters are cool, easy to identify with, and well developed. The science is also technically interesting, though the book was written quite a while ago. Overall, a classic book that anyone with an interest in Crichton or science should read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".
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