Rating: 
Summary: Best Book I Ever Read!!!
Review: As my fav author Michael Crichton never ceases to amaze me. When I read the book for the first of three times (so-far) I loved it. The first thing I said was it'd make a great movie (which it would have if they followed the book). I'm sure who ever reads this book will not be dissapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Crichton; worth your time.
Review: Once again the Admirable Crichton produces a scientific thriller (not that that is all he can write ~ see "The Great Train Robbery" for something completely different). Likable characters, put into a stressful situation not of their own causing, let's see what happens. This time the cause is a vehicle, later shown to be carrying a sphere of alien manufacture from the other side of a black hole. The sphere has some interesting effects, including, apparently, an alien entity waiting to be released. Oh, and all this is at the bottom of the ocean ~ a thousand feet down in the Pacific, to be exact ~ not the ideal location for a stressful situation to deteriorate. As just about always with Crichton, he has produced a highly readable, well plotted novel. The characters are distinct enough that we can tell them apart, and they are not so sympathetic that we mourn as they die. There are, as usual, a few questionable moments, both in the plotting ~ are we seriously to believe that our fiftythree year old protagonist can make his way, without a suit, out of one hatch, around the living environment, back in through another, on one breath of air, in the dark and cold (a thousand feet under, don't forget) ~ and in the science ~ how is the huge vehicle (a half mile long) expected to have travelled through a black hole without tidal forces tearing it apart? For that matter, how can the scientists be certain of the ship's origin? Without trying to give too much away, the only source of that information is a two digit figure which is automatically extrapolated into a precise year. Foolishness ~ hasn't Crichton noticed that "43" could mean "1243", "1943", "2043", or "3043"? But let me not be argumentative (there are a few other points i could raise); the book is strong, readable, complete ~ for what it is. Just don't rely on Crichton for a scientific education.
Rating: 
Summary: fun
Review: Sphere is a really cool book. I am a big fan of Chrichton, I love how he weaves fiction and non-fiction together in his books (he knows a lot about science if his books are any indication). If you saw and hated the movie (as I did), you should still pick up the book because it is far better. The book is very suspensful (if a bit predictable, but if the writing is good then its easy to overlook that). I loved the ending, its different and intriguing, it shows that the real enemy wasn't any of them, but rather the power the sphere had to offer. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: one of crichton's best
Review: i read sphere solely because my cousin recommended it to me and knowing that she is not really a science fiction/fantasy/thriller type of person, i think that this must be one hell of a good book to be able to pique her interest. it was and i still think that this is one of his best books yet and i like the way the story weaves around. at the beginning of the story, everybody was psyched by what they assume to be a UFO lying on the bottom of the pacific ocean. i find that crichton managed to convey the atmosphere of the underwater mission very well; it's obvious that he put a lot of effort in researching about it because i still feel that the story is still relevant even after a decade or so. the characters are not that straight forward because one can see and sense their human flaws and that makes them believable. i especially like the character harry, who as a former child prodigy he is totally believable; he's cynical, he's aloof and yet there's an undercurrent of fear that he is inadequate in many ways. i find that the facade that he put up reflects the insecurity that he feels. norman is a nice contrast, of course being a shrink he is able to face most of his fear rationally...well, most of the times anyway... and that is interesting to see. and i admire harry's forwardness in seeing through all the bluster that colonel(?) barnes affects. it is hilarious in a way because it is so unexpected. on the whole, and the ending being what it is,the story is a polished work of art from the man who has captured our interest in jurassic park.
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Summary: want to see the world through alien eyes?
Review: then you better read this book. a modern novel that has a chance of standing the test of time to rest on a shelf right along with classics by tolstoy, melville and doestosky -- no kidding. chricton does a brilliant job of getting us to understand that there are numerous ways to view any situation and that no perspective is necessarily the correct way -- they're all just different and dependent on the viewer. through the clever use of a crashed alien ship at the bottom of the ocean a group of scientists, psychologists and others encounter an alien presence that forces them to confront their own biases in a most direct way. a book that tunnels into our psyches and leaves us forever changed.the movie wasnt nearly as good as the book and that was to be expected since so much of this sci-fi thriller is dependend on dialogue and imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Don't see the movie
Review: Sphere is indescribable. I just finished the book and I appreciate Crichton's advanced, creative and imaginative thinking. However, unlike Timeline, the ending left me wanting an answer. Being a writer myself, I always know the part that a writer just assumes the reader will discover after some thought. Yet, the novel seems to want to stay ambiguious; you're mind is always searching for a concrete answer. Crichton refuses to give you one. Sphere transcends a "sci-fi thriller" that "keeps you in suspense". It, unlike most else, makes you think. It also confuses the hell out of you, but (to quote my favorite Gladiator) "Are you not entertained?" People forget that Crichton isn't writing to answer long asked theological questions; he's writing to make you think and to entertain. After all those vanishing pages, I would answer a definitive yes.
Rating: 
Summary: Steer clear of Sphere
Review: This book was almost as ridiculous as Disclosure. I usually like Michael Crichton, except when he goes off on his misogynistic tirades about power-hungry women. He should just skip the pop psychology and stick to do what he does best - building suspenseful stories around scientific puzzles. Read Timeline or Jurassic Park for a good Michael Crichton thriller...
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Summary: GENIE IN THE SPHERE
Review: The SPHERE's best recommendation is that it is still being read and reviewed 14 years after publication....here goes: Is it an accident that the author began his story with 10 characters, then whittled them down to the mandatory three? This ten-little-Indian story was so obviously "well made" that I saw it coming from the first death. The deaths got so frequent that when the main caretaker, Captain Barnes, disappeared the author never even bothered to explain the cause of death. He was just gone. Did anyone care? I know I didn't. What hurt the tale is that the demise of these poor seven buggers added an extra hundred pages . I gave my stars for Crichton's grapple with the unknown -- the powers conveyed to his three heroes when they dared to enter the sphere. The sphere was a new version of the genie in the bottle. Instead of rubbing three times one just visualized the door opening. The power of the mind to "manifest" material creatures out of the quantum foam is fascinating. The author's explanation that such power lies hidden within all of us leaves much to be added. The screwy ending of using the genie wish to forget everything that happened, also erasing the tapes, kinda' made the whole story irrelevant both to the story characters and to me, one reader. A cop out--big time. This is a modern fairy tale dressed in scientific garb. Nice try, but no cigar!
Rating:
Summary: Sphere
Review: I never liked science fiction until I read Michael Crichton's, Sphere. He did a great job. It was so life like you could almost believe the story really happened. I couldn't put it down. It's an excellent book. I can't wait to see the movie even though the book is always better.
Rating:
Summary: CRICHTON'S BEST YET
Review: I read this book this summer and I think it is his best to this day. A team of scientists set out to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to examine a spaceship that crashed to the bottom three hundred years ago. There is the calm and wise Norman Johnson, the attractive and determined Beth Halperin, the brilliant and befuddling Harry Adams, and the smart yet annoying Ted Fielding, all under the command of Harold Barnes, a Captain in the U.S. Navy. They quickly gain access and discover the ship operational, and they discover a metallic sphere. But when they are cut off in a storm, they must discover the power of the sphere and confront its great powers. lest everyone get killed. I was genuinely sad when it ended. This book is Crichton's best and it is the best I have ever read, and I have read a lot of books. If you are looking for a white-knuckle ride to terror on the bottom of the ocean, this book is your ticket, and this review is your boarding call. Buy it today, because I guarantee you, you will want to re-read this one. Even if you aren't a fan of Crichton, pick this book up today and start reading. You won't be sorry.
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