Sphere

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN!
Review: Sphere is not only Crichton's best book, it is the world's best book. The book is so exciting and so well-written, you will love it! Trust me, after reading this, you'll never read anything else but Crichton. DEFINATELY READ IT!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Beyond gripping
Review: All that this incredible novel needs is a squillionth rave review about how involving it is. So I will be brief. If my personal experience will shed any light on what you're getting yourself into -- I opened the book sometime during the day, read about half, and then picked up the last half at perhaps 1 am. Next time I look at the clock after reading the last pages and digesting that monumental decision that the characters must face, it's 4am but it feels as though only a few moments have passed. Crichton just has the knack for putting you in a trance, what else can be said? It's debatable whether this is his best work (I would actually argue for "Airframe"), but that's beside the point. These novels are treasures, they educate and thrill and keep us guessing invariably.

Rating:
Summary: I was sorely dissapointed.
Review: I'm not sure which was worse, the movie or the book, but either way, the book was a huge dissapointment. He builds us up to some climax, but in the end, it was a very dissapointing resolution. Almost as if the publishers said "Hey, Mikey, we need that book NOW, so FINISH IT. None of the themes were new, but I will say he DID manage to engage me for a while, which perhaps is why I felt so let down at the end.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but an old plot idea
Review: Michael Crichton's novels are always entertaining, and I enjoy reading them, including "Sphere". But I find it ironic that amazon.com's own review of "Sphere" compares Crichton to H. G. Wells as a writer of science fiction explaining scientific ideas clearly to the lay public. "Sphere" has a gussied-up version of the plot of the H. G. Wells short story "The Man Who Could Work Miracles", published roughly 100 years ago. Even the final plot twist that evades a seemingly hopeless situation is the same. I don't believe for a moment that Crichton engaged in conscious plagiarism when writing "Sphere"; either the coincidence of plots is just that, or perhaps Critchton read the H. G. Wells short story as a kid (as I did), and the basic plot twist stuck somewhere back in his subconscious. So, this is not a criticism of "Sphere"; just an amused comment.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly, at my age I would not enjoy this book anymore
Review: The philosophy of this book was well summed up by another review below. The Freudian Id that was present in other books has simply beeen replaced by Jung's famous shadow archetype. Of course we all know that creative artists love Carl Jung, and perhaps I'm being a bit shallow here and not letting myself be caught up in it enough, as someone reading a CREATIVE work should be. But if you've ever studied psychology and philosophy I think you'll probably be disappointed because you know too much already, and things will not be as dazzling as you hoped it would be.

Freud said that knowledge really can ruin the sense of wonder and discovery, and it's kind of true here. But it's only 371 pages for the paperback edition. Unlike a Clancy Novel, there isn't any long backstory you have to read, and generally it's easy to become captivated by just the premise itself and the science. Better yet you really do not have to listen to these reviews if you do not want to. I loved both the Andromeda Strain and Sphere back when I read them in 7th grade, and I believe that is because I didn't have any expectations at all. Hype is really killer here. The movie, the fanfare, the "dazzling reviews"--they can really ruin any possibly enjoyment you might have of it.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This one didn't do it for me. I found the plot fairly boring (though it picked up at the end), the characters transparent, the situations forced, the philosophizing second rate.

Didn't live up to my expectations based on the other Crichton books that I've read.

Still, though, perfectly good for the plane.

Rating:
Summary: Sphere: Crichton's Best
Review: Sphere is definatly this author's best work. This psycological thriller keeps you guessing throughout the entire book. Once you think they're safe, Crichton tighten's the noose and gives an unexpected plot twist.

Rating:
Summary: This is his best!
Review: The book is about a group of scientists who get called to investigate a spaceship crash at the bottom of the ocean. They find an alien sphere inside the hanger. I can't tell you much more or it will ruin the story for you.

This is a really great book with odd twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the last page. I didn't do my homework because of this book. It will keep you up until the wee hours of the morning.

I give "Sphere" five stars, and I recommend it to everyone who likes a good thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Very Very Good
Review: I love all of Crichton's books but Sphere is by far the best. This page turner will leave you wondering what's going to happen until the very last page. I Rates this book five stars but it really needs ten stars (Jerry is a winner).

Rating:
Summary: SF only a non-SF reader could love.
Review: As an avid SF fan I was disappointed to realize about two thirds of the way into the book that it was basically a mish-mash of the novel Solaris and the movie Forbidden Planet (with the Fruedian "Id" replaced with a Jungian "shadow self").

(spoilers)

There were also some basic plot problems as well that bugged me. At several points the characters were worried that their habitat would run out of air or that it would be destroyed in another attack by the creature. Apparently they forgot that they were parked right next to a half mile long spacecraft that had survived over 300 years on the sea floor and was full of god knows how much breathable air!