Travels

Rating:
Summary: Loved it loved it loved it
Review: This book leaves me wishing I was Michael Crichton. Even before he made his true fortune with Jurassic Park, he was a great man. I loved the mystical chapters here and there, and also the trips around the world. A sequal in the future?

Rating:
Summary: I figured "why not just give it a try?"
Review: I was in London at the time that I read this book. I've always enjoyed Michael's books, especially this one. I really got a sense of where he got a lot of his story ideas. From the scuba adventures (Sphere) to the medical schooling (ER, Five Patients, many others), you can really see why he knows so much about the topics. When I was in London, I actually when to the London Psychics organization and had a reading myself. I can't say that it changed my life, but it was damn fun!! Enjoy the book!

Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Not only is it extremely well written, but the content with in is interesting and provacative. It starts with Crichton's days in Harvard Medical School and the beurocracies and hypocracies within that re-ignited his desire and urge to travel. He travels the world experiencing everything from tribal clansman to near-death experieces to brushes with the paranormal. I can hardly ever read books more than once, but this one I've read six or seven times since I fist bought it several years ago.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much Michael Crichton
Review: Sorry to disagree with everyone so far, but I regretted how much of a glimpse into his personality Crichton gave me with this book. He comes across as insufferable and arrogant; a person with whom I certainly would not enjoy travelling. He has visited some interesting places, but his ego was paramount to most of them. There are other books about personal experiences with travel that have much less "I" in them (including "Into Thin Air," which certainly is personal, but is not egocentric), and are more enjoyable because of it. The beauty of a good selection of travel essays is that one can imagine oneself participating in the experience. Not "Travels." Crichton is omnipresent.

That being said, I enjoyed reading about climbing Kilimanjaro for the realistic descriptions of the experience. Still, I would have preferred to climb it without Crichton, who should stick with gripping, well-researched fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent portrayal of a man who finds true meaning of life.
Review: This was a great book for anyone who wants to read a book about extroadinary travels to places throughout the world. The book also tells about Chrichton's lovelife, experiences in Harvard Medical School and his amazing experiences with pyschics, channeling, and auras. Did you know that Chricton averaged a "C" in Harvard when he was studying to be a writer? If you want to find out more about all of Crichtons exciting experiences, you should definetly read Travels

Rating:
Summary: A must-read "Disclosure" into Crichton himself
Review: This was a truly fascinating text -- Crichton has led a life as rich and diverse as anyone could hope for -- travelling to Nepal, attending psychic parties in California -- he's done it all. Seeing what he's done and where he's gone really gave me a new "confidence" in reading his ficiton novels -- this man is basically an authority on anything and everything. The most interesting part of this book wasn't his travelogues (although they were quite interesting in their own right), but rather his discussions of person-to-person relationships. The discussions of his relationships with women were particularly enlightening -- he's really had some unpleasant experiences with members of the opposite sex, and after reading them, you'll understand the real-life roots of some of the female characters in his fiction works (read Disclosure again after reading Travels...) After reading his personal philosophy on what men and women are both REALLY after in a relationship, I had to put the book down and think for a while -- he, more so than any self-help book I've ever seen, hits the nail right on the head in just a ten-page vignette. Another striking thing about this book is that (unlike some of his later works -- Lost World, for example...) Crichtion seems to be writing for himself, without any thought toward any movies that might be made from this book, and he reveals some VERY personal things in this book, much more personal that what might be revealed in some 20/20 interview (it is one of his earlier works, and he may not have beem so audience-conscious when he wrote it). Overall, this is a fascinating book -- it's really compelling to see Crichton turn his analytic mind away from current events and focus it on himself instead.

Rating:
Summary: An exciting journey through the world and through life.
Review: Michael Crichton gives us slices of his life in which he gained insights and grew. We learn of his time as a doctor, his various encounters with paranormal phenomenon and his journeys through all parts of the world, such as Africa and Hong Kong. As he descibes these events, one gets the sense of being there and learning the same things. A truly enlightening book that explores all aspects of life and encourages an open mind and a willingness to explore not only our outside world, but our inner one as well. A great read that is hard to put down. Full of humor, sadness, and life experiences

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: If I had read this book by Chrichton first, I never would have read any of his other works. The book itself is not too bad, the writing is jerky at times, however, my main problem with it is his overall attitude and personality. Chrichton reveals himself to be a very arrogant and snotty person through this book. He doesn't travel to these exotic locations because he has any interest in them, he only goes there because it's not easily accessible to other people. If the "average" person can't go there, he does just because he can. Another way he shows that he thinks he is better than everyone is at one point in the book he describes meeting some African women and while he is sitting there talking to them he mentions that he had a hard time seeing them as people. To him they were no different than animals. Then he just moved on to his next adventure. He cared nothing for the places or people; he came, he saw, on to the next place. He also shows his arrogance by ignoring the recommendations of people experienced in activities he does or places he's visiting. Someone would say to him "You can't do that and this is why." and he would just either ignore them or argue with them believing he could do anything only to find out he was wrong and it was always a shock to him.

After a while, I just got tired of his vague, negative descriptions of the places he's been (he seemd to have all these high hopes for each place and was never satisfied when reality hit) and the way something truly terrifying happened to him everytime he went some where new. This book is far from his best and has actually turned me off reading him ever again.

Rating:
Summary: UNMATCHED!
Review: Michael Crichtion is widely known as the "author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World" but he should be truely known as the author that does all.

Ever since I became a fan of MC last summer, i've read all of this fictional works (including a few books written under a pseudonym), and two non-fictional books; Jasper Johns and Travels.

At first, i thought travels was just an average "story about my beautiful life and adventures" book, but I was totally wrong. The story starts out with MC's account of the horrendous times he spent in medical school and then continue on to show how he has matured in life. HUMOR is the key. The entire book is a comic but with serious meanings.

The most funniest part is a tie between his travels to Thailand and the talking to Cactus part. I read this in class and i fell over my chair laughing and making a fool of myself.

If you need a comic relief or just something to enjoy, please read Travels, you will thank yourself for it!

#1 "Travels" fan,
-Jie Geng
http://www.JieGeng.info

Rating:
Summary: A waste of paper
Review: The book starts off strong with interesting accounts of his medical school experiences, but after a while, the story becomes more of a sales pitch for meditation and other new age mumbo jumbo. By the end, Crichton looks like a total kook rather than the "Harvard trained physcian" that he uses to advertise himself. If you really want to read about "Travels," pick up a copy of Tony Horwitz, Bill Bryson, or writers who actually know how tell a story.