The Andromeda Strain
(category: science fiction)by
Michael Crichton
published by Arrow Books in 1969Nick read a library book, in December 2009
(and watched the movie way, way back)
Nick's rating: 5 out of 10
Nick's opinion:
I never do like books by Michael Crichton... Time to re-test that view, I thought. Time to read The Andromeda Strain. I've seen the movie -- many, many years ago -- and laughed, with the rest of the audience, at the cliched countdown. But I had never read the book. It's time. Or maybe not... I do enjoy the action, it's the style that turns me off: it reads like a typical conspiracy-theory press release. There are exact dates and numbers -- as though invented detail makes the wild claims more believable. There are statements of "fact" based on minority opinion. (5,731 papers rejecting an idea but the good-guy scientist believed the two papers that supported that idea.) Actually, I was disappointed when Crichton used -- admittedly just once -- the old SF standby, "Sorry, it's too complex to explain to a layman like you..." Then, with all the precautions against contamination, the scientists take a piece of apparently deadly space virus -- and pass it round in the conference room! What happened to the clean room concept? How did they all survive this exposure? The scientists finally discovered that the virus lives on pure energy (don't explode the bomb!) so... why does it care about killing the unnecessary "host"? And when the virus mutates to something that is "harmless" to its "host" -- why did it still destroy every scrap of flesh on the pilot who was affected?! Good grief. What nonsense.
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