Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Probably Michael Crichton’s most popular novel, Jurassic Park actually earns the praise, as it is a clever and entertaining read; among his best.
The author really had a gift for examining complex issues and crafting captivating tales around them. A more cynical author would see these topical issues as simply fodder for a setting; an excuse to retell the same story with a new twist and count on people interested in the current topic area as a built-in audience. In Crichton’s stories, however, the big idea is not only absolutely crucial to the story, it’s frequently the raison d’être.
So it is with Jurassic Park, in which the author examines ethical issues surrounding scientism, the impact of commercialization and profitability into the sciences, cloning, natural selection, corporate espionage and patronage. Plus it has dinosaurs!
After all, while it’s a well-researched, whip-smart study, first and foremost it’s a great story – a classic adventure in the mold of Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson.
The novel actually had a long gestation period, having been started as early as 1983, while Crichton struggled to get the right story/feel. This is sort of amusing in retrospect, as he really shouldn’t have needed to look far for inspiration – he’d already written and directed a film about a high-tech amusement park turned deadly (Westworld).
If you’ve only seen the film and not read the source novel, I can highly recommend Jurassic Park. You’ll absolutely gain appreciation for the story and get more out of the picture. The film is largely faithful to the book, at least in the ways that matter – tone, intent, conclusions. But the novel understandably has much more meat on the bone, and the scientific processes and the logic behind decisions and motivations is much clearer, making what may initially seem a far-fetched tale much more credible.
The best reason to read the novel may be the following passage, which is condensed into possibly the best scene in the film, but really bears repeating in full:
“Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual guru. Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it’s your power. It can’t be given away: it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline.
Now what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won’t use it unwisely. So that kind of power has a built-in control. The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won’t abuse it.
But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast.
There is no discipline lasting many decades. There is no mastery: old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature. There is only a get-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy.Cheat, lie, falsify–it doesn’t matter. Not to you, or to your colleagues. No one will criticize you. No one has any standards. They all trying to do the same thing: to do something big, and do it fast.
And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something quickly. Yon don’t even-know exactly what you have done, but already you have reported it; patented it, and sold it. And the buyer will have even less discipline than you. The buyer simply purchases the power, like any commodity. The buyer doesn’t even conceive that any discipline might be necessary.
I’ll make it simple. A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special. And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits. And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple.”
For the 25th anniversary of the publication of the novel, and to tie into the release of the new film Jurassic World, Brilliance Audio has released a new unabridged audiobook narrated by Scott Brick. I’ve only just started it, but Brick is a great reader and I am enjoying it very much. I’m particularly enjoying just being able to listen to the story again. We bought my dad the Random House Audiobooks version from the early 1990’s and we all listened to it a million times. This version was only released in abridged version and on audio cassette and was ably read by John Heard. Despite the short run-time of only three hours, I quite enjoyed it. While I vastly prefer unabridged audiobooks, there’s often something nice about the abridged versions – they allow you to listen to a complete (if gutted) story during the time it takes to work on a project. Which is invariably what I was doing when listening. To this day, to hear this and a few other audiobooks is to mentally reach for a screwdriver or begin sorting files…
Jurassic Park was a great read when it was published and remains a great read now. The topic was ahead of its time and inspired many to explore STEM, creating an uptick in people pursuing paleontology, chaos theory and genetics. Or at least we all found them fascinating and took a greater interest, and hey, that’s something…
