School is out and summer is here, and for a lot of people that means more time to read a (hopefully) good book! I don’t read as often as I’d like because when I start reading a compelling book it engrosses me, and I just can’t put it down until it’s finished, to the point of neglecting sometimes more important things. If you have time to spare and are looking for a book to read, here is a little bit about a few that I’ve read over the last couple of years.
Congo by Michael Crichton
A science-fiction/adventure novel, originally published in 1980.
Deep in the Congo, near the legendary ruins of the Lost City of Zinj, an eight-person field expedition dies mysteriously and brutally in a matter of minutes.
Ten thousand miles away, at the Houston-based Earth Resources Technology Services, Inc., Karen Ross watches a gruesome video transmission of that ill-fated team: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside bodies – and the grainy, moving image of a dark, blurred shape.
In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, an extraordinary gorilla with a 620 “sign” vocabulary and a fondness for finger painting. Her recent drawing matches, with stunning accuracy, the frayed, brittle pages of a Portuguese print dating back to 1642… a drawing of the ancient lost city. Immediately, a new expedition is sent into the Congo, descending into a secret world where the only way out may be through the grisliest death…
Like many of Crichton’s novels, Congo was also made into a motion picture (1995), and unlike most avid readers, I saw the movie long before I read the book. I actually read the book fairly recently, 2 years ago, whereas I saw the movie when it was in the theaters. 15 years is a long time for one’s tastes to grow and change, and while I enjoyed the movie (with the exception of the ending), and I have enjoyed Michael Crichton’s work in the past, I thought Congo would be a fun read. I was interested to see how it compared to the movie.
The book starts out with a very descriptive action sequence and the demise of the first expedition team in this story. The excitement and mystery surrounding their deaths captured my attention and immediately drew me in because I just had to find out what happened and what came next. It was a relaxing read, in that any technology, real or fictitious, was described in a way that anyone could understand it, whether you had previous knowledge in that area or not. I sped through this book in a couple of days, unable to put it down, and enjoyed it very much. I could see how closely translated the movie was from the book, with very little changes, including the terrible ending.
If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie I wont spoil it for you, nor would I discourage you from reading this book, but I wont hide my disappointment with the ending. With such a brilliantly creative mind, I figured Crichton could have come up with a better ending than he did. The story was believable and reality was easily suspended up until the ending. The clever imaginativeness seemed to transform into absurdity… but if you’re just looking for a lightweight entertaining story, give it a read. It was definitely entertaining.
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
A techno-thriller, originally published in 1969.
The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to “collect organisms and dust for study.” One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.
Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Peidmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the twon’s inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
The terror has begun…
The Andromeda Strain was also made into a motion picture (1971). Unlike the disappointing ending in Congo, The Andromeda Strain was consistently exceptional from start to finish. Also an easy read with scientific and technological concepts (both real and fictitious) explained in a way that they were both understandable and believable.
In this story we follow a team of scientists who are in an extremely secret, and extremely secure underground lab while they try to solve the mystery surrounding the death of nearly the entire town of Piedmont. You might hear this and think, “how exciting can a bunch of scientists working in a lab be?” but I assure you, I was captivated from beginning to end. The film was extremely well done, and stuck very close to the novel, with the one exception I can think of: they changed the gender of one of the scientists so that they could include a woman in the otherwise all-male team. I highly recommend both the book and the film, in fact, just writing about it makes me want to watch the film again soon!
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
A Science-Fiction novel, originally published in 1985.
Intense is the word for Ender’s Game. Aliens have attacked earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses – and then training them in the arts of war… The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of ‘games.’
Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games… He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet?
Ender’s Game, while an easy read, with a story line that seemingly appeals to younger readers is actually a magnificent novel that addresses quite mature themes including war, politics, and psychology and philosophy. Someone once asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island and could choose to have my 5 favorite books with me, which ones would I choose… and Ender’s Game is the first book that came to mind when considering such a list.
This book was so good I recommend it to nearly everyone, in fact, I recently bought a copy of it for my mother (who also enjoyed it tremendously!). A creative and mesmerizing story with a twist ending, that really gets you thinking. As the story progresses, you’ll find yourself experiencing a wide range of emotions, from feeling sorry for young Ender, to sympathize, to feel support and hope for him & his future… it’s a non-stop ride that you must take.
There has been talk of making it into a motion picture, but I think it would be a very tough thing to accomplish, without degrading the magnificence of the novel. Orson Scott Card released the latest of his author-written screenplay adaptations to Warner Brothers in May 2003. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were later signed to write a new script, working closely with director Wolfgang Petersen. Card later announced that he would be writing a new script not based on any previous one, including his own. Following the departure of Petersen from the project and Card’s self-described refusal to “condescend to green-screen Hollywood,” Card announced in February 2009 that he had completed a script for Odd Lot Entertainment, and that they had begun assembling a production team. Any other news regarding Ender’s Game becoming a film has been few & far between.
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