Review of Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (1990) by Michael Crichton – a review by Nathan Hood
Tense and exhilarating, Jurassic Park is a rip-roaring science-fiction thriller. The 1993 film-adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg brought this story to a popular audience and it has become a part of Western culture and cinema history. The book has a lot to offer, not least as a form of entertainment. It was gripping. By the end of the first chapter I was hooked. This is even though the book and film share broadly the same plot. While I knew what was coming, I was engrossed in the fast, punchy writing style and the ever-growing crisis the characters face. I finished the 450-page novel in two and a half days.
The story is set in motion when attacks on Costa Rican children by strange creatures lead to the formation of a team of experts heading to Isla Nublar. They are sent to assess the viability of John Hammond’s new amusement park, an attraction centred upon the spectacular and impossible: dinosaurs. Using the latest in genetic engineering, Hammond’s team have managed to manipulate DNA and restore pre-historic life. The long-extinct dinosaurs are back, and Crichton does an excellent job of making this as scientifically plausible as possible. He employs the latest findings in fossil studies and chaos theory, at least in the 1990s, and it adds a real depth and believability to the tale.
Hammond wants to make his dinosaurs an attraction that people from all over the world will pay to see, which will make him a very rich man. Palaeontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, Mathematician Ian Malcolm, lawyer Donald Gennaro and Hammond’s grandchildren are the first visitors, and the story follows their time to the park. All starts out well, but things take a turn for the worse when they take the tour. Throw in a howling storm, a disgruntled contractor, a reliance on automated systems and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it is a recipe for catastrophic disaster. As the danger escalates, the novel transforms into an adventure tale comparable to Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World or Rider Haggard’s She in terms of excitement and wonder. Yet it is darker, grittier, more gruesome than those, with the sense of wonder and exploration coloured by the horror and threat posed by the return of the long extinct dinosaurs, of that which cannot be controlled.
At the heart of the story lies a central question: is it possible to run a theme park/zoo for dinosaurs? Answering this question gives rise to many of the ethical issues the characters, especially Ian Malcolm, debate. Should private companies have free rein when developing new technologies? How does capitalism shape scientific activity? Is science a noble or destructive discipline? Is Western European Faustian Man capable of mastering nature? Or will he unleash his own doom? These ideas are explored in a compelling way, and will leave the thoughtful reader much to consider with regards to the role of science and technology in our society. One cannot help but compare the development of AI with the recreation of the dinosaurs.
Jurassic Park is a great book and is a very enjoyable and stimulating read. Pulsating adventure, moral dilemma and intellectual mind-whir. A perfect blend that I would thoroughly recommend!
The book is available on second hand book sites, ebay etc. Below is a link to Amazon.
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