Jurassic Park

A Novel

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

“[Michael] Crichton’s dinosaurs are genuinely frightening.” - Chicago Sun-Times

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them - for a price.

Until something goes wrong...

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.

Praise for Jurassic Park

“Wonderful... powerful.” - The Washington Post Book World

“Frighteningly real...compelling... It’ll keep you riveted.” - The Detroit News

“Full of suspense.” - The New York Times Book Review

©1990 Michael Crichton and © 2014 by Dinosaur Holdings LLC. (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Scott Brick brings a chilling calm to the complex story with his deep, even tone and clear enunciation.... He does a particularly fine portrayal of John Hammond, the creator of the controversial park, giving the character a raspy edge that suits the dark agenda beneath his grandfatherly facade." (AudioFile)

CHAOS THEORY

DIET COKE SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED
Crichton was a genius. He was a rare kind of genius that could explain complex scientific concepts in an entertaining fun way to us laymen. I have compared him to Arthur C. Clarke, which is high praise indeed. Crichton has probably launched many careers in science with his ability to show the wonder and magic of science.

WHAT ABOUT THE FROGS
The first half of this book is full of all that wonder I mentioned above. Several different sciences were beautifully explained. Crichton also has a scene of tremendous suspense, involving a little girl and a dinosaur. If Crichton had no science in his writing, he still would be a popular writer with his abilities to build suspense, not just say this happened and than that happened. It is my own personal quirk, but I am not a fan of overly long chase scenes, shoot-em ups or things that explode. I know I am rare in that. Had this book ended at the halfway point (about 7 and a half hours), it would have got a glowing review from me. The last half of the book is mostly being chased, eaten, and thrown around by dinosaurs. There is still some science thrown in, but it reads mostly like it was written for the movie. This much running around lost its appeal for me and my mind kept wondering. I got impatient for it to get over with. The whole frog thing was disappointing also. He kept making it sound like some big deal and big secret no one knew about. Anybody with any minor interest in science knew the answer from the beginning. I still gave the book four stars, as the first half was so wonderful.

Slap her please
I would also like to ask from those who read the book, did you want to slap the crap out of that little girl as much as I did. I was hoping they would throw her to the dinosaurs before it was over.

Narrator
Scott Brick is one of the most prolific narrators around. He is hard to ignore, but I actually did for about two years. He used to have a tendency to read every sentence tremendous dramatic flair, even if it was some mundane chore like drinking a glass of water. In this book I was amazed by his performance. He already had the voice, but now his inflections fit the mood of each and every sentence. If you have been avoiding his narration, rest assured that you will love him in this reading.

So So different

I enjoyed the movie based on this book. However the book is so good I listened to it twice in a row. I don't often write about a book but Read this Book it is one I'll come back to time and time again.

Scott Brick is a dull narrator

The story is a classic and I think better than the movie. But man o man, what an uninspired reading. Yawn

Enjoyed the movie more

While the book was good, it is routinely encumbered by the author's ramblings against scientists using poorly understood precepts of chaos theory (would be better if he preached on Murphy's law instead of chaos theory). Additionally, there is more gore than i think necessary. for example the are multiple actions in first person of people getting mauled alive. The concluding chapters provide little resolution of the conflict and make you wonder if the story was just an embodiment of the author's disdain for science. In short, the movie was great because it removed most of the preaching and the gore... I'd stick to the movie.

Amazing!!

I thought this book was perfect! Much better than the movie. Everyone should read this!

As always, the book is better in many ways.

What made the experience of listening to Jurassic Park the most enjoyable?

The extra details and explanations from start to finish. The personalities of each of the characters were especially interesting to me as they differed greatly from the why they were portrayed in the movie version.

Which scene was your favorite?

The cliff hanger at the end.

Any additional comments?

I only had one thing that bothered me throughout the book and that was how the young girl was portrayed as such a brat and never learned from the sequence of events as things progressed.

Great story below average telling

I have loved Jurassic Park since i first read it as a 12 old kid. I was really looking forward to listening to this audio book to get me back to that first time I read this story. Unfortunately the monotone, unexcited, and little to no character differentiation really made the book dry and boring to listen too. i was very disappointed in this audio version.

Always better than the FIlms, esp., unabridged

Not a fan of Scott Brick, that nasally monotone voice, but loved it just the same.

Life finds a way

This book is amazing and the action, violence, and suspense never disappoints this book is way different than the movie.

“Life...finds a way” Ian malcolm.

Better than the movies

This was my first Audible book, and once I started it I didn't want it to end. Great book and great listen.