Novel: The Andromeda Strain

The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton [1969]

I have been on a big science fiction kick lately and have been reading a lot of the classic works of the genre.  I will probably do a write up on Asimov's Foundation series since it was such a great read.  As for Crichton, this is not the first book ive read by him.  Jurassic Park and it's inferior sequel were page-turning thrillers with some cool and interesting characters (John Malcolm mostly).  His world of dinosaurs was decent, and I really enjoyed the way in which it was shown how dinosaurs would be unsustainable in today's ecosystem; especially on such a small island.  Now onto the Andromeda Strain.  I went into this book expecting a page turning thriller with minimal science.  What I got actually impressed me since I welcome plenty of techno-babble in my literature.  The majority of the book focused on a team of scientists and doctors working on identifying an unknown virulent organism presumably from outer space and employing many scientific methods used today in the process.  As a molecular biologist student I can appreciate Crichton's depiction of scientific research and found myself not wanting to put this down.  My only gripe with Crichton's books is that not much effort seems to go into his sentence structures and grammar usage (ie. hes not a very good writer).  Nevertheless this did not stop me from enjoying this well crafted story and would without a doubt recommend it to anyone in search of true science fiction.  [7/10]