The Andromeda Strain. (Arrow)

That's the scientific supposition that Michael Crichton formulates and follows out to its conclusion in his excellent debut novel, TheAndromeda Strain. A Nobel-winning bacteriologist, Jeremy Stone, urges the president to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility, to sterilise returning astronauts, satellites and spacecraft that might carry such an "unknown biologic agent." The government agrees, almost too quickly, to build the top- secret Wildfire Lab in the desert of Nevada. Shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to Stone, the US Army initiates the "Scoop" satellite program, an attempt to actively collect space pathogens for use in biological warfare. When Scoop VII crashes a couple years later in the isolated Arizona town of Piedmont, they end up getting more than they asked for.

The Andromeda Strain follows Stone and rest of the scientific team mobilised to react to the Scoop crash, as they scramble to understand and contain a strange and deadly outbreak. Crichton's first book may well be his best, with an earnestness missing from his later, more calculated thrillers. --Paul Hughes, Amazon.com

Amazon.com
Some biologists speculate that if we ever make contact with extraterrestrials, those life forms are likely to be--like most life on earth--one-celled or smaller creatures, more comparable to bacteria than little green men. And even though such organisms would not likely be able to harm humans, the possibility exists that first contact might be our last.

That's the scientific supposition that Michael Crichton formulates and follows out to its conclusion in his excellent debut novel, The Andromeda Strain.

A Nobel-Prize-winning bacteriologist, Jeremy Stone, urges the president to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility to sterilize returning astronauts, satellites, and spacecraft that might carry an "unknown biologic agent." The government agrees, almost too quickly, to build the top-secret Wildfire Lab in the desert of Nevada. Shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to Stone, the U.S. Army initiates the "Scoop" satellite program, an attempt to actively collect space pathogens for use in biological warfare. When Scoop VII crashes a couple years later in the isolated Arizona town of Piedmont, the Army ends up getting more than it asked for.

The Andromeda Strain follows Stone and rest of the scientific team mobilized to react to the Scoop crash as they scramble to understand and contain a strange and deadly outbreak. Crichton's first book may well be his best; it has an earnestness that is missing from his later, more calculated thrillers. --Paul Hughes

As an Engineer, I found this book absolutely awsome. The way the book was written in general was excellent. They way the story was layed out for the reader made it so that I never wanted to put it down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes science/science fiction based work.


A Classic!   Juli 5, 2000
VoodooLord7 (Oklahoma, USA)
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Michael Crichton's first novel is one of his best, setting in stone the pattern that he continues to follow to this day, and for one reason: it works. Yes, this novel masterfully intertwines science fact and science fiction, and in turn gives us, the reader, a great book of suspense. It is written in such documentary fashion that you have to convince yourself that you're not reading out of a history book (well, not really, but...). Yeah, it can get quite technical at times, but it still appeals to a wide audience because of it's excellent plot.

Also, this book has something that you rarely see in sci-fi: an author going against the alien stereotype. Are you tired of seeing the cliche'd "little green men" or "E.T. ripoffs"? Well, then this book is for you. One of it's subthemes is that we really have no idea what aliens look like, in fact, they may be mere bacteria! Or, maybe not so "mere" as Stone and his team find out...