World Famous Comics: Three Complete Novels: The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, and The Great Train Robbery
Three Complete Novels: The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, and The Great Train Robbery
By: Michael Crichton Publisher: Wings Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Wings Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 688 Publication Date: March 01, 1993 Release Date: March 01, 1993
Product Description: Years before Jurassic Park, Michael Chrichton was known as The New York Times bestselling master of the techno-thriller. The three mesmerizing super-sellers in this collection--including his first novel, The Andromeda Strain--have sold well over 4 million copies and qualify as modern classics. Perfectly plotted stories that are fantastic, unbelievable and yet, somehow, very real, these novels pull the reader into bizarre situations full of spell-binding suspense, offering three great examples of the author's genius.
Well Worth the Money Three great stories in one. I must admit Terminal Man was required reading in highschool. My biology teacher was really excited about the technolgy in this story. The Andromeda Strain and Terminal Man simply wont have the same impact on a new reader today as it did in the 70's.
The real treat in this trilogy is the Great Train Robbery. I actually had the book for several years before I even bothered to read this story. I guess the title didnt grab me. The Andromeda Strain and Terminal Man were both very popular. Its a shame the Train story never quite took off like the other two. In my opinion, it's a superior story.
All 3 of Michael Crichton's Early Works in One! I've read new works of Michael Crichton, and I liked them very much. Since these three books are the ones that threw him into a fame as a thriller, I decided to check it out. And I didn't believe there was a volume like this! Very good deal to have your favorite author's early works packed in one hardcover, since you can't find hardcovers in any book store these days, and only online is where you can buy, but then, all of the price combined is certainly greater than this one. Again, a very good deal at a very good price.
Crichton Review Though somewhat early works of the author, they reflect a very versatile and lucid knowledge of his subject matter.
Three classic techno-thrillers in a bargain package I bought this hardcover collection from the bargain section of my local bookstore a few years ago, mostly because I had been looking for a copy of The Great Train Robbery, but had not seen it available for sale separately. (I already owned a favorite, well-worn, read-many-times paperback of The Andromeda Strain from my teenage years, so I thought that getting that classic book in hardcover was an added bonus. Maybe, maybe not, as it turned out.)
[Warning: Slightly picayune, geeky detail follows!] My one slight peeve with this reprint collection is that, as originally printed, The Andromeda Strain included as supporting documents in the text a lot of realistic-looking computer printouts, teletypes, and such. Some of the more graphic/pictorial of these were photo-reproduced in their original form for this reprint. But others... Decades ago, typewriters and similar equipment often did not have a separate key for the numeral one (1). You produced that character by simply typing a lowercase L (l). Now, in this reprint, they have modernized some of those teletype memos (presumably to make them look more like contemporary email and thus less antique) by setting them in modern type, and sometimes have put portions of them in UPPERCASE to make them look computerish. So NOW the lowercase typewriter "el"s -- many of which were really, in context, supposed to represent "one"s -- are now not only in a modern sans serif font (i.e. not a "typewriter" font), which would make them look no longer like numerals anyway, but are also printed as uppercase L!! Totally wrong. A minor thing, perhaps, but I think it slightly lessens the effectiveness and realism of these supporting details. They should either have either left these printouts completely alone and just photo-reproduced them (so WHAT that it looks like 1970s technology), OR taken the care and thought to properly "translate" them, letters AND numbers in proper context, to modern equipment. [End of picayune complaint. You may now remove your propeller beanies.]
This collection includes three of Crichton's classic novels:
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
Crichton's first novel, and still one of his best. One of the books that first established the techno-thriller genre. Yes, some aspects of it are showing their age a bit, but it still reads well. Suspense never goes out of style! A tiny, isolated Arizona town is exposed to a re-entering space capsule containing a lethal micro-organism from Earth orbit. A team of scientists races time to determine the organism's properties and how to combat it, in a secret high-security facility built for just such an occurrence. This facility is equipped with a nuclear warhead to sterilize the area in case whatever bug is being studied there escapes. (A risky method in many ways, even apart from Cold War nuke paranoia.) There are many interesting plot elements, including the suspense of possible wide-scale public exposure to the mystery organism; the government security procedures and red tape; the cool technology; and the problem-solving detective work of the scientists -- including the puzzling fact that two of the townspeople inexplicably survived exposure to the deadly organism.
THE TERMINAL MAN
Another classic Crichton that I had heard about often but had not read until obtaining this collection. Probably my least favorite of the three novels included, but only because it has such huge competition from the other two. (And, of course, your mileage may vary.) A man suffering from violent seizures (as in, the seizures cause him to become violent against others) is given a "mental pacemaker" -- electrodes in the brain, controlled by a computer -- by way of treatment. (This was a very radical technological idea when the novel was first written!) The problem is that each stimulus, while it controls the symptoms of the current seizure, makes recurrence of ANOTHER seizure MORE likely, not less. The patient, who (surprise, surprise) manages to escape around this time, is headed for both an explosion and a collapse, as the seizures and resulting control stimuli become more and more frequent, like a dog chasing its tail. The theme here of scientific hubris is obvious, (and is one of the reasons that this novel is considered a classic) but even so, Terminal Man does not do as much for me personally as some of Crichton's other books.
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
Historical novel (the action takes place in the 1880s) meets true-crime thriller. A terrific book, full of interesting characters: The mysterious, but apparently high-class, well-educated Edward Pierce, the brains behind the notorious, spectacular robbery; his criminal-class accomplices, including prostitutes, brutal thugs, key-and-lock experts, pickpockets, burglars, etc.; the (still quite brand-new) London police; and the railway employees, officials, and upperclass-twit bankers that Pierce has to outsmart. The supporting details about Victorian life (the significance of recently-invented train transportation to the society, the fact that the age of consent was 12 at the time, the rise of the cities, the working conditions of the middle and lower class, the relationship between criminals and the police, etc.) are fascinating and well-researched, and they really do help the narrative along as well, they do not read like a history textbook. The planning of the robbery, including and especially obtaining the necessary keys to the safes on board the train, is fascinating, and intricate, and there is plenty of suspense from the unforseen obstacles that crop up along the way. These amazing true-to-life details of the robbery, by the way, come from ACTUAL TRANSCRIPTS of period courtroom testimony. (Yes, the perpetrators eventually found themselves in criminal court, but, amazingly, even that is NOT the end of the story!) Altogether, a brilliant and entertaining book, a real tour-de-force, and one of my personal favorites.
Rating
If I could, I would probably give this collection 4.5 stars, because of my picayune complaint mentioned earlier re: the Andromeda Strain transcription, and because I personally enjoy Terminal Man slightly less than the other two novels. I am rounding this up to 5, taking into account the great value these three books in one volume represents.
Any ONE of these books, but especially Train Robbery, in a nice hardcover binding would be worth the asking price of this three-novel set, so it's hard to go wrong with this item.
Terminal Man, nostolgic but still relevant Although the Terminal Man is a little dated (1972), it was definitely a fun book. I have worked in a university hospital most of my working life-in fact the U of M is mentioned in passing in the book-and started my career in neurology. It was fun revisiting the medical world of the 70s. Some of the tests and equipment that the character Benson underwent bring back memories. Some have changed considerably since that time, and some are no longer used. The lounging chair in which Mr Benson had air forced into his spine to enlarge and visualize his ventricles was called the pneumoenchephologram. So passe is that exam these days, that when I asked a medical student if he had ever heard of it, he was honestly puzzled by the reference .
Interesting too were the "futuristic" devices that the author predicted in the book. Some of them or variants of them are in fact available now, small implantable batteries for pacemakers that can last for years for one. In other cases, what is available is actually better. At the time of the action of Terminal Man, the now ubiquitous CAT scan had only just begun to appear as cutting edge technology in it's first generation form called the ACTA scan. The MRI, if it existed at all, was probably still in experimental form if not still on the drawing board. The concept of what might more easily be described as a brain "defibrillator" which is surgically implanted to stop intractable seizures is now being attempted as a course of treatment. They have also been tried as a treatment depression. Most interesting is the notion of interfacing living tissue with computer wires to effect behavior-in Crichton's book violent behavior-is now being done successfully according to recent information in Scientific American-in the latter case muscular movement.
If nothing, else, Michael Crichton captures that sense of the boundless possibilities of expanding computer technology. I think he also brings to the forefront the moral and ethical issues that are bound to arise as science moves more and more into the arena of behavior, effecting what we believe we are as human beings. As in so many of Crichton's books, disaster follows when the hubris of science attempts to control nature, and simply having good intentions is not always adequate insurance that such disasters will not occur. As we face genetically altered plants and animals, genetically altered human beings, cloning and other types of human dictated changes in nature, these issues will come up more and more frequently. How we as a society, even as a world wide species, will greatly effect the world we and our children live in the future.
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