Travels

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere, comes a deeply personal memoir full of fascinating adventures as he travels everywhere from the Mayan pyramids to Kilimanjaro.

Fueled by a powerful curiosity - and by a need to see, feel, and hear, firsthand and close-up - Michael Crichton's journeys have carried him into worlds diverse and compelling - swimming with mud sharks in Tahiti, tracking wild animals through the jungle of Rwanda. This is a record of those travels - an exhilarating quest across the familiar and exotic frontiers of the outer world, a determined odyssey into the unfathomable, spiritual depths of the inner world. It is an adventure of risk and rejuvenation, terror and wonder, as exciting as Michael Crichton's many masterful and widely heralded works of fiction.

For Michael Crichton, being a Harvard-trained physician, the author of two bestsellers, and a movie director is not enough. It is, he resolves, time to travel. From swimming with sharks in Tahiti to psychic experiences in the American desert, Crichton records his exhilarating quest through the familiar and exotic frontiers of the outer world.

©1958 Michael Crichton and © 2014 by Taylor Crichton's Family Trust (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., for permission to reprint an excerpt from “The Way In” from The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated from the German by Robert Bly. © 1981 by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.

A Little Different

This book didn't catch my interest at the begining, but since I love Crichton's books I stuck with it. After a while I didn't want to stop listening. I thought the narrator was going to ruin the book as he appeared to be in monotone, but again he captured the dry sense of humor that is throughout the book. All in all I loved this book.

Intriguing insight to the world

I definitely did not expect to hear the stories shared by Michael Crichton in Travels. His life has been quite interesting, full of diverse experiences, from medical school to Hollywood to the paranormal world. Whether or not you agree with everything he does, Crichton writes so wonderfully, you can’t help to ponder, “well, maybe...”. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Fascination

it is always fascinating to read the words and thoughts of an open mind...open to all things possible in our existence.

Beautifully written, a journey into the psyche.

Michael Crichton is one of the greatest authors of the late 20th century. in this autobiographical work he takes us on a journey of Body, Mind and Spirit.

excellent memoir

A very well written explaination of Micheal's experiences to support his beliefs. highly recommended for anyone with an inquiring mind.

Terrific performance from Christopher Lane

What made the experience of listening to Travels the most enjoyable?

Great book. I've read it several times, but this was the first audio version. Christopher Lane does an incredible performance. Highly recommend!

pretty cool

His openess of self in these short stories is nothing short of great. From medical skeptic to mystic journeyman, all of the time hard headed, but as a listener seemlingly so naive, gullible; but a real honesty that people would never put out there, making it exceptional.
These stories go beyond just travels and delve into the human cognition of emotions; particularly to society and what is said to be true in his world (as in most peoples worlds) expelling popular misnomers of his professional beliefs through experiment, spirituality as well as entertaining the idea of psychics; enough to see some validity in it.
Mediation and spirituality have been a focus for me to overcome certain personal obstacles, half my life, making these stories resonate very strongly.
His notes, if true, go against the grain of current social norms and have given me a glimmer of new hope to explore things I would never have believed to be true. For example, I'm currently trying to see people's auras as I think of words to write this. Thanks MC's fam for putting this posthumous writing out there!

After the first few hours I was hooked!

I love that Crichton was an explorer of the inner and outer dimensions. Going on those travels with him as he laid them out was a slow and delightful discovery. I really appreciated the last chapter about his exploration of science and mysticism.

Thoroughly enjoyed this

I read this book years ago and selected it as one of my favorites. Now I’m audio format with one of my favorite narrators: work of art!

Wonderful book, but wrong choice of narrator

I have always loved this little known memoir by Michael Chrichton, and was looking forward to listening to the audiobook. Unfortunately the audiobook was hard for me to enjoy. To clarify, the narrator is clearly skilled and seasoned and there was nothing wrong with his performance, but I feel he was a poor choice to narrate this particular book. 'Travels' is about Chrighton's adventures, both physically and spiritually, and he details often extreme adventures such as climbing Kilamanjaro, tracking great apes in Rwanda and scuba diving with sharks. I found the narrator's tone somewhat formal, almost upper crust, which felt at odds to me with the spirit of the memoir.