Micro

A Novel

By: Michael Crichton, Richard Preston

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

In Jurassic Park, he created a terrifying new world. Now, in Micro, Michael Crichton reveals a universe too small to see and too dangerous to ignore.

In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye.

In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting. Trillions of microorganisms, tens of thousands of bacteria species, are being discovered; they are feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up. Nanigen MicroTechnologies dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii, where they are promised access to tools that will open a whole new scientific frontier.

But once in the Oahu rain forest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals profound and surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power. To survive, they must harness the inherent forces of nature itself.

An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.

©2011 John Michael Crichton Trust (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

I got through it

The story and imagery of the book definitely kept me reading, but the dialogue was far too casual and unbelievable. Reminded me of a cheesy action movie in which the stars, knee deep in a shootout, still have the gall to banter with one another in spite their life-threatening situation. Reader was fantastic though.

Warning!

This isn't so much a review as a warning. The author(s) take an exquisite delight in the gory details - especially of the deaths of several of the characters. If you're squeamish, you might want to pick another book.

Otherwise, the book was entertaining and a bit thought-provoking. You'll never look at your lawn in the same way ever again!

Fantastic

I loved this story. I’ve read the book and listened to the audio book two times. Great book and narrator!

Great book and audio performance did it justice.

The story was well told. I'm sure a lot of research went into the story and was reflected in the details. I was highly entertained.

Two thumbs up!

Loved everything about this audio book! A must have! Plan on listening to Timeline next :)

Dangerous nature, the horror of insects.

if you like Michael Crichton you must read or listen to this book. inevitable Creighton fashion hold on for the journey who wins who loses worth a listen should be made into a movie.

Ambivalent

First off, I am a great fan of Michael Crichton. He came up with incredible concepts and his work was always fast paced. Yes, he demanded a lot of suspension of disbelief, but once past that, his work never failed to entertain. Same is true here, on steroids. There are gaping flaws in logic and execution, so much so that it becomes distracting at times. This applies both to the prose (how it was written) and to the plot (what was written). Like Stan Lee's comics of the 1960's, there were many instances when the description of the scene was promptly followed by a character regurgitating the same exact words. (The sky was blue. "Oh, the sky was blue," said Mary.) Distracting and pointless. Flaws in logic, again like the comics of the 1960's to present day, include a villain with technology amazing enough to make incredible profits, yet used for mundane things. (Victor Von Doom could have solved world hunger with his inventions, but decided to use them all to bother Reed Richards. A genius, indeed.)
Sorry, my inner dork digressed.
I do not want to give out spoilers, and won't. This book has several things going in its favor. It is entertaining and fast-paced. It has several jaw-dropping moments where you have to stop the tape and say "Holy $#%, did that just happen??" and you have to rewind to hear it again. So few books have this and it was a delight to get shocked like that. After those moments, the story seems to get new life.

John Bedford Lloyd was a bit wooden for my tastes, but I've heard worse.

In summary, it's like a bag of jelly beans. Some great parts, some bad parts, not nutrition by any means, but satisfying for a while.

Another Bio-fi great

I really enjoyed this story, and the narration. The micro world was an excellent setting for another sci fi great.

captivating, yet repetitive

A lot of the story could have been left out. Lots of action, hard to get your adrenaline running when every other page is another life or death situation. A good one time read, but the constant near death experiences made me want to rip my hair out. I love the author, rest in peace to him, but I don't think I'll ever re listen/ re read this one again.

it's like honey I shrunk the kids meets jurassic p

it's pretty good, not as good as say jurassic Park but still not bad, I'll read it again for sure and I sure do miss Michael crichton