The Andromeda Strain

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: David Morse

First published fifty years ago, The Andromeda Strain redefined the science fiction genre, and immediately established Michael Crichton as one of the brightest voices in contemporary literature worldwide.

"I love anything Michael Crichton writes." (Stephen King)

A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant.

The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation’s most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory located five stories beneath the desert and fitted with an automated atomic self-destruction mechanism for cases of irremediable contamination. Under conditions of total news blackout and the utmost urgency, the scientists race to understand and contain the crisis. But the Andromeda Strain proves different from anything they’ve ever seen - and what they don’t know could not only hurt them, but lead to unprecedented worldwide catastrophe.

©1969 Constant c Productions, Inc.; Copyright renewed 1996 by CrichtonSun LLC (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Older book still a good read.

Still a very good read even after having read the paperback many years ago. Classic Crichton

Listen to the sample first!

I simply cannot listen to this reader. I cannot finish this book. I'm going to return this audiobook and go find a print copy.

Crichton is to SF what Einstein is to Mathematics

Any additional comments?

Andromeda Strain is science fiction in the purest sense of the term—real world science manipulated in such a way that you can't help but believe something like this could really happen. The casual fan of modern sci-fi might be overwhelmed by Crichton's painstaking attention to scientific detail. When I was growing up, the only people I knew reading Crichton were hardcore techies and Popular Mechanics geeks. This audio version of Andromeda Strain makes the story accessible in a whole new way. Instead of trying to read through all of the technical jargon Crichton employs to great effect, you can hear it performed by an equally talented narrator. Crichton doesn't miss a single opportunity to challenge the imagination through scientific fact and fictional supposition. In my opinion, this story remains one of the greatest sci-fi stories ever written. I highly recommended it!
(Lasers not included)

1969 holds up well

I was nine years old when this book was written, and remember watching on TV the first man, Neil Armstrong, walk on the moon.

A lot has changed since that time. We here often that the computing power of our cell phones is greater than the computing power they had at the time.

So, it is remarkable how well this story hold up, all these years later. I picked up this book because a sequel he is going to be released soon. I hope it is as good.

Enjoyable, but abrupt ending.

I really enjoyed the book, but the ending was a little abrupt and anticlimactic. Almost like he gave up on the story and moved on. Still, well narrated and an enjoyable experience.

I loved the whole thing

it's slow start but a good listen. I love stories about special facilities like this and sphere

Disappointing

This book was underwhelming at best and they couldn't have had a worse narrator. The narrator didn't vary his voice much and talked so slowly that I found it difficult to pay attention to the book.

Wait, that's it???

Ok, I admit that because I'm an engineer, the long descriptions of science here and even the long transcripts of communication records some other reviewers criticized didn't bother me in the least. I actually enjoyed the in depth descriptions of the science and of the government facility's construction and sterilization techniques. I found the plot compelling and felt drawn in immediately. But when the story ended I was honestly baffled. I thought that perhaps my download had glitched and I missed a part of the story. The other reviews that indicate that the ending was rushed were perhaps too kind. The story just stops. I think the author leaves the door open intentionally to allow the reader to imagine the possibilities but it was so abrupt and left so many doors hanging wide open that it's bordering on unforgivable to me. Instead of a novel, it felt like a creative writing assignment. Here's the setup, now you write the story in your head of what happens from here! It was such a careful and intricate setup that the abrupt ending felt lazy. It was like purchasing half a story. I struggled deciding how many stars to give it and I think if I could award half stars, I'd have given it a 2.5. I decided to go for three stars because I really did enjoy every minute of it and had it even remotely concluded any of the story lines, I probably would have gone for a 4 based on how quickly I was taken in and how much I enjoyed the set up. But it feels so incongruent to spend so much time and detail to set up a story and then just....stop. It felt vastly unsatisfying to end the book feeling so incomplete. I agree with the reviewers that really enjoyed the story's buildup but ultimately, the conclusion felt like a door was slammed in my face and I'm not able to really recommend this book because of it. I recommend a title change to The Andromeda Setup. Sorry, Mr Crichton. You clearly did your research and set up a beautiful and compelling plot but I fear you did the reader a huge disservice without the satisfaction of a more complete story with a definite conclusion.

Great listen, but for another era

Because this book is set in the 60s it is, in addition to a great biological thriller, an interesting study of unacknowledged issues of gender inequality and a lack of racial diversity. Only a great writer can vividly convey how times, technology and diversity have changed for the better.

Perfect light listening during a global pandemic!

There's nothing more calming to listen during the recents events than a horror story about a killer pathogen from outer space. Now that everyone has to sit in quarantine, this is exactly the kind of audiobook I would recommend!

I'm joking, but the book is honestly very good. This was my first time venturing into the "hard sci-fi" genre, and I was kinda apprehensive that the prose would be way too dry or impossible to comprehend for a layman - but it wasn't. It felt like a thrilling documentary, or something of the sort. The characters were pretty bland, but characters aren't the focus of this book, and instead, all the fantastical science behind the events happening in the plot is. And it really works that way! The more it progressed, the more interesting it got. The only thing I didn't quite like was the narration. It took some time to get used to every character sounding the same and kind of flat and unemotional at times, but it wasn't a dealbreaker by any means. Still very enjoyable in either case.