The IBIC Guide to Books By Michael Crichton
(under construction)
Welcome to the IBIC Guide to Books By Michael Crichton. This Guide contains the following types of information:
More about the IBIC Guides
Sponsorship information
Fall 1995
As usual, Michael
Crichton delivers the goods in THE LOST
WORLD (Random House Web site) by (Alfred A. Knopf).
As you might expect, this sequel doesn't inspire quite the sense
of surprise and wonder as the original JURASSIC PARK. But it's
as gripping and intelligent as all of Crichton's other work.
One interesting point is that this book is not a direct
sequel to the previous story--that is, this novel does not pick
up exactly where the previous one left off. The story of THE
LOST WORLD is a self-contained one that leaves untied some major
threads from JURASSIC PARK. It's clear to me that this book was
written with the idea that there may be more JURASSIC books and
movies--it is, as they say, a "franchise". Better to think of
this book as one of "n" future JURASSIC books (perhaps not by
Crichton?) than as "the sequel" or "the conclusion".
Incidentally, the Random
House Web site is looking pretty damn slick.
1994
You can't judge Michael Crichton's DISCLOSURE (Knopf) by its
cover, which is a beautiful piece of design. The book itself is not
up to the author's usual standard. The plot--male computer exec
is accused of sexual harassment by female boss and must fight to
save his career--is, to put it bluntly, a yuppie fantasy, and it
places the author's moderate but annoying level of misogyny front and center
where you can't ignore it.
Comments from IBIC readers are welcome.
Please send a letter to the editor, subject line "Guides [Author/Genre]."
Be sure to mention the URL
of the page about which you are making a comment.
Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996
In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to
draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life
and thinking.
- When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and
Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's
classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's
descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on
the classic. What a great movie it would make!
- The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO
immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy.
I've read a number of translations over the years, but my
favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO;
PURGATORY;
PARADISE). The notes
are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading
her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE
INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
- I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY,
which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest
in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But
reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes
that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
- Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent
acquisition, the very handsome NIV
STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in
IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black
and brown
are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They
appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to
know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the
linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding
Scripture.
|
IBIC now provides seamless links to the on-line
ordering system at Amazon.com Books. To order a book, just click
on an underlined title. As a default, we link to paperback rather than hardcover editions of a particular title (although we may modify this rule if a hardcover edition looks to be a particularly
good deal). Our editorial philosophy is to put your interests first.
Comprehensive Table of Contents | Help
Copyright © 1996 Internet Book Information Center, Inc.
Send a Letter to the Editor