The Andromeda Strain

Eerie, frightening, suspenseful......and (even though the book is overly 50 years old now), in this day & age of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, more relevant than ever.RANDOM STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS:—p. 19: “At the time of Andromeda, there had never been a crisis of biological science, and the first Americans faced with the facts were not disposed to think in terms of one.” Prescient vis-a-vis COVID-19 novel Coronavirus?—p. 20: MAJ Manchek is an Army officer, nor Air Force, yet he keeps getting posted at Air Force bases (Wright-Pat, Vandy) and specialises in spacecraft??—p. 31: “A mathematician once joked that binary numbers were the way people who have only two fingers count.”—p. 38: “Mrs. Stone was annoyed: she had been raised in official Washington, where one’s second cup of coffee, offered pointedly without cognac, was accepted as a signal to go home. Unfortunately, she thought, academics did not follow the rules.” Ha, absent-minder professors and academic stuffed-shirts!—p. 44: “Physically, Stone was a thin, balding man with a prodigious memory that catalogued scientific facts and blue jokes with equal facility.” Haha, bully for the blue jokes!European Economic Community, wow, the predecessor of the EU.—p. 49: “Barely two years after his letter to the President, Stone was satisfied that ‘this country has the capability to deal with an unknown biologic agent.’ He professed himself pleased with the response of Washington and the speed with which his ideas had been implemented. But privately, he admitted to friends that it had been almost too easy, that Washington had agreed to his plans almost too readily.” Prescient? Is life imitating art now with COVID-19?—p. 52: “Vandenberg is used for west-to-east orbits, as opposed to Cape Kennedy, which launches east-to-west;” hmmm, interesting, I wonder if this is still true?—p. 53: Ah, back in the day when the Indian city was still called Bombay and not Mumbai.—p. 54: “though he could not balance his own checkbook, mathematicians often came to him for help in resolving highly abstract problems.” Haha, sounds like my own Dad (God rest his soul)—p. 58: “As he grew older, however, Leavitt had stopped traveling. Public health, he was fond of saying, was a young man’s game; when you got your fifth case of intestinal amebiasis, it was time to quit.” Gadzooks!—p. 78: “It gave him a strange feeling to see the wrist and leg sliced open, the chest exposed—but no bleeding. There was something wild and inhuman about that. As if bleeding were a sign of humanity. Well, he thought, perhaps it is. Perhaps the fact that we bleed to death makes us human.” Yep, as opposed to octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, which evidently don’t bleed no matter how thoroughly you slice ‘n’ dice ‘em.—p. 95: “A guard in the corner was making a telephone call; he had a machine gun slung over his shoulder.” Um, as in submachine gun or automatic rifle? Because a true full-sized machine gun is not meant to be casually slung over one shoulder unless you’re built like Hulk Hogan.—p. 100: “Hall found himself looking at nine of the largest German shepherds he had ever seen.” Okay, but were any of them solid black GSDs? 🐺—p. 107: “Stone was there, standing stiffly erect and alert, as if he had just taken a cold shower.” Um, any double-entendre intended?—p. 109: Hudson Institute!—p. 116: “Then Stone lay down on one of the couches and fell instantly asleep. It was a trick he had learned years before, when he had been conducting experiments around the clock. He learned to squeeze in an hour here, two hours there. He found it useful.” Hmmm, similar to Demo Dick Marcinko’s concept of the “combat nap?”—p. 181: “‘He’s a book-learning fool, you know. Lawyer. Talks real big, but he hasn’t got the sense God gave a grasshopper’s behind.’” Haha, good one!—p. 191: Um, a Major is supposed to address a Colonel as “Sir,” not the other way around.—p. 192: “Goddard Spaceflight Center, outside Washington.” Hey, some kind of good omen job-wise, perhaps?—p. 243: “SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID that ‘true genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.’”

I have had this book on my read list for years and finally got around to it. Now maybe I’ll even watch the movie.It’s a good story. It’s quick, fast paced and though there is a lot of scientific data thrown at you, it’s fairly easy to comprehend what they are talking about with it.I especially enjoyed that this was set in the 60’s. The explanations of the newest scientific methods of the time were being used, though maybe not as thorough as they hoped they’d were. Introductions of medicines, treatments, not to mention what the normal populace considered using, even being told it was detrimental to their health - such as a bottle of aspirin a day and using ‘squeeze’. I’d heard of people using Sterno this way, but it was the first I’d heard of how it was done. Sounds horrible, but it amazes me what people will choose to do, if it works for them, in the short term. I liked how the medical doctor just took this information in stride, even contemplating if it was part of the cure in some way.The science and drama in this story were superbly done and kept me interested in reading. I started and finished this book in a 24 hour period. That’s not uncommon for me, but it does mean it was a good read, otherwise it would have taken a day or two longer. I didn’t want to put this down.The only issue I had with the writing was minor. The story read as happening currently as it was written just set in the 60’s. Then the author would post foreshadowing comments, such as saying one of the scientists of the project would fail to notice something until so much later. I don’t mind foreshadowing, but I prefer a more subtle approach. If this is supposed to be read as a report after the fact, it doesn’t start that way or through many sections throughout.Still a great read and a fun story.

The one issue is the references to future statements. Thus, we know everyone survives. Somehow, I forgot that, so was especially excited to see the ending.Anyway, I think this is even better than Jurassic Park which I've read 100 times. Guess I need to add this to my repeat reads from time to time!

Loved it first page to last 🙂

Michael Crichton had a way with writing that made me actually enjoy sci-fi. He was able to explain scientific sounding things in a way that made them easy to understand. The Andromeda Strain progresses at a steady pace making you feel like you are in the lab with the scientists. Often it’ll say things like “he wouldn’t realize his mistake for two days” letting the reader know that something was missed or done wrong and there will be repercussions that you are just waiting to watch unfold. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sci-fi thrillers or is a fan of Michael Crichton’s writing.

I enjoy the creative situations Michael Crichton invents in his stories. Anyone should be able to see that he personally had a very scientific mind. This story, however interesting the situation may be, is overly saturated with description of technology and scientific information rather than the conflict involving the Andromeda Strain. I found myself losing interest with description after description of how certain technology worked. I would have enjoyed more time spent on the scientist actually interacting with the mysterious organism. At times it reads more like a biological technology textbook rather than a novel. Overall, I found it interesting to read, but won’t be reading it again.

Its a classic, so timely hes on his way to college to study medicine. Perfect

Livro interessante com bons insights técnicos a respeito de bacterias e virus. A leitura é rápida e suave. Embora esperasse mais do livro, devo dizer que para mim valeu a pena a experiência. Recomendo a leitura.

long time that i saw the movie for the first time , I was shock, today that i read the book , feels kind of ¨old¨

J'ai eu envie pendant le confinement de lire des livres contextuellement significatifs. Alors j'ai lu ce livre qui évoque une contamination par un truc venu de l'espace après une expérience hors de l'atmosphère. Un truc qui a le potentiel de contaminer toute la surface de la planète et qui ne fait pas de cadeau.Un soir ou une nuit, deux soldats vont récupérer un satellite tombé dans une petite bourgade. A leur arrivée, tous les habitants ou presque sont morts après avoir tripoté le satellite. Branle-bas de combat, la situation avait été prévue et on retrouve plusieurs scientifiques convoqués fissa dans un complexe militaro-scientifique haut de gamme qui peut faire poum en cas de problème.Le roman date des années 70 il me semble et ça se ressent (j'ai retrouvé avec plaisir le genre que j'avais découvert pendant mon enfance en tombant sur un vieux carton) mais le récit reste passionnant. Le texte est chargé, pour ne pas dire surchargé, en données scientifiques. Donc il faut être prêt à ça. Mais sinon il y a de la tension, une montée en pression et c'est très bien écrit.Je recommande sans souci. C'est du très bon.

Sono affezionato allo stile ed ai romanzi di Crichton, ma questo libro mi ha un pò deluso, finale scialbo e sembra scritto in fretta

J'ai apprécié le thème de l'histoire et la manière dont l'auteur maintient le lecteur en haleine. Les aspects scientifiques sont obsolètes mais la problématique demeure d'actualité, que les pathogènes soient d'origine terrestre ou extraterrestre !