Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Andromeda Strain

The Andromeda Strain
The Andromeda Strain
Author: Michael Crichton
ISBN-13: 9780345418982
ISBN-10: 0345418980
Publication Date: 6/23/1997
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 13

3.6 stars, based on 13 ratings
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

36 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

shiner716 avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 34 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I've never been one for the Sci-Fi or science type stuff but I had to read this for a class in college and WOW!.. I had to keep checking and double checking because it was so good I thought it was a true story. All the extra documentation and "printouts" were an added bonus that helped with the believabilty. If you read only one Sci-Fi book, make it this one. (It's *much* better than the movie which I had to watch for the same class.)
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on
Typical Crichton style, lots of scientific explanation to wade through at the beginning. However, this book at least introduces you to the plot first thing before getting to the wading. But also typical Crichton, if you perservere, you will be rewarded. Excellent read.
Phunter avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 35 more book reviews
It was probably cutting edge technology when it was first released in 1969 - heck, it was probably quite futuristic in many ways considering the first PCs didn't appear on the market until the 80's. He goes into a remarkable amount of technical detail which is pretty interesting and some of the speculative theories concerning alien life forms were new to me. All in all it is still a pretty good page turner.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 48 more book reviews
loved it spine tingling when it was new we had just had a scare that coincided with this book .
smokeyandjo avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 4 more book reviews
Excellent
jcvest avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 34 more book reviews
Andromeda Strain is classic, really on the same level as Jurassic Park (yes, I know the movie JP was much better than the movie of this, but the books are equally great!).
Highly recommended, you won't regret the time spent reading it.
RevCherylMarie avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 13 more book reviews
By far his best.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 141 more book reviews
If you've never read his one you should!
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 6 more book reviews
Saw this movie when I was a kid and the book is great. The techincal stuff adds to the realism without killing the story. Those interested can pour over it, those not can skip over and not lose their way. Great suspense and style. A good start for those getting into Crichton.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 10 more book reviews
I've never been a Crichton fan, but this was a good story. So I would say, yes, it is a good book.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 157 more book reviews
Exciting!
KelseyFamily06 avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 53 more book reviews
Good Book.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 27 more book reviews
Interesting and suspenseful. I found the ending disappointing, but it was a good read.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 54 more book reviews
Due to governmental 'secret' programs a contaminated space probe has landed that seems to end up killing everybody around quite quickly. Even the laboratory set up for this eventuality is having problems. A novel about what people fear will happen someday -- good flow and easy to read.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 82 more book reviews
Very exciting thriller, all the more sinister because the events depicted could well come to pass! A bacteria from space - kills in seconds - how to combat it, how to understand it? Technical in places, doesn't really detract from the story if you don't "get it".
redhatter avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 577 more book reviews
Five prominent biophysisicists give the United States government an urgent warning: sterilizationprocedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated reentry to the atmosphere.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 4 more book reviews
'Have re-read this book more than one - still a great one.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 10 more book reviews
Suspense about a deadly virus.
theinfamousj avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 29 more book reviews
And my streak of reviewing thrillers continues with the second epidemiological thriller in a row! The Andromeda Strain is another reread. I picked it up because (a) I had the book sitting on the shelf doing nothing, and (b) I had already reread Carriers so I figured, "Why not?"

It is the story of a bunch of scientists doing their scientific thing in trying to find the cure to a plague that originates in outer space. Well, not really foreign outer space so much as simply really, really, really high up in Earth's atmosphere outer space. As it so happens, we do have such archaebacteria that can live in these totally inhospitable environments on Earth, so the premise isn't that far fetched. Yes, I know the culprit in this case is a virus and not a bacterium, but still ...

This novel is chock full of government (in)efficiencies, (pseudo?)epidemiological jargon, computer read outs, and time pressure to cause the suspense. The climax and problem that beset the novel aren't what originally appear to be the case. Many reviewers are incredibly upset that the initial problem resolves itself, while completely missing the point that the race-against-time to save the lab from certain destruction is the actual climax.

This novel reminded me a lot of Mount Dragon , or perhaps Mount Dragon reminded me a lot of The Andromeda Strain as they both greatly detail the procedures in place to keep the contagion from spreading out of the lab and becoming an epidemic, and in both cases and explosive is the ultimate failsafe.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 173 more book reviews
5 prominent biophysicists give the U.S. government an urgent warning:
sterilization procedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated reentry to the atmosphere...
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 15 more book reviews
Typical Crichton - suspenseful, thought-provoking. A quick read and hard to put down!
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on
A Crichton classic thriller.
grendelynn avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 15 more book reviews
Great writing--Crichton's very good at pulling you into the meat of the story. Highly recommend this for a fast, intriguing read.
ChaseFamilyZoo avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 2 more book reviews
I read this book because I saw it listed on SurvivalBlog's suggested reading. It gives you an idea of how a biological threat would be handled by the government.
It is written as an "expose" of the government's handling of an extraterrestrial bacteria that has returned to earth with a satellite and is causing bizarre deaths. Sort of anticlimactic at the end, in my opinion, but very enjoyable read.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 7 more book reviews
Great Book, but I didn't like the ending.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 66 more book reviews
Another enjoyable read with a lot of suspense.
peanutsmommy avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 49 more book reviews
What if there was a virus so lethal it ould kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death....but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus ever known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busiest cities in America...and the world? What, if anything, could stop it?
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 282 more book reviews
Good classic Sci-Fi "What if" book.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 236 more book reviews
What if there was a virus so lethal, it could kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death....but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busies cities in America and the world?
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 335 more book reviews
What if there was a virus so lethal, it could kill people as quickly as they took a breath? What if it spared some people from instant death...but drove them hopelessly insane instead? What if the swiftest acting, deadliest virus ever known to humankind could be spread, by no more than a gust of wind, from the remote desert site of its first massacre to the busiest cities in America...and the world? What, if anything, could stop it?

There are no villains in this hot zone. Only the microscopic seeds of Earth's extinction. It is stealthy, sudden, savage. And we are all susceptible to it...
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 60 more book reviews
Copyright 1969, later made into a movie starring Arthur Hill as Dr. Jeremy Stone
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on
Mine has a different cover from the one pictured.
Nightcrawler avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 207 more book reviews
Great book.
Rebemdee avatar reviewed The Andromeda Strain on
My fiancee read it; he enjoyed it but said he was a bit disappointed by the ending.
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 40 more book reviews
(My book has a different cover) "Relentlessly suspenseful...a hair raising experience" - The Pittsburgh Press
reviewed The Andromeda Strain on + 69 more book reviews
best to review at Amazon.com