"It was half past midnight on March 17th, 1968. Keith Smart, the director of epidemiology and ecology at Utah’s Dugway Proving Grounds, was awakened by the ringing of a phone. On the other end was Dr. Bode, a professor at the University of Utah, and the director of the school’s contract with Dugway. There was a problem. Calls had been coming in. About 27 miles outside of the base, in the aptly-named Skull Valley, thousands of sheep had suddenly died. There were some survivors among the flocks, but it was clear that their hours were numbered. Veterinarians were dispatched to euthanize the few…
The first book I read by him was the one about the bio-terror attack with a virus. I read it because the New York Times sais that then-President Bill Clinton had read it, and this had lead to some anti-terrorism initiative that I thought was bullshit. I said to myself, if this novel is going to be resulting in bullshit I have to deal with, I better read it. What a piece of crap that book was. I much of my respect for Bill Clinton at that point, and more with the sexual scandals, although in retrospect he regained much ground and I like him more now. Then I read Andromeda Strain, and that…
Andromeda strain was written while he was in med school and published under a pseudonym iirc. I don't think he had time to think of a proper ending :-).
Yeah, I loved AS too. His later work has gone downhill but he was very innovative in his early career.
Really? I hated that one. Much preferred Andromeda Strain.
For me personally, "The Andromeda Strain" (1971) feels like science fiction that is true to the term itself, especially in its adherence to scientific principles.
The Martian does indeed have charm. I wonder if things like charm get lost in translation a little though. Thanks for the thoughts. I hate to generalise, but I have noticed that media from some other areas just isn't up to what I consider to be modern standards of views on gender, roles in society, and the role of authority. I say "modern" not because I feel some places are stuck in the past, but because I've seen these change over my lifetime where I grew up. It's one of the reasons I don't particularly like older media, The Andromeda Strain was a hard read/watch for this exact reason. I…
Andromeda Strain though I'm also fond of Terminal Man
Richard Preston, not Crichton. Maybe you’re thinking of The Andromeda Strain?