Michael Crichton's The Lost World

Michael Crichton's The Lost World

I read Michael Crichton's The Lost World. In the following paragraphs, I will

not only explain the book, but also give my critique of it. I will also give a

paragraph that was probably the best paragraph in the book, in my opinion.

The book starts out with Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who had already had an

experience with live dinosaurs a couple of years ago on another island. He has

pretty much blocked that experience from his mind. Anyway, it also talks about

a man named Doctor Levine. This man talks at a lecture that Malcolm is watching

about the theory of there being a lost world, an island, undiscovered, that has

extinct animals on it, particularly dinosaurs. Malcolm dismisses this idea

saying that is the dumbest thing he ever heard. After the lecture, Levine talks

to Malcolm to help him in finding this "Lost World." Malcolm again dismisses

him. After a couple weeks of Levine nagging him, he sort of gets more into the

idea, and starts to believe it. Levine Narrows it down to one island, Isla

Sorna, and just leaves without telling anyone.

Two of Levine's students, Kelly and Arby, get worried when he wasn't there to

teach their class, because they were supposed to go on a field trip with him

that day. They go to a guy named Doctor Thorne, a guy that was making

specialized equipment for their trip. He said that he didn't know what was

going on. They contact Malcolm and they go to Levine's apartment. They go to

his computer room and see all this stuff on the wall about site B. They go onto

the computer and Arby gets all this stuff about site B on it. Malcolm then

finds out that the island that Levine went to was Isla Sorna. They plan this

whole trip to go there, just Malcolm, Thorne, and Thorne's assistant, Eddie.

They also call a woman named Sarah Harding, a scientist in Africa, to come with

them. She had to take a flight in a while, she was too far to just go with them.

They told the kids that they couldn't go. They leave for a helicopter with a

specialized explorer, and two trailers, with a lot of equipment. On the way

there, Thorne gets a call from Arby saying good luck. They get to the island

and search for Levine, with this device they have, the find him and go back to

the trailer. Before the go back, you find out that that Kelly and Arby hid in a

compartment in the trailer. The...

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...ey take the boat off the island, and go home.

I think the only weakness of the book is that it is too much like the first book,

Jurassic Park. ™ The characters have similar strengths and weaknesses, two kids,

etc.

I also thing that there are numerous strengths to the book. It was very

compelling, and some nights I'd be up until stupid hours in the morning reading

it because I couldn't put it down. It was a thrilling book. It kept you

wanting more.

A particular passage which impressed me was PP 422 & 423, Chapter Exit, the

whole chapter. I particularly liked this chapter because it sort of turned the

table on humans. We always think we are superior to every other animal in the

world, always taking them for granted, killing them and eating them. The T-Rex

brings Dodgson back to the nest for the babies to eat, sort of like when a bird

brings a worm home for its babies, only we're the worms.

In conclusion, I really liked this book, it is my favorite book now. I would

definitely recommend it to anyone. No matter what they are interested in. I

didn't read Jurassic Park, ™ but I am definitely going to, and I can't wait to

see the Lost World ™ on the big screen.