Much like Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Timeline, Micro sees a set of people thrown into an unknown environment. In this case they are shrunken and deserted in a rain forest. Insects become monsters in this micro-world and even at the height of half an inch, the people find mites, which are as tiny to them as a flea or chigger is to a person of normal size. One of my favorite parts is when they go swimming/bathing and one woman finds a paramecium, a one-celled organism with cilia all around it to propel it. She holds it in her hand and feels the cilia brush against her fingers.
As per normal for Crichton, there is a company which has developed amazing technology but has been doing some shady business as well. When certain people learn about this, they disappear. Then the disappearances start to pile up drastically, which is how the students (being recruited to work for the company) find themselves stranded in the rain forest–they are meant to die there. Many do, of course, but the bad guy has a hell of a time getting rid of them.
Here’s what I love about Crichton: I always learn new things in his books and feel smarter for having read them. In this case I learned just how important pheremones are to creatures of tiny proportions, that certain wasps lay eggs in a host, that mites exist just about everywhere, and that tiny creatures have seemingly enormous strength because gravity has less of an effect on them (hence an ant being able to carry objects that weighs twice its own weight).
I really liked this book. If you enjoy Crichton, read it. If you like adventure stories, read it. If you like science and technology, read it. If you like bugs, read it. Basically…just read it.
Review by Jessica A.
This children’s book is for the youngest Star Wars fans and their parents. The drawings are incredibly cute. The book is arranged with mostly single-panel comics. One such comic involved a bunch of clones trying to differentiate one another. I laughed out loud at this wondering, how do the clones tell each other apart? Another favorite summed up C3PO and R2D2’s relationship in a nutshell with C3PO saying, ”Why do you always have to be on a mission? Can’t we just go for a walk?” This little book is filled with many smiles, perfect for Star Wars fans with little ones.
This short story first appeared in Space Science Fiction in May 1952. It’s currently available through Project Gutenberg. I confess, I guessed the reveal fairly early on in the story, but it didn’t take away from the fun of it one bit. In the story, two kids have found a couple of very small animals that they plan to keep and feed and use as their ticket into working for the circus. Their fathers are waiting for a space ship with very small aliens to land so they can initiate business between their two peoples. I think you can see where this is heading. The kids make the connection before the adults, naturally.
The little book that started the great big franchise, Jurassic Park warns of the dangers inherent in scientific hubris and greed. Just because you can recreate an extinct creature, doesn’t mean you can control it.
At heart, this review concerns a book about books. More, it is about the necessity for books. The basic plot of the book is about the authoritarian banning and burning of books. The origins of “Fahrenheit 451” were written on a typewriter in the basement of UCLA’s Powell Library. A 1947 short story “Bright Phoenix” and 1951’s “The Pedestrian” were combined into the novella “The Fireman”. At 25,000 words it was written in just nine days. This was expanded into “Fahrenheit 451” and published in 1953.
This book falls squarely into one of my greatest areas of interest–time travel. I think perhaps I watched Back to the Future too many times growing up. Many of my daydreams involve time travel: Where and when I would travel? Who I would meet? How would I effect a change on history? A great icebreaker is to ask what person/band from the past would you like to see perform live? The resulting answer can lead to hours of conversation. Trust me.