Airframe by Michael Crichton

Unfortunately my blog has been left unattended for so long that if it’s a physical entity, spiders and ants will invade and call it a home of their own. An obscene... truly obscene amount of work, travel, study and etcetera sort of helped in relegating the blog to the backseat for all these while. Truth to be told, I am not too happy with letting this passion of mine gone underground; which is the exact reason why I’ve decided to update it before I slip into obscurity again :-S

Anyway, with the latest news about Qantas airline and their A380 flights being grounded due to engine issues, I guess the time is ripe for me to review about this book entitled “Airframe by Michael Crichton”. I have read this book eon ago and usual circumstances prevented me from penning my thoughts about it :-(

Essentially, this techno-thriller is about TransPacific Flight 525 which “porpoises (go Google for the meaning :-P)” while en-route to US; killing several passengers and injuring few more in the process. News about the airworthiness of the airplane frame developed by Norton Aircraft pitches the company into unwanted limelight with potential to “kaput” the company itself.

In the ensuing chaotic moments and finger pointing, enter the superwoman and VP of Quality Control; Casey Singleton who “almost singlehandedly” pushed through all the obstacles (yes, I hear the girl power shout back there :-P) and solved the mystery and discovered the root cause of the incident.

Well, the root cause is none other than a loving papa letting his beloved son fly the plane; which the son is not certified to helm in the first place. So when disaster strikes, the son panicked and went...

“OH NO! Papa papa... what should I do… let me check the guidebook first!”

And up and down the plane goes, throwing everyone like a cookie crumble in an empty container :-P

So ladies and gentlemen, that’s the root cause. BUT, let me tell you. Boring book this is not. It is interestingly written, engaging and most of all, Michael is an excellent story teller, weaving fact into fiction and vice versa; confusing yours truly and no doubt you all out there. Come on... admit that you’re confused too... don’t be shy... heheheheh

Technical details and jargons are limited and explained if it’s really unavoidable. In fact, after reading through the book, I felt as if I’ve worked in Norton Aviation itself. Imagine the details expounded by Michael while writing this book. Reading through all the technicalities are no problem at all, as if Michael lubricated the book with high grade synthetic engine oil. Smooth and squeaky... chut chut chut :-D

Go read it boys and girls... I’m sure you’ll be able to feel the “slipperiness” first hand and agree with me too.


Personal rating: 9 out of 10
Cons:
1) N/A

Pros:
1) "Slippery" and smooth read :-)
2) Enjoyable read up till the last sentence

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

First and foremost, I’ve to admit that I’ve been a slog in updating my blog with book reviews. But then, I need to work to earn a living you see :-P (I hope that explains everything). Anyway, I think I’m getting better at speed reading.

In fact, I managed to finish (on average) a 300pager (plus minus) on a one way 3hours flight (excluding transits); that is after deducting off the sleep, the lunch, the toilet visit etc etc etc (I find that etcetera makes me sound more intelligent :-P).

So, here I am, stuck at transit terminal typing the latest book review on a book entitled “Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton”. It should be noted that this same book was previously published as “The 13th Warrior by Michael Crichton”.

“Praise not the day until evening has come; a woman until she is burnt; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk” – Northmen/Viking’s proverb

Praise to Michael because this is the kind of book which I actually enjoyed reading. Suspense, thriller, gore and grime all blended together ala tutti-frutti. I don’t know whether to believe references quoted conspicuously as footnote as you read thru the book but Michael did say that “sic”; “the references in the afterword are genuine. The rest of the novel, including its introduction, text, footnotes, and bibliography, should be viewed as fiction.”

This book is supposedly written with reference to original manuscripts/travelogues penned by Ibn Fadlan with sprinkling of ideas taken from Old English epic of Beowulf.

In this book (criss-cross between fact and fiction), we follow Ibn Fadlan; a refined Arab courtier; a representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad; on an off-tracked adventure.
He was supposedly sent as an embassy of the Caliphate to the king of the Volga Bulgars but was sidetracked when his badly timed (or sheer bad luck) visit to the Northern wild lands resulting him to be chosen as the 13th warrior; hence the name of the book.

In this book, the Vikings in the Kingdom of Rothgar in the Land of Venden are being spooked, mercilessly slaughtered and cannibalized by “apparitions” in the black mist. Despite being hardy and brave warriors they are, these Vikings are no match for the unseen and “shall not be named” enemy. Hence, King Rothgar’s son, Wulfgar, trekked and sailed all the way to seek help from a hero named Buliwyf to wipe out this menace from their land.

To cut the story short, the 13 warriors grabbed their gears, ate; drank, frolicked and copulated all the way to their destination :-)

When they finally met the creatures in the black mist for the first time, they fought full heartedly and managed to beat them back; only to see the reappearance of the creature in the form of “the glowworm dragon a.k.a Korgon”; which is basically a bunch of horse-riders with fire torch riding as a horde.

Our warriors fought hard and even went deep into the enemy’s territory to complete the annihilation; however, they’re able to do it only when they ventured to the underwater cave/lair to kill the “Big Momma” of the enemies :-P, thus, throwing them into disarray.
Buliwyf and many of the warriors are killed in the end, and our protagonist, Ibn Fadlan escaped with a great story under his belt. End of story.

Whew, I’m so relieved to be able to pen this book review during my transit hours. So, I shall start reading another book after I log off, and hopefully I’ll be able to find time to write another book review on my journey home to “tanah tumpahnya darahku” :-)

Gonna board my ferry now... TATA…

P/s: I’ll be baacck… (voice-over like Terminator)

Personal rating: 8 out of 10

Cons:
None that I can think of

Pros:
1) Good description on the Viking’s way of life. I enjoyed the description of their crude lifestyle which somewhat pales in comparison with the “refined” lifestyle of the ancient Asian cultures
2) Michael managed to blur the line between fact and fiction seamlessly. It is a truly enjoyable read

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

According to the Daily Mail, this novel entitled "Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton" is "fast-moving, gripping". Yes, I would agree to this statement but the only thing which I consider as "fast-moving, gripping" is my bowel movement after a hot laksa soup... and definitely NOT this book :-D

On a serious note, this book is purportedly found as complete manuscript in Michael's files after his death in 2008; and it is somewhat based on a memoir written by the protagonist in the novel, Charles Hunter entitled "Life Among the Privateers of the Caribbean Sea".

Truth to be told, I don't really plan to write this review in such a way that it sounded downright negative, but I find the plot this book too shallow and do not reflect the true genius of a seasoned writer like Michael.

It seemed to me that Michael wrote this book after watching Pirates of the Caribbean movies (starred by the enigmatic Johnny Depp :-P). Well, let’s see... I have summarized the following "characteristics" found in almost all pirate novels.

1) Bad @$$ captain and crew
2) A ship full of sail & cannons
3) Equally bad @$$ enemy
4) Treasures
5) Sea fight
6) Etc etc
7) Oh, not to be missed... Kraken!

This book fulfilled all the abovementioned points; plus minus a bit more; and sadly, that's all about it.

To summarize everything, this book is about a band of privateers (not pirates OK? :-P) of the early British Empire lead by Charles Hunter launching a bold mission to attack a Spanish stronghold called Matanceros, which is zealously guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla. To cut the story really short, they had to go thru a lot of planning and hardship before they eventually succeed in their plan. Boring right? :-|

Yes, that's my expression throughout the book :-| not even once did the storyline managed to pique my attention. As befitting this book; in my opinion; the reader might as well watch the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy. At least those movies have cute casts and corny but funny dialogues.


Personal rating: 2 out of 10 (the worst among all Michael's novels)

Cons:
1) The plot is too darn predictable. Read only if you have nothing else to read.

Pros:
1) Purportedly based on actual events and real life figures as depicted in the epilogue.

Prey by Michael Crichton

Have you ever thought about microorganisms you inhale day in, day out?
How about the itch at the back of your neck as you read this blog entry?
Are you really sure that the air you breath is clean? The itch is harmless?
Why don’t you reach back and scratch that itch... just do it before you continue to read this posting… :-P

Which brings us to the review of this book entitled “Prey by Michael Crichton”; because miniscule particles are not as harmless as it seems.

Published in year 2002, this novel is based on tale of misguided bunch of scientist creating nanobots based on genetically modified E.Coli bacteria for Department of Defense. Pushed into the main storyline is our protagonist, Jack Forman who used to be a top notch artificial software programmer until he was booted out for revealing his boss’ under-table dealings.

Being a house-husband and his wife (who works as VP for Xymos, a nanorobotics company) as sole breadwinner pushed him to the brink of emotional roller coaster as he suspected his wife for having an affair behind him (clues: very tight clothes, late night bath before sleep, late night phone calls and wearing those “f*ck-me-heels”).

Things started spiraling down when his kid was afflicted with severe rashes only to be cured instantly when they loaded her into MRI scan. He was then offered by his ex-boss to work with his old gang of programmers to rein in a swarm of escaped nanoparticles, which shows obvious sign of evolving, reproducing, self-sufficiency and the ability to learn and innovate.

Wait a minute... this is boring book review... what am I doing writing a formal book review!!
Crazy me… let me restart…

Ahem…!

This book is about a bunch of people trying to rein in a bunch of escaped nanoparticles originally designed for military purposes. So basically it’s about human against a swarm of nanoparticles with intelligence!

So did we (as human) wins?

Of course we win, we always win due to our ingenious; think-out-of-the-box intelligence. The team of protagonist in the novel smoked, lured, tagged (not individually-lah of course), tailed, before finally bombing the swarm’s hideout.

In the end, the swarm is not the only problem they have because some of the “smarter” swarm has found a way to co-exist symbiotically with humans!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, some of the particles decided that living inside a human host and propagates via kisses (or something else not mentioned in this book :-P) is the best way of surviving amidst the land of crazy Homo-sapiens.

But of course, our heroes in this book will not let this happen without crossing over their dead bodies. So they combat back with more particles; which is bad for the symbiotic particles but harmless for human; and after that, they bombed the place to smithereens to complete the annihilation.

What do I think about the book?
Hmmm… I think I got smarter after reading it :-D

I can now talk about the potential harm of tweaking stuff on minuscule level without considering its future consequences.
It would be like introducing vector A to kill vector B only to realize that vector A is harmful to the environment and will go on to kill vector C, D and E.

Told you I’m smarter now...hehehe…


Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) Sometimes long winded explanation on scientific stuff; which is essential to the progress of the storyline but drags the pace of the story itself

Pros:
1) Ingenious assimilation of family problems with technical mumbo-jumbo in one action packed storyline.
2) One of few novels I’ve read with citations to actual thesis/dissertation/white paper on actual researches done.

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

Excerpt from the main opening of the book entitled “The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton”.

Satan is glad – when I am bad
And hopes that I – with him shall lie
In fire and chains – and dreadful pains

- Victorian Child’s Poem, 1856

You know you’re in for a good ride… errrr… a good read when you have Michael’s book in your lap. His book is thoroughly enjoyable and is often irresistibly delicious to read. So much so that forsaking your sleep to turn the pages and read seems worthwhile.

Written in 1975 (way before I was born :-P), this book is what I would categorize as one of the most readable book despite being written mostly in Victorian Era’s speech and slang. Unlike "DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little" which read like a choked carburetor, this book is such a joy to read that I felt somewhat smarter in Victorian slang after reading it :-)

Great example (from the book) would be:
“Pierce asks him the question, see, but he shows no interest in the matter, he plays like a flimp or a dub buzzer, or a mutcher, no interest or importance, and this because he don’t want the skipper to granny that a bone lay is afoot. Now the skipper should have done, we went to a lot of trouble on his account, and he could have put down on us to the miltonians, and for a pretty penny too, but he hasn’t the sense, otherwise why’d he be a skipper, eh?”

Catch no ball? Explanation’s in the book :-) So if you feel like knowing what’s afoot in that particular paragraph, then don’t hesitate to grab this book ASAP.

Now back to the review :-)

With Victorian era England as the backdrop, this novel is about a charismatic but enigmatic protagonist named Edward Pierce, who assembled a “crack team” in their attempt to steal the shipment of gold transported monthly from London to France in order to support the Crimean War.

Crucial foundation of this robbery is to get their hands on keys to the heavyset safes used to keep the gold shipment. This is easier said than done because each of the keys are located and safeguarded by different personnel at different locations. On top of that, multiple levels of security are added to make the shipment as safe as possible.

Though faced with various impossibilities, our anti-hero managed to plan and execute it flawlessly until his main accomplice “turn nose” on him.

The story was told from various point-of-views; in which, primary “voice” is uttered evidence during court proceedings (when they were finally caught but Pierce managed to escape in the end and Agar was sent to Australia in exile). As the story progresses, Michael managed to infuse additional information and clarification on customs, slang and bits and pieces related to Victorian era England, which made the overall read an enjoyable one.

If I were to imagine the book as an ice-cream, then the taste would be rum raisin... my personal favourite... :-) tasty and you’ll definitely feel sated long after you’ve finished the book.
Frankly I don’t know what I am trying to say here... hehehe... aiya... cincai la... :-P


Personal rating: 9 out of 10

Cons:
1) I couldn’t find any flaw with this novel. No wonder it was adapted into movie starred by the good looking old man :-) Sean Connery (I haven’t watched the movie yet though)

Pros:
1) An enjoyable read. So much so that I have “panda eyes” as I read right till late night :-D

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

I consider the Chinese New Year week as my most productive holiday ever because I managed to finish 3 books within that week.

But since I’m such a lazy slog, I’ve decided to pen my thoughts on the books one after another; taking my own sweet time of course

With my mp3 player blasting “Second Chance by Shinedown”; here I am penning my next review on a book entitled “The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton”.

Yes, the book is old. As old as I don’t know since when :-P I’m lazy to Google for the publication detail :-P

Anyway, here’re my thoughts on the book:

Book review
I guess most would have read the book.

So I will keep the review as simple as possible. It is a nice fast paced read compared to some of the books from Michael.

The plot revolves around the recovery activity of military satellite which crash landed on a small town in none other than USA (Piedmont, Arizona).

It purportedly carries with it some extra-terrestrial microorganism which quickly clots the blood of exposed life form on Earth.

This triggers a covert operation called “Wildfire” (manned by 5 selected individuals; each expert in their own field) on top of the already covert operation to retrieve, identify and neutralize the threat before it spread.

Their only hope lies on identifying the natural body resistance of two surviving inhabitants of Piedmont known as Peter Jackson and Jamie Ritter.

So, did they succeed in their quest while remain stuck in ultra secretive, ultra-secure underground facility?

After much actions and nail biting suspense, it was discovered that the extra-terrestrial microorganism changed into benign form and did not harm any lives in the end.


P/s: I finally Google-ed about the book and found out that I read the book 41years late :-D

It was published in 1969 and I think it was probably written during the height of Cold War/Space Race between USA and USSR :-)

Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) N/A

Pros:
1) Fast paced read. A real page turner :-)

2) Description of the ultra secure facility is a real eye opener, especially on the methods taken to ensure no contamination of subsequent secure chambers

Next by Michael Crichton

Can man play God? Can we create beings? The outline of this novel touches on a very big perspective from moral standings up until scientific grounds.

That said; it is not an easy book to write and to read as it involves plots and counter plots along the way. Scientific jargon are minimised but not eliminated. Readers are plunged headlong into the twist and turns of genetic mishmash and law overtures akin to roller coaster ride.

As mentioned earlier, scope of this novel has far reaching consequences. It had us thinking about the need to patent genomes and genetic structures allegedly "discovered" by scientists.

It had us thinking on the moral superiority to create and destroy live scientific experiments bigger than lab rats. It had us thinking of the overall conscience of our role as human being in this very planet.

In fact, the gist of this book is to let us think about future consequences if we were to turn a blind eye on controversial experiments, on patenting of genes, on establishment of law and red tapes which will promote or hinder our scientific knowledge if improperly used and so on.

This is a readable and really fast paced book but more interesting read would be the prologue and post-notes. It had me go online few times to conduct searches on my own regarding validity of certain stories.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (fast paced book written by an established writer)

Cons:

1) Unavoidable jargon spattered along the novel (which is fine actually)

2) Scope of the novel is big and too general.

Pros:

1) Book which will get you thinking long after you've finished it

2) Informative post articles