Book Review: Jurrasic Park

This is a read that was in the queue for a while – I bought it on sale around the release of the newest movie. Yet, it was something I was considering reading so I went for it.

As I say when writing book “comments” (as they are shorter than my reviews here) on Goodreads, I tend to significantly shorten them for known works. Partially because one more review among thousands will change little.

Before I go to it, I’ll say that I have a few errant memories for this book. First, back in the late 1990s, I remember boys reading it when I was in elementary school. Second, I’ve seen the movies several times on the TV (and the third movie in the cinema as well) yet it’s quite a while since I watched it the last time.

I was surprised by the beginning. There was a lot of early story that did not appear in the movie and it took some 20% of the book to even get close to the park itself.

The next surprise came with the level of detail given in some aspects, especially the “screenshots” of computer screens or snippets of code for parts that were happening in the control room. And, finally, that the hard time in the park went on for much longer. There was much more going on and getting stuff back up was much more than just a single character going into a basement to flip the switch.


Image credit: IMDb.


Then, of course, all the chaos theory and fractal speech by Malcolm and some other moments that got much more depth. Not that the movie was bad but I see it much differently now that I see it used maybe a half of the book. Nedry, for example, met his demise in the first half of the book, as opposed to late parts of the movie. Also, more background over who the “visitors” were.

Read dates: 27.9.-11.10.2018
Published: 1990
Goodreads rating: 3,99
My rating: 75-85%
Length: 466 pages (Kindle edition)
My highlights

I probably timed reading the book poorly. Despite being enjoyable, I was in a mood where I was not too drawn into a story I knew how it goes even though it took a significantly different path, especially in the second half. Hence, mentioning rating range instead of a number.

The attached image is a property of its appropriate owners.

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