HARPER PAPERBACKS Sphere

I have read this book in the late nineties, and enjoyed it.I have bought it again and read it with my daughter, and we enjoyed it so much.This book is a Page turner, once you start you'll not want to put it down.And here Michael Crichton is showing how a masterful storyteller he is, with his unique talent of mixing fiction with scientific theories and facts. He's my favorite contemporary writer.About this version of the book, the font size is very appropriate and the book size is good.

I remember this book blowing my mind in middle school... mostly at all the strange possible forms alien life could take, but also the thrill and mystery. Just picked it up to re-read and, although it's mass market paperback, I'm impressed at the quality. I've certainly seen worse mass markets, whereas this one's perfectly readable. Can't wait to dip my toes into some Michael Crichton again.

I have read and watched many psychological thrillers, but to say the truth few were as good as this book of Michael Crichton.This is a magnificent tale, at core psychology but beautifully surrounded by our brilliant science which gives it both the names; A Epic Psychological Thriller and A Epic Science Fiction Book.Psychology has been always a underatted and background topic. Nobody seems to have understood the value and importance of it. But in here Michael Crichton, again as usual, makes us realize the strength of psychology, makes us realize ourselves.This book talks about the most important thing about us, our mind. How we may have gone too far by not restraining our thoughts. It depicts very nicely what can be the consequence and to what extent can a unrestrained thought go, how it can literally destroy us. This book talks very nicely where our mortal enemy lurks. Many people think somebody else is somebody's enemy. But no, the very person is the very person's deadliest enemy. This book talks about our unconscious, our most powerful weapon, which can be both pointed towards others or us...I personally believe this book is one of Michael's best books. And I really fail to understand why this book is underatted. I see the liking percentage and goodread scores in google and am really shocked. How can this book be any less than 96 percent in liking. I really fail to comprehend how this kind of books are rejected over silly fantasy and mythological thrillers. I really fail to see how this book is not liked by the majority of this world. Does the book contain flaw? Is this book unrealistic? Is this book unscientific? Some of the reasons can be valid and this book at parts maybe a bit whimsical, but again we should understand what message Crichton wanted to convey. What he wanted us to realize. About mind. Our greatest strength, our guardian angel, yet our greatest weakness, our demon.The delivery relating this book was unsatisfactory and so was the condition of the book. The book seemed quite old, and torn in some pages. And I would request Amazon to take a bit more care about the condition of their products.

This is my first review in English. And this is my first English book in years. It all started in early November when I decided to improve my English and get back to the level I once had around the time of my “Matura” (high-school diploma), respectively surpass this level if possible. And it was possible. Also, Crichton’s English is not complicated, therefor this book was a good choice to start with (but I didn't know that before). In fact, Crichton’s style reads very fluently. Despite my work and one other book I’m currently reading in German (Sibylle Berg’s fascinating, magnificent and tremendous “Grm”), I finished reading the book in a week.I always loved the movie “Sphere” (and back then I had a crush on Sharon Stone too) - which I’ve seen a couple of times, the last time some years ago - and I always wanted to read the book, but not in German. I knew right from the start that I only wanted to read it in English (same goes for some other books and I’m currently starting to buy most of the books in English if possible). But due to my laziness and some other problems it took me a couple of years to finally read it.It was worth the wait and the book is very good, interesting, readable and much more detailed than the movie. In some few cases maybe too detailed, but that’s okay, that's why I, and I guess all of us, read books and that's what makes the difference to the movies. I won’t write any word about the plot, a single word too much could ruin everything, especially for the ones who don’t even know the movie. But interestingly, the end of the book is slightly different from the end of the movie (I prefer the book's ending).What I most liked about “Sphere” was that it scared me a little, although mostly I knew what was coming. And, except for some few pages, it was exciting all along. I really loved the psychological debates and arguments and the two or three twists. Crichton did a good research on biology as well. The only thing I really didn’t like was how Beth was characterized. In the end, her character seemed too one-dimensional and simple to me, that wasn't necessary, there was more potential and I was a little disappointed. But that was the only disappointment in the whole book.Overall a clear 5 stars and a big recommendation for this suspenseful SciFi-Thriller.

I couldn't stop reading this, the film was nothing compared to the book.

Thorough description of Science and Psychology. Interesting twist. Funny to read certain "high tech" facts, decades after the writing:-) Hasn't lost any of its appeal in the meanwhile.