"The Andromeda Strain" is a 1969 novel by Michael Crichton. The novel was a success and reviews were overwhelmingly positive after it was released. The book made the New York Times Bestseller list and was later adapted into a movie of the same name in 1971. It was also adapted into a miniseries in 2008. The novel … [Read more...] about The Andromeda Strain
Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton was born on October 23rd, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a son of a journalist. From a young age, Crichton showed an interest in writing. He had a column about travel and published it in The New York Times when he was 14 years old. As he grew, he became amazingly tall and ended up hitting 6'9 inches by the time he reached adulthood.
Crichton attended Harvard College beginning in 1960 as an undergraduate in literature studies but later switched his focus and received a bachelor's degree in biological anthropology in 1964. Crichton then enrolled in Harvard Medical School and began publishing his stories.
His first novel, "Odds On" was published in 1966 under the pen name of John Lange and was quickly followed up by his second novel, "Scratch One" the next year.
In 1968, he published two novels, "Easy Go" and "A Case of Need" the latter of which earned him and Edgar Award the following year. In 1969, he published three more novels including, "The Andromeda Strain" which later became one of his most well known and popular novels and firmly established him as a genre writer as well as a best-selling author.
Throughout the 70's and 80's, Crichton published nine more novels before publishing perhaps his all-time most popular novel, "Jurassic Park" in 1990. Before the book was even finished, famed director Steven Spielberg had already heard of it and offered Crichton money for the rights to do a movie. Crichton agreed and wrote the screenplay himself and the film went on to become a cult classic and very successful.
Crichton published several more books throughout he 90's including a follow-up to "Jurassic Park" that met with less success. He continued to publish novels into the early 2000's and also published some non-fiction work as well.
During his lifetime, Crichton married five times. Four of the marriages ended in divorce with the last one continuing until his death. Crichton had two children, a daughter, Taylor and a son, John.
In 2008, Crichton was diagnosed with lymphoma and he died at the age of 66 on November 4th of that year. A prolific writer even after his passing, new novels from his estate continue to be published to this day.
