Sphere

Product Information

This was very fast paced and I never really got bored as it always kept me on edge with new revelations throughout. I gotta say, this novel was written way ahead of its time- 35 years ahead of time to be exact. I’d probably believe it if someone said this was released in the last five years because it still felt super modern. Interesting premise that held my attention up until the middle of the book, where improbable things start happening and Crichton failed to make them feel real Both the book and the movie have the same ending. But the journey to get to that ending is quite different at times. So if you only watched the film, or you only read the book, I think you should give the other version a try. I liked them both. You’re probably thinking, "Oh no, another run-of-the-mill, deep sea exploration novel with corny dialogue and a ho-hum ending." This is not that, by a long shot. What we do have is a team consisting of an astrophysicist, a marine biologist, a zoologist, a mathematician, and a psychologist. As you can imagine, the team is at odds with each other over how to proceed with the discoveries they make in the deep blue sea. It gets kind of hairy because the habitat that they reside in is only set up for them to survive for a few days, and when communication gets cut off to the surface, it becomes a fight for survival.

A group of scientists (namely psychologist Norman Johnson, mathematician Harry Adams, zoologist Beth Halpern, astrophysicist Ted Fielding, and marine biologist Arthur Levine), along with U.S. Navy personnel, travel to a deep sea habitat at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, where an enormous spacecraft has been discovered. Sphere produced some eye-catching retail displays to promote the novel, with arguably the best of those being an R2-D2 shaped standee, with a box insert to show 9 books on display, as seen here in a photograph from Craig Stevens’ excellent book, The Star Wars Phenomenon in Britain. A smaller counter top display was also produced featuring the Hildebrandt Brothers poster art and the tag line, “ Now over 5 million copies worldwide!“, with space for the book to be displayed to the front. Like all store display material, such items are highly prized by collectors today. Harry Adams is a 30-year-old mathematician at Princeton, the youngest but most vital member of the team. His job is to communicate with the ULF. A prodigy in the field of probability, he has a chip on his shoulder, but is almost always right. He theorizes that the spacecraft is not from another planet. And after the team is briefed by Barnes, Harry confronts the commander for lying to them about divers still searching for the spacecraft door; Harry deduces they've already found it. I don't know if happens to you, that sometimes if you are reading a novel that it hasn't being made into a film yet (I read the novel like 5 years before to be poorly adapted to a movie) sometimes I imagined some actor or actress to "play" the role of the character in my mind, an amusing thing was by then, in 1993, Sharon Stone was in hype due films like "Basic Instinct" and "Sliver", so when I imagined some actress to fill my image of Dr. Beth Halperin, I thought in Sharon Stone that she eventually got the role! Damn, this was a trippy novel. I watched the movie when I was little but it turns out that I don’t remember much.I'm going to say something that I don't normally say with Crichton and that is the characters in this one are really good and enjoyable. He focuses on Norman Johnson as the protagonist in this one, who's a psychologist and is able to provide a real psychological insight into each character. There's a lot of development for the three main characters and its a very engaging journey. Their inner psyche has an important impact on the story and Crichton fully explores each.

Rating Michael Crichton on his prose, either its subtlety or execution, is sort of pointless... there's no doubt that this man is a shitty prose writer, short on synonyms and prone to spend most of his energy on frenetic descriptions of action. He's basically writing scripts... which is why the man gets the Dan Brown money, but no respect from the smarties. Well, I had no idea there was a Sphere book. I only saw the movie and thought that was it. Not to mention that the book is written by the same author as Jurassic Park.I did like that this book was focused on Psychology and that it explored the shadow self, but I thought I was going to be on the edge of my seat. Which I was not. I was half asleep. That being said, what I really love about Michael Crichton’s books is that he makes science really fun and explains it in a way that someone who isn’t scientifically inclined, AKA me, can understand and really enjoy it. I could also laugh at science-y jokes like I knew what was going one which made me feel smart and cool. Piatkus Books was founded in 1979 from the spare bedroom of Judy Piatkus’ home. Over the years, Piatkus became one of the UK’s leading independent publishers of fiction and lifestyle titles The problem with this plan however is that simply forgetting that you have this power, doesn't actually take it away. We saw multiple times that characters manifested things around them unknowingly. In fact, Norman doesn't even recall entering the sphere but still has the abilities that the object gave him. Instead of trying to control their influence or use it for good, all these three have done is allow their fellow crew members to die in vain, and leave their powers intact with no knowledge of how to control them — a recipe that will certainly lead to more disasters. Ted: "I think everybody knows how I feel. I feel that we should have some brief remarks for posterity."

I wrote, "My fave Crichton book at the end." - Not sure if this is a knee-jerk reaction or not, but I'll have to read it again in the future to nail that statement down.Elizabeth Halpern—a biochemist who is muscular, yet sometimes gentle and caring while simultaneously fierce, combative, and confrontational. She perceives herself as being dominated by the male scientists. Our aim is to publish books for everyone, whether you’re in search of thrills and chills, epic escapism, something to make you laugh or cry or want to change the world – whatever you’re interested in, you’ll find a book you want to read at Sphere.

A retail poster for Splinter was clearly designed to capitalise on the success of the original novelisation, featuring pictures of both books, and catching the attention of potential customers with the tag lines, “… Darth Vader lives on…” and “… a spectacular new adventure!” Media Profiles: Thomson". Ketupa.net. April 2002. Archived from the original on 17 June 2002 . Retrieved 19 June 2017. Sphere (1987), a science fiction novel by bestselling author Michael Crichton, tells the story of a group of scientists, led by psychologist Norman Johnson, as they explore the ruins of a spacecraft discovered at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Though the novel falls firmly within the science fiction genre, it contains—like many of Crichton's novels—a number of different plot elements, ranging from psychological thriller to philosophical inquiry.

U2:UV

Sphere is not set in space, but it might as well be. It takes the reader deep into the darkest part of the ocean where unfathomable pressure forces threaten to crush and demolish, where the only breathable oxygen is what you bring with you, where the landscape is as alien and inhospitable as anything found in outer space. You say you have inside you the power of good and the power of evil, the angel and the devil, but in truth you have just one thing inside you - the ability to imagine." This book is a combination of psychological thriller and science fiction. It follows a group of scientists as they investigate what is thought to be an alien vessel that crashed on the ocean floor. The team often makes decisions based on logic rather than emotion. It is not at all robotic, though; some people might not be themselves, while others might act a certain way because they have skin in the game.