Sphere - Hardcover

Crichton, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333452984 ISBN 13: 9780333452981

Publisher: Humanity Press/prometheus Bk, 1987

Synopsis

This suspense thriller opens as a 300 year old spaceship is discovered on the South Pacific Ocean floor.

About this title

Review

Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton is possibly the best science teacher for the masses since H.G. Wells, and Sphere, his thriller about a mysterious spherical spaceship at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, is classic Crichton. A group of not-very-complex characters (portrayed in the film by Sharon Stone, Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Queen Latifah) assemble to solve a cleverly designed roller coaster of a mystery while attempting (with mixed success) to avoid sudden death and expounding (much more successfully) on the latest, coolest scientific ideas, including the existence of black holes. Somehow, Crichton manages to convey the complicated stuff in utterly simplistic prose, making him, as his old pal Steven Spielberg puts it, "the high priest of high concept." Yet there is more to Crichton than science and big-ticket show biz. He is also, as any reader of his startling memoir Travels knows, a bit of a mystic--he is entirely open to notions spouted by spoon-bending psychics that most science writers would scorn. Sphere is not only a gratifying sci-fi suspense tale; it also reflects Crichton's keen interest in the unexplained powers of the human mind. When something passes through a black hole in Crichton's fiction, a lesson is learned. The book also contains another profound lesson: when you're staring down a giant squid with an eyeball the size of a dinner plate, don't blink first.

From the Back Cover

“Crichton keeps us guessing at every turn in his best work since The Andromeda Strain.”—Los Angeles Times

In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge vessel is discovered resting on the ocean floor. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old. But even more fantastic—and frightening—is what waits inside . . .

“A page-turner with oomph. . . . Crichton’s writing is cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action.”—Newsweek

“Sphere may be Crichton’s best novel, but even if it ranked only second or third, it would be a must for suspense fans.”—Miami Herald

Edition details

• Publisher: Humanity Press/prometheus Bk
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333452984
• ISBN 13: 9780333452981
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416