Michael Crichton

Unless your species evolved sometime after 1993 when Jurassic Park hit theaters, you're no doubt familiar with this dinosaur-bites-man disaster tale set on an island theme park gone terribly wrong. But if Speilberg's amped-up CGI creation left you longing for more scientific background and ... well, character …

In the vein of Jurassic Park, this high conceptthriller follows a group of graduate students lured to Hawaii to work for amysterious biotech company—only to find themselves cast out into the rainforest, with nothing but their scientific expertise and wits to protect them. Aninstant classic, Micro pits nature against …

Next is a 2006 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, the last to be published during his lifetime. Next takes place in the present world, where both the government and private investors spend billions of dollars every year on genetic research. The novel follows many characters, including transgenic animals, in …