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Andromeda Strain by |
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Michael Crichton
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| The author |
Michael Crichton
—
(born
October 23, 1942) is an
author, film producer and
television producer. His best-known works are
science fiction novels,
films and
television programs. Crichton describes his
genre as
techno-thriller which is usually the marriage
of action and technical
details. Many of his novels have medical or scientific underpinnings,
reflecting his medical training and science background. Crichton directed the film Coma, adapted from a Robin Cook novel, and there are other similarities in terms of genre and the fact that both Cook and Crichton are physicians, are of similar age and write about similar subjects. (From Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/)
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| The work | After a US government satellite crashes near the village of Piedmont in Arizona (New Mexico in the movie), the disease kills all but two of the town's inhabitants. An elite scientific team takes the satellite into a secret underground laboratory in Nevada, known as the Wildfire Complex, in order to study it. The vector mutates into a form that degrades rubber gaskets. This engages an automatic mechanism designed to set off a nuclear weapon beneath the complex, eradicating all traces of the disease before it can reach the surface. However, the alien disease is able to thrive on the enormous energy source and would be able to mutate into an untold numbers of forms. To stop the explosion, one scientist races to shut down the bomb before it can detonate. (From Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/) |