Download Travels Vintage Departures Michael Crichton 9780804171274 Books

Product details Series Vintage Departures Paperback 400 pages Publisher Vintage; First Edition edition (March 11, 2014) Language English ISBN-10 0804171270

Travels Vintage Departures Michael Crichton 9780804171274 Books Reviews

• This is probably the best autobiography I've read so far from an author. Crichton is a genius & his talents and writing abilities come through in these wonderful vignettes and recollections from his travels. The book is eye-opening and extremely educational about topics such as auras and psychic phenomenon which don't often get serious treatment from such a well-recognized novelist as Crichton. Highly recommended!
• A highly recommended autobiography of the author of Jurassic Park​ and many other modern sci-fi classics. "Travels​" documents Michael's struggles with finding himself, first at Harvard medical school and even well into his successful writing career.
  
  At first this is embodied by his many literal physical travels to many different countries, doing everything from scaling Kilamanjaro to meeting headhunting tribesmen. Later, as dissatisfaction continues to nag at him despite all this, he decides to explore inward, and what he finds there is perhaps most interesting of all.
  
  After a while I will admit I found myself a bit weary of this person, with all his hangups and judgmental attitudes, but that is part of the point of the story and if you don't hang in there to the end, you will miss the best part, which demonstrates that not only was Michael Crichton​ a highly intelligent and thoughtful man, but also both very self-aware and aware of the inherent trappings of everything from religion to science. Whether you are interested in examining and strengthening your worldview or simply living vicariously through someone elses imperfect but entertaining adventures, you'd do well to pick this one up.
• I'd read this first many years ago, and over the years remembered vignettes from it that I'd enjoyed. Finally decided I needed to read it again, with the advantage of greater age and wisdom, and I enjoyed it much more this time around. He was such an interesting person, in school in Boston during the same years as I was, so I could relate to much of his early essays.
• Great book, easy to read and enjoy. Crichton gives interesting stories about his traveling adventures, and some details about his life, and well, failed relationships. He is clearly extremely bright and a great writer - able to write his first bestseller (Andromeda Strain) while in medical school, and negotiate movie deal before graduation. The last part of this book deals largely with his discovery/investigation of various paranormal and alternate medical practices such as aura reading and meditation. This might be off putting to some, but its interesting learning and his final chapter speaks to how it relates to science.
• Skeptics will never believe and believers will never be skeptics. These words by the author explain why believers are happier people because the believers eventually win. The skeptics eventually die off and the next generations grow up familiar with the theory or idea and accept it. “Travels” should be on the must read list of all curious people.
• An amazing book written by an amazing man. The guy goes to Harvard Medical School while at the same time writing best selling books. He goes on to direct high-budget movies, and travels all over the world. Interesting explorations and observations from a man of science about auras, psychics, and other ways of looking at and interacting with human beings. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.
• I enjoyed this book, although as you'll soon find out "travels" is writ large to encompass everywhere from Borneo to the Astral Plane. I wasn't expecting the latter portion of his experiences, although it was still somewhat interesting, albeit, silly to me. My favorite bits were his experiences in medical school and his discussions of native cultures. I like how honest and direct he is about his aspirations as well as disappointments. He's clearly a moody guy, and a series of disastrous relationships runs through the book like an Andromeda Strain. Crichton is such a good writer that his prose alone can carry any topic, so this book is easy to enjoy.
• I've always been a big fan of Michael Crichton's work and consider him a literary artist for his ability to simultaneously educate and entertain his audiences. While I found Travels to be an interesting read for sure, I didn't find it to be quite the intriguing read that I had envisioned. Travels falls well within the 'okay' scale - not fabulous but certainly far from dreadful. It's obvious that his literary muse benefited mightily from his rich life experiences and I for one consider Michael Crichton to be one of the absolute best authors of our time.