I had been wanting to watch Jurassic Park again lately, but with two young night owls it's hard to find a time I can watch a PG-13 movie. I thought listening to the audio book might scratch the itch. It actually made it worse as I wanted to note all the differences I heard if they matched my memory from seeing the film in the 90s or not.

The book was fantastic. Its a story we all know pretty well by now, but told so much better. The introduction includes a number of children on the Costa Rican mainland being bit by "lizards" a workman murdered by a raptor (which they tell the doctor was a digger accident, and the workman wakes up to say "raptor" which is interprited as being a cryptozoic creature, and then an American girl was bit by a lizard on a remote beach that caused all of the hullabalue that required the scientists to get involved.

without giving up too much more, the Story made a lot more scientific sense, having to learn things along the way like the T-Rex only sees you when you move, rather than them just knowing that. Park owner Mr. Hammond isn't a kind grandfather but a mad capitalist who will stop at nothing, and the ending is a lot more believable too.

The science behind the story appeared incredibly well researched. If it wasn't than Crichton does an incredible job of making it sound well researched which is almost as good. For someone who normally reads "light" science fiction, maybe science fantasy, this was a breathe of releif.