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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.

I received this book for free as part of LibraryThing's Early Review program an exchange for an honest review.

The book was cute. I really loved the IDEA of showing a foster kid in a new environment, his desire to have nothing to do with these new people, and in the end needing to work together and be nice to achieve a new goal.

The actual story (words) made no actual reference to the foster kid situation, it just sounded like a pirate story. When paired with the "for the parents" section before the story and the book's illustration the idea should be clear. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't seem to be enough to keep my four-year-old's attention, even though they looked great to me. She listened as she went along her playing way. I think it may have been better if the story started with a quick line about how Pedro could no longer live in the home he grew up in and had to move to live with a new foster family, or something like that, and then go about the pirate story, not sure.

Probably was one of my least favorite in Heinlein's "Scribner's Juniors" "series". Like the others it's really a stand-alone story amongst a series of similar tales. (Young adults leading scientific adventures).

This one is about two teenage twin boys finishing school and invited to a symposium by the "long range foundation" a private non-profit company that can focus on funding endeavors that don't have to make investors happy with quick returns, nor be at the will of fickel politicians, they can work on projects that will be years, decades or centuries before a return, if any occurs.

The project the LRF is now working on is to deal with the overpopulation of the planet. The 1954 written book is very concerned that in the future (maybe 200 years from now?) the world population is unsustainable with over 4.5 billion people (never mind that 75 years from when ti was written we are doing just find with 8 billion).

In order to explore what planets beyond or solar system may be suitable for habitation they need to find a way to communicate back to earth that is faster than the near light speeds of the ships. Ta-da the proof of telepathy that distance cannot substitute, primarily available between identical twins.

A little far-fetched but certainly interesting. I appreciate how Heinlein brings about theoretical ideas including those like over taxing large families etc.

Some of the story is pretty unbelievable though, like giant sea monster attacks in space, that could have been prevented with encoded messages from light years away being approved to be sent 2 days earlier.

The ending was anticlimactic to say the least, but all and all I still liked it.