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Essay on The Andromeda Strain: A Critical Analysis

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The Andromeda Strain: A Critical Analysis In 1969 Michael Crichton wrote The Andromeda Strain, a book that would forever expand the limits of a science fiction novel. Although written in 1969, it deals with very current issues facing the modern day boilogical and even political realm. Technically a science fiction novel, the meticulously crafted plot is so intertwined with actual science and technology that some have catagorized it as "science fact." It is this realistic overtone that gives the impression that perhaps, someday, events in the book could actually take place. Plot Synopsis The book opens up with a fictional page of acknowledgments stating "This book recounts the five-day history of a major American …show more content…

Completely underground, it was a conic structure of five levels, with each level being more sterile than the one above it. To pass from one level to the next, one had to go through several lengthy stages of decontamination until they reached the fifth floor, where the bulk of research was to be conducted. The installation was equipped with a thermonuclear device and in the eventuality of emergency, was to be detonated to protect the outside world from contamination. A team of four specifically chosen scientists were assembled to handle the crisis, each with different fields of study and their own unique specialties. Jeremy Stone, the project leader, was who all the other specialists and government agents looked up to throughout the entire operation. He was a relatively young bacteriologist who had a lengthy list of acclaimations, including winning the nobel prize at age twenty six. Peter Leavitt's field was clinical microbiology and epidemiology. He had a sort of ingrained pessism but was prone to thinking outside of the box. Charles Burton, a pathologist, gained the nickname "The Stumbler" from the way he seemed to inadvertantly "stumble" onto one discovery after another. An unusual fourth choice for Project Wildfire was Mark Hall, a surgeon. Although he had the least experience out of all the scientists when it came to pathogens, his single male

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