This is page by page, chapter by chapter review of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, first published in 1990. This first chapter, a stub of an introduction reads like a technical history of the biochemistry industry and introduces the reader to InGen via a pseudo-epistle. The chapter references legal settlements, the creation of multi-billion dollar businesses like Genentech, and the scientific history that led to the understanding of DNA and the possibilities of genetic engineering.

Crichton is giving his reader a primer to say, “this is all possible.” He uses the trope of ‘Famous, Famous, Fictional’ (TV Tropes Explanation) to insert Ingen into a world that the reader would have a cursory knowledge of. Born in 1976, I loved dinosaurs as a kid – they drew me into my undergraduate major of biology. There had been a lot of books around dinosaurs, there was no shortage of ‘fan fiction’ around the topic. Crichton’s brilliance is in creating a setting – the eponymous theme park that turns into a nightmare, and an authentic explanation that lets the leader focus on the story, rather than be distracted by elaborate contrivances. Crichton explains the reality of 1991 biochemistry with an ease that camouflages the gaps in the story – such as the eggshells, the amphibian DNA, and a host of other topics that are well covered in the sequel The Lost World.

Favorite Writing, Quote:

“After all, InGen’s research was conducted in secret, the actual incident occurred in the most remote region of Central America; and fewer than twenty people were there to witness it. Of those, only a handful survived.”

Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park – Page x

Page by Page Breakdown: (Pages 0 – vii – x)

Page 0: Two quotes start the book, one from Linnaeus, 1797 – the other from Erwin Chargaff in 1972. Chargaff is a noted biochemist and the creator of Chargaff’s Rules. The Linnaeus quote describes the grotesque nature of lizards – foreshadowing the dinosaur villains of the book.

“You cannot recall a new form of life.”

Erwin Chargaff, 1972

Page vii: Introduction, “The InGen Incident”

“This enterprise has proceeded so rapidly – with so little outside commentary – that its dimensions and implications are hardly understood at all.” Page vii

Crichton’s later writing in State of Fear makes a clear statement about oversight, ethics, and integrity in science. Re-reading Jurassic Park in 2023, this passage is the first of many that showed how 33 years earlier he was on the path to formalizing that worldview.

Crichton begins the book with an epistle where we meet InGen – the company that serves as the primary villain for the Jurassic park series. InGen stands for International Genetic Technologies, and throughout the book we will meet the employees of the firm, explore its corporate history, learn of its research methods and follow a ‘testing’ of its primary product – a ‘Jurassic Park’ where guests can see live dinosaurs.

“But most disturbing is the fact that no watchdogs are found among scientists themselves. It is remarkable that nearly every scientist in genetics research is also engaged in the commerce of biotechnology. There are no detached observers. Everybody has a stake.” Page vii

“That was the date of a now famous meeting [April 1976], in which Robert Swanson, a venture capitalist, approached Herbert Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California.” Page ix

Crichton’s epistle blends the scientific reality of the creation of Genentech, the work of Watson and Crick to discover DNA (to whom Erwin Chargaff explained his rules), and the origin of the fictional InGen. It is the author’s approach to the Star Trek TV show trope of, “Famous, Famous, Fictional“.

“After all, InGen’s research was conducted in secret, the actual incident occurred in the most remote region of Central America; and fewer than twenty people were there to witness it. Of those, only a handful survived.” Page x

Crichton gives us the ending before we’re even out of Roman numerals. He tells us the date of InGen’s bankruptcy – October 5, 1989, he tells us that the whole action of the novel takes place over two days in August of that same year. We learn that there are Japanese investors, and that there is legal and corporate intrigue – including NDAs that prohibit the survivors from telling their story.