Chapter 6 begins ‘Iteration 2’ – the second of seven sections that spans from pages 35 – 93. The first iteration was all setting the stage, this is the first chapter where we meet characters that are not just protagonists in the book, they are also iconic movie characters from the film franchise. Paleontologist Alan Grant, his assistant Ellie Satler, and Jeff Goldblum’s iconic character Ian Malcolm all enter the scene. Malcolm is the source for the quotes on all of the ‘Iteration’ cover pages, and in chapter six he is referenced in the story for the first time – although we don’t yet meet him.

Best Writing, Quotes:

“The modern world was changing fast, and urgent questions about the weather, deforestation, global warming, or the ozone layer often seemed unanswerable, at least in part, with information from the past.”

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Page 35

Crichton’s perspective on the modern world, climate change, and the tension between science, civilization and policy is still developing in Jurassic Park – it comes to the forefront in his later books.

Writing Exercise – Take the quote and make it Active Voice, Present Tense:

“The modern world changes fast; urgent questions about weather, deforestation, global warming, or the ozone layer are unanswerable solely with information from the past.” Is it reasonable to ask how we would have information from the future? I assume Crichton means that civilization needs to see that we can predict what will happen in the future based on the data we have – that the climate models are more predictive than weather models.

Page by Page Highlights:

35

“Alan grant crouched down, his nose barely inches from the ground.”

36

“He stood, a barrel chested, bearded man of forty.”

37

“The modern world was changing fast, and urgent questions about the weather, deforestation, global warming, or the ozone layer often seemed unanswerable, at least in part, with information from the past.”

38

“Grant was amused to see Morris gaping at her.  Ellie was wearing cut-off jeans and a workshirt tied at her midriff.  She was twenty-four and darkly tanned.”

39

“And he took some pains to distance himself in dress and behavior from the Teacup Dinosaur Hunters, even delivering his lectures in jeans and sneakers.”

40

“There’s nothing below the forty-fifth parallel.”  Hammond’s Foundation is focused on finding DNA in frozen remains.

41

“The foundation has spent seventeen million dollars on amber. They now possess the largest privately held stock of this material in the world.”

42

“It was the Xerox of a check issued in March 1984 from InGen Inc., Farallon Road, Palo Alto, California.”

43

“There were paleontologists like me, and a mathematician from Texas named Ian Malcolm, and a couple of ecologists.” – The most iconic character isn’t introduced until Page 43!

44

“They’ve been dead sixty-five million years. You’d think his calls could wait until morning.”

45

“In 1986, Genetic Biosyn Corporation of Cupertino tested bioengineered rabies vaccine on a farm in Chile.” Is this real?

46

“Countries that perceived genetic engineering to be like any other high-tech development, and thus welcomed it to their lands, unaware of the dangers posed.”

47

“Sure. They could feed a baby hadrosaur.” Grant’s answer is preposterous to him, but we’re learning of the existence of Jurassic Park through his eyes.  His sarcasm now balances out his wonder later in the book.

48

“Well, it was something about identifying some remains.” Alice Levin has called about the Costa Rica dinosaur.  The answer is just next to them at all times, raising the stakes and the suspense to the reader.

<Have a near accident about to impact a main character at multiple times.>