At 21 pages “The Tour” is the longest chapter so far and the 2nd longest chapter in the book – and it sits within ‘Third Iteration’ – the longest of the seven segments within the book. We closed Chapter 18 with Crichton’s last major ‘tension escalator’ being revealed – Hammond is so sure of the park’s safety that he has brought his grandchildren along so that they can escape the distractions of their parent’s divorce. We continue the discussion around the children to start the chapter, and ultimately conclude watching a young velociraptor emerge from its shell.

Best Writing, Quotes

“And as for them all being female,” Malcolm said, “is that checked? Does anyone go out and, ah, lift up the dinosaurs’ skirts to have a look?”

Jurassic Park, Page 127 – Ian Malcolm

Crichton’s writing is satisfyingly stuffed with facts, data, and insight – this chapter is full of it. We get more examples of the Famous, Famous, Fictional trope. Tim, the grandson, has read Alan Grant’s book – this is an intra-literary epistle read by a character to establish credibility. In a flashback we see Nedry deduce that his software specs must be written around DNA, as that is the only field with such great demand for data.

The facts always arrive right on time to save the day, which is why Ian Malcolm’s skeptical world view works so well. All it takes is for one fact to not arrive and all the plans for the park will collapse. If the dinosaurs can’t breed, then it is clear they can be contained – if they can breed, then there is a much greater security requirement.

Page by Page Highlights, Quotes

“And the other adults, standing behind, looked embarrassed and uncomfortable.” Page 108 – Tim Murphy is written in the first person. We’ve only just met him, we’ve not been given his or his sister’s ages.

“The Lost World of the Dinosaurs,” Tim said. Page 109 – The young grandchild of Hammond represents the young dinosaur nerd, and he not only knows who Dr. Grant is, he has a copy of his book. Further, that book title will go on to become an addition to the Jurassic Park naming. Crichton is giving us a book within a book, which then turns out to be used to represent his story in real life.

“Tyrannosaurs should only have thirty-seven vertebrae in the tail.” Page 110 Tim, at age 11, is telling the story of his last trip to the museum of Natural History and how his father does not encourage his scientific interests.

“Was it 5027?” Page 111 – Grant knows the specific dinosaur with the extra vertebrae and commiserates that its’ correction is long over due. Following the Famous, Famous, Fictional trope – 5027 is a real Tyrannosaurus rex specimen.

“My mom said it was just a resort, you know, with swimming and tennis.” – Tim to Grant, page 112

“Halfway down the corridor they came to a glass partition marked with another sign: ” Page 113 – below is an image of biological hazard warning

“The man on the left is our chief engineer, John [Ray] Arnold” – Regis pointed to a thin man in a button-down short-sleeve shirt and tie, smoking a cigarette – “and next to him, our park warden, Mr. Robert Muldoon, the famous white hunter from Nairobi.” Page 114 – We meet two iconic characters from the film, and also ask ourselves – were there really ‘iconic white hunters from Nairobi’ in 1990?

“As you can imagine, a twenty percent yield is insufficient for our work…. And we get it here.” He held up one of hte yellow stones. “From amber- the fossilized resin of prehistoric tree sap.” – Dr. Wu on Page 115

“I’ll be damned – that just might work.” Page 116, Dr. Grant

“How we identify the DNA we have extracted. For that, we use powerful computers.” – Page 116, Dr. Wu.

“The full DNA molecule contains three billion of those bases. If we looked at a screen like this once a second for eight hours a day, it’d still take more than two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It’s that big.” – Page 117, Dr. Wu

“So the first thing we have to do is repair it – or rather, the computer has to.” Page 118, Dr. Wu

“It’s a little bit like putting a puzzle together. The computer can do it very rapidly.” Page 119, Dr. Wu

“Dennis Nedry yawned. He’d long ago concluded that InGen must be doing something like this.” Page 120

“Well, my guess is they’re doing something with DNA,” Barney said. Page 121 – in a flashback we see Nedry interpret the team’s focus before they told him their goal

“Helotoxins, colchicinoids, beta-alkaloids, he said, pointing to a series o fsyringes set out under the UV light. “Kill any living animal within a second or two.” Page 122

“Reptile eggs contain large amounts of yolk but no water at all. The embryos must extract water from the surrounding environment. Hence the mist.” Page 123

“Dinosaurs mature rapidly, attaining full size in two to four years.” Page 124, Dr. Wu.

“It cocked its head to one side and peered at the visitors staring down at it.” Page 125 – the readers meet a baby velociraptor

“All the animals in Jurassic Park are female,” Wu said, with a pleased smile. Page 126

“And as for them all being female,” Malcolm said, “is that checked? Does anyone go out and, ah, lift up the dinosaurs’ skirts to have a look?” Page 127

“The little velociraptor opened her jaws and hissed at Grant in a posture of sudden intense fury.” Page 128