Jurassic Park
by Michael Crichton
★ Top 5 book of 1990 · #2 on Best Books of 1990
A theme park filled with genetically re-created dinosaurs falls apart, serving as a warning about genetic engineering. The collapse also illustrates chaos theory and what it means in the real world.
Best for: Readers who like science fiction cautionary tales about genetic engineering
Jurassic Park is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 1990, out of 39 1990 books that cleared our data bar.
What Jurassic Park is about
Billionaire John Hammond has done what no one thought possible: he has brought dinosaurs back to life on a remote island, using ancient DNA drawn from insects preserved in amber. The animals are all bred as females and engineered so they cannot survive outside the park. He invites a small group to tour it, among them a paleontologist, a paleobotanist, a mathematician and a lawyer, along with his own two grandchildren.
Michael Crichton uses the setup to ask what happens when people believe they can fully control nature. The mathematician's talk of chaos theory runs through the story, and so does the question of what greed does to careful science. Part cautionary tale, part tense adventure, it suits readers who like their science fiction grounded in plausible-sounding detail.
Jurassic Park on the Best Books of 1990
Jurassic Park came out in 1990. Of the 39 books first published in 1990 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #2 on our Best Books of 1990 list.
Why it made the list: 1,734 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (203 ratings); 92 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 1990 list
- Good Omens Terry Pratchett, #1
- The Eye of the World Robert Jordan, #3
- The Witching Hour Anne Rice, #4
See all Best Books of 1990 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1991.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 1,347 want to read it, 92 are reading it now and 295 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 203 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 97 | 55% |
| Reader love | 87 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 97 | 20% |
Questions about Jurassic Park
When was Jurassic Park published?
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton was first published in 1990.
Was Jurassic Park one of the best books of 1990?
Jurassic Park is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 1990, out of 39 1990 books that cleared our data bar. 1,734 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (203 ratings); 92 are reading it right now.
Why is Jurassic Park on the Best Books of 1990 list?
1,734 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (203 ratings); 92 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1990
- Good Omens Terry Pratchett, #1
- The Eye of the World Robert Jordan, #3
- The Witching Hour Anne Rice, #4
- Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #5
- The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien, #6
- Little Girl Lost Drew Barrymore, #7
See the full Best Books of 1990, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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