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Books Quiz - Author - Michael Crichton (Questions)

John Michael Crichton was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He went to Harvard Medical School and had his first novels published while he was still a student there. His breakthrough came with the publication of his first best seller The Andromeda Strain in 1969.

During his career Crichton wrote a total of 27 novels, most notably Jurassic Park which was made into a film by Steven Spielberg. He also wrote 4 works of non-fiction and several short stories. In addition he worked as a film director, with Westworld perhaps his most famous work and as a producer, on the TV series ER and the film Twister. He died in 2008 at the age of 66.

Did you know that Michael Crichton's first novels were published under the pen name John Lange? Or that he appeared in as 'the Bearded Surgeon' in the film version of his novel The Andromeda Strain? What else do you know about the life and works of Michael Crichton? Test yourself in this quiz.

1. Who played the malfunctioning robot in the 1973 film Westworld written and directed by Crichton and set in a futuristic theme park?
[ ] Richard Benjamin
[ ] James Brolin
[ ] Charles Bronson
[ ] Yul Brynner
2. What is the title of Crichton's 1969 novel about a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial disease?
[ ] The Adonis Strain
[ ] The Androcles Strain
[ ] The Andromeda Strain
[ ] The Anthrax Strain
3. In which 1996 novel does Casey Singleton investigate an in-flight aircraft accident?
[ ] Airbus
[ ] Airframe
[ ] Airport
[ ] Airstrike
4. The 1990 novel Jurassic Park is set on an island off the coast of which country?
[ ] Costa Rica
[ ] Cuba
[ ] El Salvador
[ ] Honduras
5. In which 1994 novel does high-tech company executive Tom Sanders battle against unfounded allegations of sexual harassment?
[ ] Exposure
[ ] Expulsion
[ ] Disclosure
[ ] Dismissal
6. What is the title of Crichton's 1983 non-fiction book about personal computers?
[ ] Cyberlife
[ ] Electronic Life
[ ] Future Life
[ ] Get a Life
7. What is the title of the 1980 novel that features a strange race of gorillas?
[ ] Congo
[ ] Drongo
[ ] Mongo
[ ] Wongo
8. As an undergraduate, Crichton admits to having plagiarised which writer?
[ ] Isaac Asimov
[ ] George Orwell
[ ] Jules Verne
[ ] H G Wells
9. What is the title of Crichton's 1995 novel, the sequel to Jurassic Park?
[ ] Dinosaur World
[ ] Jurassic Park Revisited
[ ] Return to Jurassic Park
[ ] The Lost World
10. Who played mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm in the 1993 film Jurassic Park?
[ ] Jeff Goldblum
[ ] Samuel L Jackson
[ ] Sam Neill
[ ] Bob Peck

 

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Books Quiz - Author - Michael Crichton (Answers)
1. Who played the malfunctioning robot in the 1973 film Westworld written and directed by Crichton and set in a futuristic theme park?
[ ] Richard Benjamin
[ ] James Brolin
[ ] Charles Bronson
[x] Yul Brynner
Westworld has a similar theme to Crichton's later work Jurassic Park. In both a theme park goes horribly wrong
2. What is the title of Crichton's 1969 novel about a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial disease?
[ ] The Adonis Strain
[ ] The Androcles Strain
[x] The Andromeda Strain
[ ] The Anthrax Strain
The Andromeda Strain was Crichton's sixth novel to be published, but the first published under his own name
3. In which 1996 novel does Casey Singleton investigate an in-flight aircraft accident?
[ ] Airbus
[x] Airframe
[ ] Airport
[ ] Airstrike
A disaster is caused by a combination of faulty parts and human error
4. The 1990 novel Jurassic Park is set on an island off the coast of which country?
[x] Costa Rica
[ ] Cuba
[ ] El Salvador
[ ] Honduras
The book was a bestseller and is probably Michael Crichton's best known novel - even more so after the film version was made 3 years later
5. In which 1994 novel does high-tech company executive Tom Sanders battle against unfounded allegations of sexual harassment?
[ ] Exposure
[ ] Expulsion
[x] Disclosure
[ ] Dismissal
That same year a film version of Disclosure was made starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore
6. What is the title of Crichton's 1983 non-fiction book about personal computers?
[ ] Cyberlife
[x] Electronic Life
[ ] Future Life
[ ] Get a Life
Electronic Life was one of four non-fiction works by Crichton. He also wrote Five Patients (a description of patients' experiences in hospital), Jasper Johns (about the eponymous artist) and Travels (an autobiogrophy)
7. What is the title of the 1980 novel that features a strange race of gorillas?
[x] Congo
[ ] Drongo
[ ] Mongo
[ ] Wongo
The gorillas are guarding diamond mines
8. As an undergraduate, Crichton admits to having plagiarised which writer?
[ ] Isaac Asimov
[x] George Orwell
[ ] Jules Verne
[ ] H G Wells
He did it as an experiment. He got a B- grade!
9. What is the title of Crichton's 1995 novel, the sequel to Jurassic Park?
[ ] Dinosaur World
[ ] Jurassic Park Revisited
[ ] Return to Jurassic Park
[x] The Lost World
The book shares its name with the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which also features dinosaurs
10. Who played mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm in the 1993 film Jurassic Park?
[x] Jeff Goldblum
[ ] Samuel L Jackson
[ ] Sam Neill
[ ] Bob Peck
Dr Malcolm is declared dead at the end of the novel Jurassic Park, but he appears in the sequel, explaining that "the declaration was premature"