Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 6 08:12am

Nor were individual birds genetically programmed for flocking behaviour. Flocking was nto hard-wired. There was nothing in the bird brain that said, "When thus-and-such happens, start flocking." On the contrary, flocking simply emerged within the group as a result of much simpler, low-level rules. Rules like, "Stay close to the birds nearest you, but don't bump into them." From those rules, the entire group flocked in smooth coordination.
Because flocking arose from low-level rules, it was called emergent behaviour. [p125]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 6 07:12am

"Hell, animals die in nature all the time. I mean, remember the business about those slashed cows? It was supposed to be aliens from UFOs that were slashing the cows. Finally turned out the cows were dying of natural causes, and it was decomposing gas in the carcasses that split them open..." [p106]

"Aren't there pictures? I think the environmentalists took pictures."
"Well, who cares? What will the pictures show, a dead coyote? Nobody is going to get worked up about a dead coyote..." [p106]

Independent and rebellious, Rosie had been a Shakespearean scholar at Harvard before she decided, in her words, that "Shakespeare is f*cking dead. For f*cking centuries. There is nothing new to say. What's the point?" [p116 - here, here]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 5 07:10am

The people who are coldly clear-eyed about the world around them have nothing but fantasies about themselves. [p77]

"...They want a donkey to pin the tail on." [p86]

"...My thighs are as big as sides of beef"...
"They rub together when I walk. Squishy." [p88]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 2 09:02am

Scalp Vein [p42 - Google]

Blood squirted down Amanda's face, into her eye. The nurse wiped it away. [p43 - how macabre]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 1 10:04am

I never intended to become a househusband. Stay-at-home husband. Full-time dad, whatever you call it - there's no good term for it. [p7]

And her kicking foot made me notice she was wearing sling-back high heels. What she used to call f*ck-me shoes. [p18]

And then I realized everything about her was different - her manner, her appearance, her mood, everything - and in a flash of insight I knew why: my wife was having an affair. [p18]

I had read somewhere that this was a syndrome. The husband's out of work, his masculine appeal declines, his wife no longer respects him, and she wanders. [p18]

"There is no lens."
"How can you have a camera with no lens?"
"I'll explain that as we go," she said.
Watching, I said, "It must be a camera obscura."
"Right," she said, nodding. [p24 - I forgot about obscuras :) ]

Prey by Michael Crichton

I bought three books in one day, all written by the late Michael Crichton: Prey, Jurassic Park and Next. I've read Jurassic Park before and it was brilliant but I just want to have this in my collection and maybe I'll re-read it in the future.

I'm currently reading Prey. It's a good book - not his best work but there's little chance of going wrong with a Crichton book. It's not surprising that most of his books have been made into films.

As usual, I will be posting select quotes as I read through it.