The back of the chair reaches only to his shoulder blades. He stretches his long legs out in front of the desk and tries to hunch into a comfortable position. Here we were, the greatest technological nation on earth, and we marched into a litle jungle nation - and lost! Obviously, technology doesn't have all the answers.' It's amazing that, among all the lessons of the Vietnam war, we didn't have our faith in technology challenged. That just is not realistic in today's world. 'The idea of the world's faith in technology ending a crisis.

I thought it was about 70 years behind the times.'Ī bacterial invasion from outer space behind the times?

'I was also surprised that a lot of people thought it was up-to-date. 'I was astonished that 'The Andromeda Strain' sold as well as it did,' he says. He seems almost embarrassed about the success of his novels, which include 'The Andromeda Strain ,' 'The Terminal Man,' and 'The Great Train Robbery.' Perhaps the most surprising thing about him is his shyness. Talking with him is almost like being watched over the fence at the zoo by an aloofly curious ruminant. It's partly his height - he is an astonishing 6 feet 7 inches -and the most patient, shy curiosity of a giraffe. If she did, it would look like a zoo tableau of the African veld, because Michael Crichton reminds one of nothing so much as a giraffe. Crichton's new novel, 'Congo,' is so gripping that you almost expect Amy the gorilla, a key character, to bound into the room behind him. 'Gorillas are tropical creatures,' he says. Michael Crichton came to the interview without Amy the gorilla.

The congo michael crichton