The Andromeda Strain Summary

The Andromeda Strain

by; Michael Crichton
Year published: 1969
“This book is a classic science fiction struggle between man and nature”-Wikipedia
The small town of Piedmont Arizona is where it all starts out. It has been infested by an unknown bacteria that so far leads you believing it’s done more harm than good if anything since at the beginning of the story with the mutilated corpses and all we are left with the impression that they are dangerous. Afterwards, In Flat rock Nevada we are shown where the rest of the story takes place and are introduced to most of the main characters and/or how the scientists try to unlock the mystery of the Andromeda strain. Because the story seems to be influenced by the Cold War, including the using of

nuclear weapons and the anti-military attitudes that were coming during the American involvement in Vietnam.
As stated before, the protagonists are shown in the beginning of the first few chapters the y are known as The Wildfire team of scientists. They have joined forces to deal with the mysterious bacteria from outer space that threatens to destroy humanity. The scientists are determined to find the reason by which Andromeda kills, and hopefully design a way to interrupt that process. In addition, the military agencies responsible for bringing Andromeda to earth now need the Wildfire team to come up with an antidote for the bacteria before it spreads to more towns and kills more people.
The major Characters include all of the scientists mentioned above in the Wild fire team which includes Dr.

Jeremy Stone who is a Nobel prize-winning scientist and the acknowledged leader of the Project Wildfire team. Dr. Hall, who of all the Wildfire scientists pays it the least amount of attention,. He agreed to join the team when approached by Leavitt, but did not follow the updates he was given and didn’t believe anything would ever come out of the project. Fifty-four year old pathologist and professor at Baylor medical school Dr. Charles Burton, he made his reputation working on various strains of the staphylococcus virus before eventually being added on to the project. And last but not least Dr. Peter

Leavitt
A clinical microbiologist trained to treat infectious disease Leavitt recruited Hall to the project, while they were working at the same hospital (Leavitt eventually proves to be the least reliable of the team members)
The main thing everyone’s trying to tackle and the antagonist for the novel all starts with The Andromeda Strain, “a bacteria brought to earth from space by a U.S.

Military space probe seeking new weapons” as described in the book. It kills off the entire small town of Piedmont in western Arizona After it comes to earth, for the exception of a newborn baby and an old man. The Andromeda strain threatens to wipe out any and or all living creatures in its path unless one is vaccinated to protect themselves from it is produced.
However, this alone isn’t the only the conflict, in between this the scientists disagree with the army and the President over the best way to combat the bacterium virus and have their own lives at stake. In addition, there are conflicts within the Wildfire team itself. Stone has a low opinion of Hall’s ability to contribute and thinks that Burton is incapable of anything. Another scientist’s opinion is based that they may be a highly evolved organism, and Leavitt has a one sided conflict with himself.
The climax itself leads on to the more obvious event that is Hall’s pressing of the red button, stopping the countdown, and avoiding a nuclear explosion that could’ve kill all the scientists and cause the Andromeda Strain to mutate any

further.

The outcome Stone explains to Hall that the bacteria which wiped out Piedmont has somehow mutated into a harmless form and so is no longer a danger to humanity. And if ever it would become a threat again, they now have the knowledge to prevent them fro, doing so and most likely vaccinate people of it.
Themes shown in the book includes the prominent one that is the danger Crichton believes that of man’s intelligence poses to himself and how Analytical thinking breaks down too easily under stress, or how man is capable of inventing all sorts of ways to destroy the planet, but not rational enough to fix the ones already accumulated over time then over time just making it worse and or in this case since the conflict solved itself, In the book, once the "Scoop" satellite lands, the army can’t control the bacteria and its wipes out an entire town, despite the most elaborate preparations and all the precautions. It is not man’ that saves the country form disaster; the bacterium just happens to mutate into a form that is harmless to humans because technically the Wildfire team almost does more harm than good by detonating a nuclear device and giving Andromeda the energy it needs to further reproduce.

Overall The Andromeda strain was something I consider recommendable to read and also if not already done, pick up the movie. I myself couldn’t understand the book at some parts and had to take momentary pauses just to look something up maybe the movie is more broken down for others, or maybe the book is a god enough resource as it is. If you are interested in sci-fi, history, conspiracies and or mysteries, this is a book you should add on to your collection.