Jurassic Park: A Novel

Unless your species evolved sometime after 1993 when Jurassic Park hit theaters, you're no doubt familiar with this dinosaur-bites-man disaster tale set on an island theme park gone terribly wrong. But if Speilberg's amped-up CGI creation left you longing for more scientific background and ... well, character development, check out the original Michael Crichton novel. Although not his best book (get ahold of sci-fi classic The Andromeda Strain for that), Jurassic Park fills out the film version's kinetic story line with additional scenes, dialogue, and explanations while still maintaining Crichton's trademark thrills-'n'-chills pacing. As ever, the book really is better than the movie. --Paul Hughes

• The Lost World: A Novel (Jurassic Park)
• Dragon Teeth: A Novel
• The Andromeda Strain
• Sphere
• The Last Hours Of Jesus: From Gethsemane to Golgotha
• Jurassic Park Little Golden Book (Jurassic Park)
• Jaws: A Novel
• Pirate Latitudes
• The Lost World
• Jurassic Park: The Deluxe Novelization (Jurassic Park)