# Is 'Andromeda strain' a true story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755 "2003-06-18T18:14:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@minega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minega)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/1 "2003-06-18T18:14:59Z")
Michael Chrichton wrote this book about a deardly virus from space wiping out a small town…is it a true story? The author’s comments hint strongly that it is though i doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/2 "2003-06-18T18:17:34Z")
Short answer: No, it’s completely made-up. It’s the first of many Michael Crichton books with the same basic theme: “We’re creating advanced technologies that will turn around and destroy us! Booga booga!” ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/3 "2003-06-18T18:29:11Z")
Completely fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/4 "2003-06-18T18:44:42Z")
Could you show us some of the comments, **minega**? Total guess, I wonder if Crichton was perhaps paying some sort of homage to [Ed Wood](http://www.geocities.com/benofbens/plan9/criswell.txt)? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/5 "2003-06-18T18:47:34Z")
No, he does that in a few of his books. It’s trite and meant to scare but it’s just hack work. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/6 "2003-06-18T19:09:27Z")
Doesn’t Jurassic Park use the same concept? I seem to recall the author’s foreword says it’s a true tale. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/7 "2003-06-18T19:10:27Z")
A fiction writer is, by definition, a liar. And a good fiction writer tries to make his lies seem to have some versimilitude, so he may claim it’s a true story when it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/8 "2003-06-18T20:28:38Z")
_The Andromeda Strain_ is supposed to be dramatization of an actual government/scientific report and comes complete with faux citations, footnotes and official-looking computer printouts. Off the top of my head, I can name _Congo_, _Sphere_, _Timeline_, and _Jurassic Park_ where Crichton uses this device to give the story verisimilitude. I don’t blame the OP for thinking it’s a true story. I thought so myself. When I was twelve. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/9 "2003-06-18T22:41:50Z")
**Terminus Est** , he uses a similar technique in “Eaters of the Dead,” basing it on the journals of one Ibn Fadlan. A carefull check of the bibliography notes that one of the works referenced was written by an “Abdul Al-Hazred.” 😉 Ranchoth (What was it that Twain said? “My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.”?) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/10 "2003-06-18T22:56:22Z")
It’s meant to look like a government report. Luckily, I just happen to have a copy right by me. On the front, it says: THIS FILE IS CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET Examination by unauthorized persons is a criminal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 20 years and $20,000. Obviously, since everyone who reads it isn’t jailed, the story is false. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/11 "2003-06-19T00:21:34Z")
Maybe we just have good lawyers. Where’s Dewey when we need him? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/12 "2003-06-19T00:29:59Z")
Yes, it’s true. And the actual events that have been covered up are actually _worse_ than Chrichton reported. It turns out the plague spread to the entire planet and the entire human race died 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/13 "2003-06-19T01:43:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ranchoth \* > A carefull check of the bibliography notes that one of the works referenced was written by an “Abdul Al-Hazred.” 😉 For those of you who don’t know, Abdul Al-Hazred was the fictional author named by H.P. Lovecraft as the author of the equally fictional (well, fictional at the time he wrote about it) Necronomicon. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/14 "2003-06-19T02:17:55Z")
It’s mostly true. I don’t know how they found out and made a film about it, but I can promise you it is mostly true. Can we please close this thread? My wife, Cheylene, has almost forgotten about this unfortunate incident in our lives. Raising all this about Andrea, and those stains on my pants, is not going to make life any easier in this trailer park! ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/15 "2003-06-19T04:39:37Z")
**legion** , that comment is going to leave a sirius blotch on your record. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/16 "2003-06-19T04:59:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, it’s true. And the actual events that have been covered up are actually worse than Chrichton reported. It turns out the plague spread to the entire planet and the entire human race died You’ve said too much. I think it is totally fair for an author to make his/her work look as real as possible. I haven’t read ‘Andromeda Strain’ but I have read some other Crichton works and they are fun books. I would rate them as high fiction, but for what they are they were really good. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/17 "2003-06-19T11:30:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Major Kong \* > \*\*I haven’t read ‘Andromeda Strain’ but I have read some other Crichton works and they are fun books. I would rate them as high fiction, but for what they are they were really good. \*\* I wouldn’t bother. Some of his books are quite entertaining, but I didn’t find ‘Antromeda Strain’ to be so. It was one of the first books he wrote, but it was only published a few years ago. I think it is safe to say that his writing has evolved considerably since he wrote it. I believe that he sold it to some publisher a long time ago, ang that they now realised that they had a book by a Famous Writer[sup]tm[/sup]. It is no coincidence that the authors name covers most of the front. ---
**Author:** ![Alcibiades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Alcibiades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alcibiades)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/18 "2003-06-19T11:41:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Punoqllads \* > \*\*For those of you who don’t know, Abdul Al-Hazred was the fictional author named by H.P. Lovecraft as the author of the equally fictional (well, fictional at the time he wrote about it) Necronomicon. \*\* He even has his own [home page](http://www.furnation.com/dante/kris/alhazred/). ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/19 "2003-06-19T12:08:19Z")
**Popup** I don’t know why you think Andromeda Strain was only recently published. I bough the paperback over 10 years ago and it was old then. I’m quite certain it was out around the time of the movie, probably before it. His works tend to get republished with new covers (and slightly higher prices)whenever he has a new book out (“Prey” comes to mind). ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755/20 "2003-06-19T12:19:29Z")
> [@](#): > > You’ve said too much. Now I will have to kill you all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andromeda-strain-a-true-story/182755.md?page=2)