Things I learned from this episode: the bad science that you can shrug off in a Crichton movie is so much more agonizing when you’re trapped on the page with it for CHAPTERS. Also, something something “identity politics.”

Every bad book club eventually succumbs to the allure of Crichton, so we picked ourselves a doozy: a seafaring adventure about how everything would be better if all those minorities would just calm down and let a rational straight white man make all the decisions.

Anyway, Dorothy insists this is the least eye-melting title she could’ve chosen. But we did remember to recommend some nicer, better things at the end this time.

CONTENT WARNING for discussion of racism, misogyny, victim-blaming, fat-shaming, and homophobia.

1:00 The Crichton Oeuvre
7:45 Drink Menu
9:00 The Deceptively Fun Hook
15:00 Assembling the Crew
24:00 Spooky Shit at the Bottom of the Sea
33:00 And the Real Boogeyman was Identity Politics
38:00 When Even English Majors Know Your Technobabble is Bad
45:00 One Last Narrative Middle Finger
50:00 Crichton Fuckery Round-Up

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