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Andromeda Strain
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Summary
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Lt Shawn and Private Crane attempt to retrieve Scoop satellite in Piedmont, Arizona. They discover dead bodies in the street, but see a living man in a white robe. Charles Burton and Jeremy Stone go to Piedmont to see what is going on. They find that blood has clotted in the bodies causing them to die. Burton experiments with rats and monkeys and concludes that they die when exposed to air contaminated with bacteria. Stone and Leavitt examine the satellite and discover black rock and green bacteria. The bacteria is classified as the andromeda strain that has no amino acids or proteins. The bacteria grows best in 100% carbon dioxide. In the end, Mark Hall decides the bacteria can only live within a certain range of PH level. The bacteria has mutated into a form that is no longer harmful to humans, but is harmful to forms of plastic. All man space expeditions are postponed.
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Character Analysis
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Dr. Jeremy Stone - professor of bacteriology and winner of Nobel Prize. He is the leader of the Wildfire project.Peter Leavitt - clinical microbiologist A very pessimistic personality.Charles Burton - pathologist He sometimes does sloppy work.Mark Hall - surgeon If there is a leak, he must use his key within three minutes to prevent detonation.
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Personal Review
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This novel was written during the Cold war. It brings to our attention the dangers of bacteriological warfare. In case of war, countries are trying to get the upper hand on this quick and effective way of killing their enemy. In fact this is a very dangerous method that we are not educated enough to take risks by using this type of warfare. No one should risk killing someone that could possibly cause mass destruction. If a disease of this sort was spread across the world, how could we stop it? It could spread until it kills every living thing. World War three could cause the world to go into extinction.
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