Jurassic Park Author Michael Crichton's Favorite Book Is A Literary Classic You Have To Read

When you think of it, there are many similarities between Michael Crichton's 1990 novel "Jurassic Park" and William Golding's 1954 classic "Lord of the Flies." Well, at the very least, both are tales of survival set on remote tropical islands where there is no power, and where chaos reigns. Only one of the two books features scads of vicious, cloned dinosaurs, however, and it's likely not the one you read in school. 

Back in 2002, Crichton was interviewed for the Writers Write website, and he was asked, point-blank, what some of his favorite novels were. Some of his favorites were unexpected. For instance, he very much liked Jane Austen's classic "Northanger Abbey" and James Thurber's wordplay-heavy fairy tale "The 13 Clocks." In what might be a cute little joke, Crichton also referred to Sigmund Freud as the greatest novelist of the 20th century. Freud was a psychologist, not a novelist. Crichton also said he retained a fondness for the novels of his youth, books like "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White," and Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island." It's no wonder that the author of a dinosaur adventure novel like "Jurassic Park" would be into 19th-century adventure stories written by Jules Verne.

But first and foremost, Crichton declared that he adored Golding's "Lord of the Flies." He said the book "is the novel I most admire of any I've read." High praise indeed. "Lord of the Flies" takes place during a wartime evacuation from England, and sees a plane full of boys, all about 12 years old, crash-landing on a remote, seemingly uninhabited island. Naturally, their attempt to build a makeshift leadership system descends into violence and tribalism pretty quickly. 

"Lord of the Flies" is pretty well-known to most, as it appears on many junior high English class syllabi. It's a pretty direct political satire, and a bleak reminder of how young boys absorb and then reflect violence. The beginning of "Lord of the Flies" is optimistic as the boys actively try to establish some kind of system of survival, but the kids run out of energy pretty quickly and lose interest in following orders from a kid their age. It's not long before the boys begin worrying about an imaginary beast that lives in the nearby woods. One of the kids elects himself as leader, promising to wipe out the imagined threat. The book culminates in death. Are we drawing modern political parallels yet?

The title stresses the hubris of perceived power. One may think they rule the world, but if you don't know what you're doing, your kingdom is little more than rotting carrion. You are a lord of flies. Raise your hand if you, too, wrote an essay on William Golding's novel in school. 

"Lord of the Flies" has been adapted to film numerous times. In 1963, Peter Brook ("Marat/Sade," "King Lear") directed a celebrated movie version, which featured a young Nicholas Hammond, perhaps better known to modern audiences as the star of the 1970s TV version of "The Amazing Spider-Man." There was a 1975 version made in the Philippines, which turned the boys into traveling athletes. 

In 1990, director Harry Hook remade "Lord of the Flies" with Balthazar Getty and James Badge Dale. That film altered the characters from British boys fleeing the War to American military cadets returning home after a training mission.

In 2026, the BBC also made a full-length miniseries of "Lord of the Flies," which ran for four one-hour episodes back in February. The 2026 miniseries takes the story back to William Golding's original timeframe. That miniseries stars Lox Pratt, who will be playing Draco Malfoy in the upcoming "Harry Potter" TV series. Two of the boys are played by Noah and Cassius Flemyng, the twin sons of actor Jason Flemyng. Given that the previous two English-language "Lord of the Flies" renditions produced a few notable stars, we may be wise to pay attention to the young cast of the 2026 miniseries and track their careers now. 

Here's a fun piece of trivia. In "Lord of the Flies," the boys set up camp on a local rocky outcropping and take to calling it Castle Rock. It was from this book that Stephen King got the name for one of his most-used fictional towns, Castle Rock, Maine (or sometimes Castle Rock, Oregon). "Castle Rock" was also the name of Rob Reiner's production company, and the title of the all-in-one Stephen King TV series. If you've read King's books "Cujo" or "Misery," you'll see King make references to it. Michael Crichton wasn't the only famous author who was influenced by William Golding's 1954 novel. King even said that he loved the BBC miniseries. It had a tremendous impact on pop culture in general. 

If you haven't read "Lord of the Flies," then now would be a great time to catch up. Your local library has it, I assure you. There's really no reason why you shouldn't.