51 pages • 1 hour read
Michael CrichtonThe Lost World
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Introduction-Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “First Configuration”
Introduction Summary
At the Santa Fe Institute, a prestigious think tank for scientists, 40-something mathematician and chaos theoretician Ian Malcolm lectures a small group of researchers on his theory that some species choose not to adapt to a changing environment.
After his lecture, Malcolm is pestered by Richard Levine, a wealthy globetrotting paleontologist known for his belief in the reality of a so-called “Lost World”, the theoretical possibility that there could exist in some remote areas a thriving dinosaur world. Malcolm, despairing over the question, dismisses the idea out of hand as a “delusion” (8).
Malcolm is assisted out of the lecture hall by Sarah Harding, a renowned field animal behaviorist who had helped nurse Malcolm through a difficult recovery from experiences on a Costa Rican island some five years before, an experience the details of which Malcolm has never entirely shared with her.
Malcolm was part of an ambitious project conducted by InGen, a genetics research company, that attempted to reproduce living dinosaurs from trace DNA and then make a theme park featuring the animals. The project went horribly wrong, and In-Gen has since filed for bankruptcy and destroyed the park. When Levine persists and tells Malcolm of large carcasses that have been found along Costa Rican beaches, Malcolm insists the rumors of living dinosaurs was a “techno-myth” (10).
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Aberrant Forms”
18 months later, Levine arrives in Costa Rica to look into a report of a large carcass, which the government euphemistically calls an “aberrant form,” that washed up on a beach near San Jose. When he arrives on site, Levine is stunned to see a corpse the size of a cow but clearly not a mammal. Despite its decomposition, the body is greenish and hairless, perhaps a reptile. There is a deep gash in the side. Just as Levine begins to examine the carcass, however, a helicopter swoops in and government agents swarm the beach. They forbid photos and then torch the carcass with flamethrowers—but not before Levine cuts away a skin sample from the gash.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “San Jose”
Back at the airport, Levine studies reports of other aberrant forms washing up on beaches over the last several months and reports of advance teams arriving in Costa Rica from Biosyn, a genetics research company headed by Lewis Dodgson, known for its mercenary business practices and sloppy research.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Departure”
Levine phones in findings from his trip to the beach to his colleagues in Berkeley.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Palo Alto”
In California, the unscrupulous geneticist Lewis Dodgson conducts a clandestine meeting in the middle of the night in an empty parking lot. One of his hired guns meets him and tells him that he has heard rumors of an abandoned facility known as Site B somewhere in the island chain off Costa Rica. The informant also tells Dodgson that Levine is up to something and has enlisted a major engineering firm to build specially designed vehicles. Dodgson wonders what Levine is up to.
Levine attends community service after he was stopped by police for speeding through a school zone in his Ferrari. He is assigned to teach a science class at the middle school. He engages the help of two very bright students—13-year-old Kelly Curtis and 11-year-old Arby Benton. Social misfits and interested in science, the two happily assist Levine until one morning he fails to show up to class.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “Berkeley”
Ian Malcolm receives the package from Levine. The sample from the carcass is enclosed with a snarky note that says that Levine was right all along. Malcolm examines the specimen. He thinks that maybe Levine is right.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “Lost World”
Levine has returned to the jungles of Costa Rica, this time with a local guide Diego. The sudden trip was necessitated when Levine received word the government was to begin raking the islands for any trace evidence of the InGen project because of reports of encephalitis outbreak associated with the aberrant forms.
Levine knows time is of the essence if he is to find the lost world he believes is in the jungle. Occasionally, they hear odd, loud cries from the jungle. They come to a stream and see a huge footprint in the wet sand along the water. As they examine it, a mouse-sized reptile emerges from the jungle. Levine, certain it is a living dinosaur, picks it up. Then the jungle is shattered by a roar and the thundering sound of something moving rapidly toward them. Diego and Levine run. Levine is aware that behind him something has snatched Diego and the man is screaming. Levine keeps running.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary: “School”
Kelly and Arby are troubled by Levine’s sudden disappearance and are determined to make sure their mentor is OK. They head to talk to the company run by Jack Thorne, an engineer they had met running errands of Levine. They hope he knows where Levine is.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary: “Tag”
Malcolm enlists the help of a zoologist to examine the specimen Levine sent. The researcher confirms it is a lizard with avian elements. In addition, the animal has been tagged with a tiny thumbnail chip implanted in its skin which says only “Site B.”
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary: “Thorne”
When Kelly and Arby arrive at Thorne’s massive engineering facility, they discover that Thorne has been working for months designing and building equipment for Levine, most notably two trailers modified to Levine’s specifications into mobile research labs. Included in the trailers are lightweight but heavy-duty cages and a disassembled observation platform. The kids tell Thorne that Levine did not show up at school. Thorne is perplexed until Arby suggests that they try to contact Levine using the tiny satellite phone that Levine always carries. Levine answers right away, but the signal is weak. Levine is obviously in distress. He pleads for help before the call is broken off. Thorne decides he must find Levine.
Introduction-Part 1 Analysis
A sequel by definition needs to advance rather than rehash the themes of the first volume. Although there are several similarities between Jurassic Park and The Lost World—the ferocity of the dinosaurs, the incompetence and greed of corporations, the charming savvy of kids, and the beauty of the extinct creatures—The Lost World extends Crichton’s investigation into the theory of evolution and extinction.
The reader learns that John Hammond’s lab on Isla Nublar was meant to be the public-facing outpost for his operations but that he had also constructed a massive industrial-sized facility on a nearby island to manufacture dinosaurs to supply to the park. When Jurassic Park imploded, InGen destroyed the facilities on Isla Nublar but abandoned Site B carelessly. The Lost World explores the implications of what happens when a species through its own will condemns itself to extinction, a theme applicable to Crichton’s own time and the rapidly growing awareness of the implications of global warming and how Site B may not be the only lost world under scrutiny.
First Configuration sets up two important ideas in the novel: the contrast between good and bad scientists and the tension between the urge to reveal and conceal dangerous truths. The wealthy Dr. Richard Levine, committed to hard work and research, is juxtaposed with Lewis Dodgson, who clearly does not share Levine’s pure fascination with the dinosaurs on Site B. Levine goes to Costa Rica is test a theory, to find the mythical Lost World. His energetic investigation leads to careless decisions—the premise of the First Configuration is the disappearance of Levine and his cryptic (if disturbing) message to help him that closes this first section.
Contrasted with Levine, Dodgson is perpetually dour; even his own henchman finds him “creepy” (34). The reader first meets him in a clandestine rendezvous with a plan to steal the fertilized eggs at Site B, wherever it is. When Levine suddenly leaves Berkeley (and his court-ordered community service) Dodgson knows the game is afoot. Dinosaurs have little value to Dodgson except as an opportunity to make money. Dodgson represents science driven only by the bottom line.
Against these two polar opposites—the scientist as child, the scientist as entrepreneur—Crichton introduces retired civil engineer Dr. James Thorne, a character who offers a balance between those two extremes. Thorne is a pragmatist, a problem-solver who does not get distracted by theories or by the bottom line. He curtailed his academic career because he was disenchanted by academia and its neglect of hands-on practical science. Levine turns to Thorne to build the special equipment he believes he will need to study the animals he believes are on Isla Sorba, and Kelly and Arby turn to Thorne when they are concerned over Levine’s disappearance. Thorne acts decisively and morally when he realizes Levine is in danger, saying: “We have to find him…Right away” (68).
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