This Michael Crichton bacteriological classic is short, but sweet. One of the few thrillers I've read that came with a series of scientific references appended, the tale is something of a scientific whatisit (as opposed to a whodunnit) with the survival of the earth's populous at stake.

As with most of Crichton's work, this book is complete airport fodder, but it's airport fodder that doesn't make you feel like a moron for reading it. The level of research is undoubted, though I suppose it is difficult to imagine how far-fetched some of what appears in the book (computer analysis of blood tests, saferooms, the general level of computer assistance in the experimental situation) must have seemed upon publication; it's all something that 2009's readers would consider normal.

Short and with a pace that ratchets up somewhat towards the story's end, The Andromeda Strain is taut kinda-sorta sci-fi that you won't feel ashamed to read.