# Sphere (novel)
**Sphere** is a 1987 science fiction novel by [Michael Crichton](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-crichton), his sixth novel published under his own name and his sixteenth overall, in which American scientists investigate a huge, apparently undamaged spacecraft found resting on the Pacific ocean floor, a thousand feet below the surface in the South Pacific.[1](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46917W/Sphere) • [2](https://search.worldcat.org/title/sphere-a-novel/oclc/15198625) Published by [Alfred A. Knopf](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-a-knopf), it was Crichton's first novel in seven years and begins as a first-contact mystery before turning into a psychological thriller about the power of the human imagination.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) • [1](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46917W/Sphere)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Publication | Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1987; first edition 385 pages; ISBN 0394561104[2](https://search.worldcat.org/title/sphere-a-novel/oclc/15198625) |
| Premise | A huge vessel, apparently undamaged and at least three hundred years old, is discovered a thousand feet down in the South Pacific[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) • [2](https://search.worldcat.org/title/sphere-a-novel/oclc/15198625) |
| Protagonist | Norman Johnson, a 53-year-old psychologist, Crichton's oldest hero to that point, expert in the embryonic field of alien contact[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) |
| Central mechanism | The silver sphere empowers mathematician Harry Adams to make his nightmares come true; the manifestations kill all but three of the crew[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) |
| Origins | Begun in 1967 as a companion piece to *The Andromeda Strain*, then set aside because Crichton did not know where to take it[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) |
| Adaptation | 1998 Warner Bros. film, released February 13, 1998, running 2 hours 14 minutes, rated PG-13, starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) |
## Plot summary
The [United States Navy](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-navy) discovers a gigantic spaceship lying on the Pacific ocean floor, overgrown with corals and evidently centuries old, and keeps the find Top Secret.[5](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?6353=) A team of American scientists is rushed to the site, where the vessel appears undamaged by its fall from the sky and at least three hundred years old.[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/)
Working inside the craft, the team deduces that it is an Earth ship that traveled here from the future via a black hole, and they find the sphere itself: a 30-foot-wide hollow silver ball, clearly an alien artifact.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) A computer voice calling itself "Jerry" begins communicating with the crew, and the habitat around them comes under attack by deadly jellyfish and a giant squid. Norman and Beth work out that "Jerry" is really [Harry Adams](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-adams), who has been empowered by the sphere to make nightmares come true; the manifestations kill everyone aboard except Adams, Beth, and Norman.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) Kirkus called the ending "pleasingly upbeat".[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/)
## Characters and setting
The team's composition maps onto distinct scientific specialties. Norman Johnson is a 53-year-old psychologist, occasionally called in by the [Federal Aviation Administration](https://www.edgepedia.org/federal-aviation-administration) to help survivors of plane crashes cope with shock and trauma, and an expert in the then-embryonic field of alien contact.[6](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/12/books/anybody-home.html) • [3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) Harold (Harry) Adams is a mathematician and Beth Halpern a zoologist.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/)
The setting is a deep-sea habitat, and Crichton uses a typhoon that isolates the station on the surface as a tension device; Kirkus described it as an old isolation ploy, but one that works.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/)
## Origins and themes
Crichton started the story in 1967 as a companion piece to *The Andromeda Strain*, but set it aside: "I didn't know where to go with it."[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) When he returned to it two decades later, he framed the project around a deliberately alien first contact. In his own words, what is likely about contact with an extraterrestrial is that the alien "wouldn't look human-like at all. You might not even be able to see it or detect it. And its behavior would be absolutely inexplicable."[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/)
He also described the book in psychological terms: "This is a book about people who find something from, as it turns out, our own future. It's pretty mysterious."[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) [Open Library](https://www.edgepedia.org/open-library)'s characterization matches this trajectory: the novel "begins as a science fiction story but quickly transforms into a psychological thriller, developing into an exploration of the nature of the human imagination."[1](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46917W/Sphere)
## Scientific detail
The novel's deep-sea sections draw on saturation-diving physiology as Crichton presents it. The text invokes the Navy's seventy-two-hour rule for avoiding aseptic bone necrosis, a destruction of bone in the leg and hip caused by the pressurized environment.[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) The habitat's helium atmosphere is described as making body-heat control volatile, capable of causing rapid fatal overheating or overchilling.[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) The novel also invokes high pressure nervous syndrome, while describing badges worn by the crew to monitor carbon-dioxide content.[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/)
## Publication and reception
The Knopf hardcover ran 385 pages and was priced at $17.95.[6](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/12/books/anybody-home.html) The New York Times review of July 12, 1987 was favorable in a modest register: the reviewer reported that the novel "kept me happy for two hours sitting in a grounded plane while the mechanics or whatever they were tried to decide whether the plane would ever fly again," while wishing it were longer.[6](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/12/books/anybody-home.html)
Kirkus was more mixed, judging the book a "cotton-candy science thriller" that matched neither the hardcore suspense nor the wit of *The Andromeda Strain*, *The Great Train Robbery*, or *Congo*, while praising its "rich seeding of techno/oceanic lore."[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) Blurbs quoted by the publisher were warmer: Newsweek called Crichton's writing "cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action," and [The New York Times Book Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-york-times-book-review) wrote, "The suspense is real…. The last 10 pages are exactly what they should be."[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33517/sphere-by-michael-crichton/) Genre review venues covered it as well, with notices in *Locus* #319 (August 1987, by Dan Chow), *Vector* 143 (1988), and *Paperback Inferno* #76 (1989).[5](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?6353=) Retrospectively, Collider named *Sphere* one of the "10 Best Thriller Books of the 1980s."[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33517/sphere-by-michael-crichton/)
## Adaptation
Warner Bros. released a film adaptation on February 13, 1998, running 2 hours 14 minutes and rated PG-13, starring [Dustin Hoffman](https://www.edgepedia.org/dustin-hoffman), Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, [Peter Coyote](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-coyote), Liev Schreiber, and [Queen Latifah](https://www.edgepedia.org/queen-latifah).[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/) The official site's film record lists Kurt Wimmer, Stephen Hauser, and Paul Attanasio in its director field.[4](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/)
## Place in Crichton's work
Contemporary reviewers read *Sphere* against Crichton's earlier books. Kirkus's benchmark set was *The Andromeda Strain*, *The Great Train Robbery*, and *Congo*, all of which it found superior in suspense and wit.[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/) The current publisher positions the book alongside *Jurassic Park*, *Timeline*, and *Congo*, describing it as "a psychological thriller about a group of scientists who investigate a spaceship discovered on the ocean floor" containing "a terrifying and destructive force."[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33517/sphere-by-michael-crichton/)
Later editions include a 1988 Ballantine Books reprint of 371 pages (ISBN 0345353145) and a 1987 Knopf book club edition of 335 pages with cover art by Paul Bacon.[8](https://books.google.com/books/about/Sphere.html?id=Xgl0YnFU0GkC) • [9](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?567114=) [Penguin Random House](https://www.edgepedia.org/penguin-random-house) currently keeps the title in print under ISBN 9780307816481.[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33517/sphere-by-michael-crichton/)
## References
1. [Sphere, Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46917W/Sphere)
2. [Sphere: a novel, WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/title/sphere-a-novel/oclc/15198625)
3. [SPHERE, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-crichton/sphere/)
4. [Sphere, Michael Crichton official site](https://michaelcrichton.com/works/sphere/)
5. [Title: Sphere, ISFDB](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?6353=)
6. [Anybody Home? The New York Times, July 12, 1987](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/12/books/anybody-home.html)
7. [Sphere by Michael Crichton, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/33517/sphere-by-michael-crichton/)
8. [Sphere: A Novel, Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/Sphere.html?id=Xgl0YnFU0GkC)
9. [Publication: Sphere (book club edition), ISFDB](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?567114=)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Science fiction (literature) › Science fiction works*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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