I'll back you up. I stopped reading Crichton a while ago, but my MIL insisted that I try Timeline out. Crichton doesn't write books, he writes movies in book format. I find the reads to be too easy. Also, with most books, I like to read them several times, and I get more each time as I catch the details and subtleties. There is nothing gained from a second read of his books.

I just rented the DVD after finishing the book, and I probably would have enjoyed the movie more if I had seen it before reading it. I think that they changed too much, but they probably had to, or the movie would have been much longer.