Join Bestselling Author Michael Crichton to Discuss His Latest Thriller at Barnes & Noble.Com in November; Online Reading Group to Discuss Crichton's Environmental Thriller State of Fear

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller,announced today that legendary author Michael Crichton will lead aBarnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com) online reading group in a discussionof his latest book, State of Fear. Registration is now open for thisfree interactive discussion at www.bn.com/bookclubs. Readers who signup for the four-week discussion, which begins November 1, will haveaccess to interactive and real-time message boards 24 hours a day,seven days a week, so they can participate whenever they choose.

In State of Fear, which will be released in paperback on October25, a deadly conspiracy plots environmental terrorism. Crichton'sthought-provoking page-turner transports the reader from the glaciersof Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, from the Arizona desert tothe deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands, from the streets of Paristo the beaches of Los Angeles. His story challenges conventionalwisdom about the relationship between 21st-century society and thenatural world.

Educated as a physician, Michael Crichton has sold over 150million books, which have been translated into 36 languages. Twelve ofhis novels have been made into films, including The Andromeda Strain,The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, and Disclosure.

Crichton is also the creator of the television series ER. He isthe only person to have had, at the same time, the No. 1 book, the No.1 movie, and the No. 1 TV show in the United States.

Almost 100 authors and more than 55,000 readers have taken part inBarnes & Noble.com's online reading groups since the program began inthe summer of 2003. In addition to Michael Crichton, November'sschedule includes discussions with the following prominent authors:

-- Gregory Maguire on Son of a Witch, the sequel to the hit book and musical Wicked.

-- Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season, on her new novel, Wickett's Remedy.

-- Neil Gaiman on his latest bestselling fantasy, Anansi Boys.

-- Simon Winchester on A Crack in the Edge of the Word, his authoritative look at the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

-- Robert Hicks on his critically acclaimed new novel The Widow of the South.

The classic reading groups in November will discuss CharlesDarwin's The Origin of Species, Booth Tarkington's The MagnificentAmbersons, and C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, - a treat forNarnia fans waiting for the upcoming movie adaptation.

Readers can enroll at www.bn.com/bookclubs for any of these freereading groups.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest booksellerand a Fortune 500 company, operates 819 bookstores in 50 states. Forthe fourth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brandfor quality, according to the EquiTrend(R) Brand Study by HarrisInteractive(R). Barnes & Noble conducts its online business throughBarnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commercesites and the number one online bookseller for quality amonge-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained viathe Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site:http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.