We are still learning from the Great White, and in 1973 we knew less. "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is the first novel written about the Great White and the inspiration for the book comes from a real-life incident in the early 1900s. In 1913, four people were killed by sharks off the Jersey Shore. Sharks will mistake a human for food but will release them as soon as they realize it. Peter Benchley creates a monster from realism and brilliantly describes the large fish in scientific terms in his book. It talks about its primitive little brain, dorsal fin, and the need for fish to run water over its gills. He never specifically names the fish and allows the reader to form a picture of the fish. Thus we are forced to believe in the possibility that there is a shark that is only hunting to survive and that the fish does not possess any extraordinary powers. The book first published in 1974 by Doubleday. The book was a success and became the club's book of the month, receiving much praise in newspapers such as the New York Times. While this was happening, Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, at Universal Studios, were contemplating the possibilities of creating the film. Neither Zanuck nor Brown knew the book would be such a success, and would later state "if one of us had really understood the difficulties in creating the film, it never would have happened." The film was originally slated for director Dick Richards, but when he abandoned the film it was assigned to young protégé Stephen Spielberg at the beginning of his career, with only two more films released, he was intrigued by the story and would later say: “We were naive or stupid ", and the film's production would go over budget, miss deadlines, and it seemed like nothing was going right. The film's production would begin without a script intact, without the complete mechanical shark, but Spielberg knew how he wanted to direct it “I want to develop it starting from the raw material” (Brode), and I would eliminate the subplots of the book. It will eliminate the internal struggles of the characters, Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) and Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gray); with the help of sound and a theme song written by John Williams keep the big fish intact, add special effects and explosive camera angles; and the direction Spielberg takes with the final act is aesthetically pleasing to audiences.