Thursday, November 6, 2008

Michael Crichton 1942 - 2008 R.I.P.

CNN reports today on the death from cancer of Michael Crichton.

Michael Crichton, who helped create the TV show "ER" and wrote the best-sellers "Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain," "Sphere" and "Rising Sun," has died in Los Angeles, his public relations firm said in a news release.

Crichton died unexpectedly Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," the release said.

He was 66.

Crichton, a medical doctor, was attracted to cautionary science tales.

Not only was he a medical doctor and author, he also directed a number of films. I will always associate him with the Jurassic Park dinosaurs. I loved the movie and loved the book even more.

In the CNN obituary, I found it interesting that he apparently opposed the theory of Global Warming. Isn't that what everybody made fun of Sarah Palin about?

4 comments:

  1. Crichton's Andromeda Strain was one of the first sci-fi books that I read. I got into sci-fi because of the ideas, concepts and possibilities he showed.

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  2. As a Marine Biologist, Sphere is my fave by him. I need to dig up a copy of Next, seeing as I now work with laboritory animals.

    Also for some good Political fodder, grab a copy of Chrichton's "A Case of Need" for a REALLY fantastic read (Chrichton really shines with stories of hospitals and surgeons...."The Terminal Man", while not my favorite story, is possibly some of his best writing...along with "Case of Need")

    And of course the above mentioned "State of Fear"

    As a slight backstory, I'll point out my College professors were pointing out the exact studies and data referenced in that book, so it wasn't so revolutionary when I read it, I was just happy to see less attention to Al Gore's frabications.

    Of course the subsequent attempts to Disccredit Chrichton were nothing short of shameful (many of them done by Environmental groups that have much to gain by the "Climate Crisis")

    For those looking to run his bibliography, I would recomend strongly against "Congo" which is what I see as his worst peice of work, and "Timeline" is an amusing read, but is of far less quality than his other works.

    Also I might add that when I read "Timeline" I said "Not the best book Chrichton has ever written, but It would make a GREAT Movie if given the same production values of "Jurrasic Park" or "Twister".

    Sadly it appears the studio didn't feel the need to treat "Timeline" any better than a Direct-to-Video Disney Sequel.

    Oh well.

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  3. Weer'd, Maybe you know where Crichton got that idea of taking the DNA from insects trapped in amber. I loved that idea. Do you think it could have been original with him?

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  4. I doubt it. People have been studying amber insects for centuries.

    Of course the DNA extracted from them at that age is a fucking disaster (An analogy I heard was trying to assemble a blank jigsaw puzzle with a million peices and no idea what the final puzzle was suposed to look like) so that was that Sci-Fi "one Rule" for him.

    (For those who never heard of that, its said to make a good Sci-Fi you are allowed to break one law of physics to make your story work....like allowing faster-than light travel)

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