Woah! I didn't even know he was sick. Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Aw, man! Crichton was one of my favorite authors between the ages of 8 and, say, 20. I didn't enjoy his last few as much as I did his first few, but I still read them all.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I've never really been a fan of his stuff, but it's still weird to think that he isn't out there producing it.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I was. Sphere was my favorite book until I was 14 (and read Ender's Game).
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
But he's still young.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
He was 66. That's not old, but it's not young either.
Posted by BelladonnaOrchid (Member # 188) on :
I was reading that he had wanted to keep his battle with cancer private, so it's no surprise that not many people knew he was sick. Sphere was one of my favorite books. How sad.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Very very sad. Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Wow. That's too bad. Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Wow. Had no idea he was sick. I figured he'd pump out many more books before he was gone...
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
The publisher will undoubtedly find some other writer to finish Crichton's last novel. They will make him a franchise, like Robert Ludlum's publisher did with him after he died, and then a whole bunch more Bourne novels were written (such as by Eric Van Lustbader, who loves complicated, convoluted plots). The same is probably being done with Arthur C. Clarke, especially since his last novels were done in partnership with other writers.
Wealthy entrepreneurs will probably heave a sigh of relief, since they were frequently the villains in his novels. His last novel, State of Fear, was almost an exception, because he had extremists in the environmental movement as the villains--however, as I recall, they were manipulated and financed by a wealthy entrepreneur. It is no wonder that the people who consider it heresy to question their global warming dogma have had their noses out of joint about that book. Especially since it had very telling documentation. (That was the first novel I have ever seen that had extensive footnotes.)
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I can't even begin to say how odd I find your worldview, Ron.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:His last novel, State of Fear, was almost an exception, because he had extremists in the environmental movement as the villains--however, as I recall, they were manipulated and financed by a wealthy entrepreneur. It is no wonder that the people who consider it heresy to question their global warming dogma have had their noses out of joint about that book. Especially since it had very telling documentation. (That was the first novel I have ever seen that had extensive footnotes.)
The "documentation" in State of Fear represents such a small fraction of the actual research on Climate Change that calling it "extensive" is a gross misnomer. Crichton not only cherry picked the data but in many cases he misrepresents what is actually said in his references. The book is worse than a pack of lies, its an atrocity and anyone who uses it as an authoritative source on climate change is being badly deceived.
Read the IPCC report, read its hundreds of pages of references, read the papers Crichton cites in his book and then compare what he says to the truth.
Posted by Zhil (Member # 10504) on :
Sphere and Jurassic Park were some of my favorite books when I was a kid, this sucks. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
That's so sad that State of Fear was his last novel.
Oh well. He wrote some damn fine books.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Jurassic Park and Timeline were two of my favorite books when I was in seventh grade. Sucks that he died. I didn't even know he was sick or that old.
My dad will be super upset. He was big fan of even some of his more recent books that seemed to be less reliable sources of science-based thrillers (Next, State of Fear).
Really sucks.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Posted by All4Nothing (Member # 11601) on :
I never read any of his books, but I saw the movies. From what I saw the books are probably very good, and either way the world lost a very talented man.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Well, I can tell you that Sphere the book was about fifty times better than the movie.
Posted by All4Nothing (Member # 11601) on :
That book, I probably will actually end up reading. I'm going to stay away from the Jurassic Park books though. I don't think those books will offer much more than the movies did, but I think Sphere will probably offer alot more than the movie even though the movie was still really good.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: The publisher will undoubtedly find some other writer to finish Crichton's last novel. They will make him a franchise, like Robert Ludlum's publisher did with him after he died, and then a whole bunch more Bourne novels were written (such as by Eric Van Lustbader, who loves complicated, convoluted plots). The same is probably being done with Arthur C. Clarke, especially since his last novels were done in partnership with other writers.
Wealthy entrepreneurs will probably heave a sigh of relief, since they were frequently the villains in his novels. His last novel, State of Fear, was almost an exception, because he had extremists in the environmental movement as the villains--however, as I recall, they were manipulated and financed by a wealthy entrepreneur. It is no wonder that the people who consider it heresy to question their global warming dogma have had their noses out of joint about that book. Especially since it had very telling documentation. (That was the first novel I have ever seen that had extensive footnotes.)
It had very poor science as told by a non-scientist, you mean.
The Jurassic Park books were much better than the movies, and I really enjoyed Timeline although it started slow IIRC.
Ron, if a book was to come OUT next month it HAS to have already been completed LONG before now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit:
quote:His last novel, State of Fear, was almost an exception, because he had extremists in the environmental movement as the villains--however, as I recall, they were manipulated and financed by a wealthy entrepreneur. It is no wonder that the people who consider it heresy to question their global warming dogma have had their noses out of joint about that book. Especially since it had very telling documentation. (That was the first novel I have ever seen that had extensive footnotes.)
The "documentation" in State of Fear represents such a small fraction of the actual research on Climate Change that calling it "extensive" is a gross misnomer. Crichton not only cherry picked the data but in many cases he misrepresents what is actually said in his references. The book is worse than a pack of lies, its an atrocity and anyone who uses it as an authoritative source on climate change is being badly deceived.
Read the IPCC report, read its hundreds of pages of references, read the papers Crichton cites in his book and then compare what he says to the truth.
As an aside anybody who has read the book would know that Crichton at the epilogue states that he believes global warming is happening, and that man is effecting it to some degree. I think his only wish in the book was to get people to talk about it and think without assuming a bunch of smart scientists have got our backs and we can just turn off and do as they say.
I loved Mr. Crichton's novels. I was taken totally aback that he even had cancer. I'll miss his books, and more importantly his person.
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
The documentation in State of Fear did expose blatant dishonesty and incompetent practice of "science" in the pro-global warming movement, regardless of whether their main contention is correct or not. It should serve as an eye-opener to some folks who tend to be naive, that scientists can be biased and dishonest and propagandistic, like anyone else in history.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I am so glad I don't live in the same planet as you, Ron.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: The documentation in State of Fear did expose blatant dishonesty and incompetent practice of "science" in the pro-global warming movement, regardless of whether their main contention is correct or not. It should serve as an eye-opener to some folks who tend to be naive, that scientists can be biased and dishonest and propagandistic, like anyone else in history.
State of Fear was fiction, it exposed nothing. The claims it makes regarding climate scientists are lies, straight out. If you believe a word of it, your a fool.
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
I feel that I have lost something by losing Michael Crichton. He is exactly the kind of guy I wanted to visit when he's 75 and I'm 40 and talk away an afternoon every couple of weeks. A really smart guy, if not someone I always agreed with. I could always depend on his books to carry me through long, lonely flights and layovers. They are available in any airport, and compulsively readable. To me, anyway.
Thank you for your best books, Mr. Crichton. Maybe one day we'll argue the issues with each other.
[ November 05, 2008, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: steven ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: The documentation in State of Fear did expose blatant dishonesty and incompetent practice of "science" in the pro-global warming movement, regardless of whether their main contention is correct or not. It should serve as an eye-opener to some folks who tend to be naive, that scientists can be biased and dishonest and propagandistic, like anyone else in history.
Yyyyyes, ron. A science fiction novel told you that global warming is a hoax. What better way to inform yourself.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
One of my fave Chrichton books is Travels. It's a collection of his non-fiction essays -- a lot of great stories, much recommended.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Thanks for the recommendation, plaid; I'll keep an eye out for it.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Just for clarity, State of Fear was not his final novel. That honor goes to Next.
I will miss him. I've read a lot of his books (none of the more recent ones, however) and really enjoyed them.
Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Belle: Just for clarity, State of Fear was not his final novel. That honor goes to Next.
Oh! I forgot about that one. It was the one with the furries, right?
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
You know, I could've sworn that one of the conclusions Crichton ended State of Fear with wasn't, "Global climate change is a fraud." But maybe I'm just a fool, too.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: You know, I could've sworn that one of the conclusions Crichton ended State of Fear with wasn't, "Global climate change is a fraud." But maybe I'm just a fool, too.
That has already been noted in the thread.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
True, BlackBlade. My post was in the spirit of, "Agreeing with you," rather than, "Making the first statement on the subject."
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: True, BlackBlade. My post was in the spirit of, "Agreeing with you," rather than, "Making the first statement on the subject."
Ah. But it is true that many people seem blissfully unaware of Crichton's actual opinions on the subject. We were required to read State of Fear for a class last year and it was interesting to hear members of the class give their take on it. Many of them eagerly gobbled up the "Global warming as a complex myth" idea. Clearly they didn't actually read the book.
Posted by Mercury (Member # 11822) on :
I read most of his books when I was in sixth and seventh grade. He was one of the first writers to get me interested in reading, especially sci-fi. I had just read Eaters of the Dead for the first time when I heard about this. He will be missed.
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