Michael Crichton -- Planet Earth's novelist of doom

Slate ^ | Dec. 8, 2004 | Bryan Curtis

[goldstategop]

The heroes of Crichton's novels are people arrayed against a faceless bureaucracy, the forces of nature, and plain bad guys. And they prevail by taking the initiative to defeat their adversary. No waiting around for the government to act first for them.

[Rastus]

I'm one of the few who liked the Lost World. Hated the movie, though.

[goldstategop]

Yes, there are conservative environmentalists. If you look up the bibliography in State Of Fear, Crichton actually has a good thing to say for Peter W. Huber's Hard Green: Saving The Environment From Enviromenalists. (A Conservative Manifesto). So you can see that Critchton doesn't think the Left should have a monopoly on caring for Mother Nature. He also likes Bjorn Lomberg's The Skeptical Environmentalist. Its not surprising Crichton prefers hard science over politics and measured action over sensational alarmism. Crichton even comes out for DDT!

[Flying Circus]

Ping

[MississippiMan]

Finished STATE OF FEAR last night. It's a thorough vivisection of environmentalism, and I'm extraordinarily pleased to see something like this coming from a major entertainment player. That said, it might have more impact if it were a better novel. From that regard, it is weak weak weak. The craft of writing fiction took a distant backseat to the message in this one.

MM