[.ca] State of Fear CD (ISBN 0060786027)

From Amazon.com:
Amazon Exclusive Content A Michael Crichton Timeline Amazon.com reveals a few facts about the "father of the techno-thriller." 1942: John Michael Crichton is born in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 23. 1960: Crichton graduates from Roslyn High School on Long Island, New York, with high marks and a reputation as a star basketball player. He decides to attend Harvard University to study English. During his studies, he rankles under his writing professors' criticism. As an act of rebellion, Crichton submits an essay by George Orwell as his own. The professor doesn't catch the plagiarism and gives Orwell a B-. This experience convinces Crichton to change his field of study to anthropology. 1964: Crichton graduates summa cum laude from Harvard University in anthropology. After studying further as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University and receiving the Henry Russell Shaw Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him to travel in Europe and North Africa, Crichton begins coursework at the Harvard School of Medicine. To help fund his medical endeavors, he writes spy thrillers under several pen names. One of these works, A Case of Need, wins the 1968 Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award. 1969: Crichton graduates from Harvard Medical school and is accepted as a post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Science in La Jolla, Calif. However, his career in medicine is waylaid by the publication of the first novel under his own name, The Andromeda Strain. The novel, about an apocalyptic plague, climbs high on bestseller lists and is later made into a popular film. Crichton said of his decision to pursue writing full time: “To quit medicine to become a writer struck most people like quitting the Supreme Court to become a bail bondsman.” 1972: Crichton's second novel under his own name The Terminal Man, is published. Also, two of Crichton's previous works under his pen names, Dealing and A Case of Need are made into movies. After watching the filming, Crichton decides to try his hand at directing. He will eventually direct seven films including the 1973 science-fiction hit Westworld, which was the first film ever to use computer-generated effects. 1980: Crichton draws on his anthropology background and fascination with new technology to create Congo, a best-selling novel about a search for industrial diamonds and a new race of gorillas. The novel, patterned after the adventure writings of H. Ryder Haggard, updates the genre with the inclusion of high-tech gadgets that, although may seem quaint 20 years later, serve to set Crichton's work apart and he begins to cement his reputation as “the father of the techno-thriller.” 1990: After the 1980s, which saw the publication of the underwater adventure Sphere (1987) and an invitation to become a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988), Crichton begins the new decade with a bang via the publication of his most popular novel, Jurassic Park. The book is a powerful example of Crichton's use of science and technology as the bedrock for his work. Heady discussion of genetic engineering, chaos theory, and paleontology run throughout the tightly-wound thriller that strands a crew of scientists on an island populated by cloned dinosaurs run amok. The novel inspires the 1993 Steven Spielberg film, and together book and film will re-ignite the world's fascination with dinosaurs. 1995: Crichton resurrects an idea from his medical school days to create the Emmy-Award Winning television series ER. In this year, ER won eight Emmys and Crichton received an award from the Producers Guild of America in the category of outstanding multi-episodic series. Set in an insanely busy an often dangerous Chicago emergency room, the fast-paced drama is defined by Crichton's now trademark use of technical expertise and insider jargon. The year also saw the publication of The Lost World returning readers to the dinosaur-infested island. 2000: In recognition for Crichton's contribution in popularizing paleontology, a dinosaur discovered in southern China is named after him. "Crichton's ankylosaur" is a small, armored plant-eating dinosaur that dates to the early Jurassic Period, about 180 million years ago. "For a person like me, this is much better than an Academy Award," Crichton said of the honor. 2005: Crichton's newest thriller State of Fear is published. Amazon.com's Significant Seven Michael Crichton kindly agreed to take the life quiz we like to give to all our authors: the Amazon.com Significant Seven. Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life? A: Prisoners of Childhood by Alice Miller Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they? A: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Witter Bynner version) Symphony #2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms (Georg Solti) Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told? A: Surely you're joking. Q: Describe the perfect writing environment. A: Small room. Shades down. No daylight. No disturbances. Macintosh with a big screen. Plenty of coffee. Quiet. Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say? A: I don't want an epitaph. If forced, I would say "Why Are You Here? Go Live Your Life." Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with? A: Benjamin Franklin Q: If you could have one superpower what would it be? A: Invisibility

My Favorite Crichton book:
Author Michael Crichton has made his mark dealing with the `what-if' scenarios of science. State of Fear is different. This is a book about political science, and the politicization of science. While the specific issue is climate change, the more general one is the power of media in shaping public opinion. Interestingly, the book shows that both the left and right manipulate media to sway public opinion. Media are portrayed as unwitting dupes of interest groups, politicians, and public relations specialists, because of mindless parroting of press releases from seemingly reputable organizations and experts. Through his protagonist, Crichton challenges the conventional media wisdom of human influence on climate change. While he may or may not agree with the position of any of the book's characters, Crichton cautions us all to read, watch and listen with a critical mind, because politicized science is dangerous. Indeed, Crichton , in a speech at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, January 17, 2003, likened the current climate change juggernaut as pseudo science, similar to the eugenics movement, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence SETI, and a nuclear winter. Highly recommended.

Realistic. Genious. Entertaining:
Anyone with the slightest interest in policy, environment or the natural sciences will be glued to this book. You obviously don't need my endorsement, State of Fear made the New York Times best seller list and received rave reviews from a host of important people. State of fear will very likely shift or change your views of the world - not only in the realm of environmental policy. The story is so well written and brilliantly incorporates facts, raw data and reasoning. above all though it'll hold you attention and keep you hooked. I have great respect for Michael Chrichton. Amazing author.

More of a lesson on global warming:
I have read almost every book by Michael Crichton and with every new release I find the book reads less like a thrilling novel and more like an essay on the authors beliefs and theories. This is no exception. I have done many studies on global warming (in my science degree) and found much of the dialogue about the subject interesting in the book. However, I bought this book with the hope of reading an exciting adventure. Sure, there was exciting adventure, but for only half of the book. It was broken up by major discussions on scientific topics. This seriously affected the pacing. Most Michael Crichton books have taken me less than 24 hours to read. This one took me over a week. Enough said.

I was convinced:
Of all the Crichton books, this one had one of the most serious points to make about our immediate surroundings. I don't know about anyone else, but I found myself thoroughly convinced by the facts presented in this book and what it says about our current form of environmentalism. I've since read the criticisms against the book, but my belief in the State of Fear is not shaken.

A fizzled flare:
Mickey Crichton's fought a long war with science. First, he didn't want objects sent into space to be retrieved. They might bring back a species-specific microbe that could cut short his writing career. Then he objected to tampering with fossil DNA for fear of T. Rex gobbling him down or an Apatosaurus trampling his flower beds. The horrors of nanotechnology running amok and turning us all into grey goo was also presented. The on-going theme has been science run amok - out of ignorance or for profit. This time he's turned from science as bumbling into the unknown to science as special interest hostile to society. In one of the poorest offerings in "science" fiction, Crichton envisions a well-financed band of "eco-terrorists" threatening his homeland. In this frothy tale, a millionaire has been duped by the "eco-terrorists" into funding their public awareness campaign. A lawsuit on behalf of the Pacific island nation of Vanutu is a cover for more nefarious activities. Weather incidents are to be enhanced to cause serious destruction and raise public concern. Peter Evans, a young, handsome, randy lawyer, suffering a mild case of environmental conscience, is recruited by a "hidden" domestic counter-terrorist agency. He's shipped around the planet like a wad of toxic waste to act as a lightning rod \oliterally!\c against the "terrorist" scheme. The eco-terrorist plot holds more water than exhibited in the narrative. However, it's adventure and romance, so we mustn't take this lapse too seriously. The action is, to put it mildly, fast-paced. The "terrorists" apparently have a tightly integrated world-wide network. They're in the Antarctic, Arizona and across the Pacific. Keeping up with such a scattered network is difficult for the reader. How the anti-hero Kenner achieves it eludes us. Except he has Sanjong - equally competent with laptop or rifle. Sanjong always seems to know what's going on. He has about a dozen lines to impart his talents. Even so, they convey more than Crichton manages in this entire book. Instead of character or plot building, Crichton uses his characters to fabricate a dialog about what's wrong with environmental science. The exchanges are simplistic, override whatever worth the story might have and are demonstrably misleading. His use of Lomberg as a source should be a signal flare to all. Crichton's disclaimers about "this is only fiction" at front and back of the book don't ring true. His statement "the footnotes are real" is specious. I'd be pleased to offer any number of corrections to many of them. When this book is converted to film, the producers could save a great deal of money using Barbie \oTM\c or Ken \oTM\c dolls instead of people. Such figures would better represent the characters Crichton has portrayed. Evans' opening dedication to the issue of climate change is shallow, but his rapid conversion to Kenner's proselytizing against it is worse. He might have done what Crichton claims to do - find "real quotes". He makes no effort. The women who arrive and depart in this woeful endeavour are uniformly beautiful, arrogant and extremely talented in their chosen roles - except the only passion they manifest is negative. The attempt to merge scientist with federal agent in the person of Kenner is simply ridiculous. Scientists air their objections in papers and conferences, not with a rifle. This book comes dangerously close to being simply fraudulent. It's such an obvious polemic against erosion of "the American lifestyle" that it's difficult to see how the publisher could find a category for it. A pitiful effort on many counts and one to be avoided. \ostephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada\c