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Author Michael Crichton Dies11/19/2020
He had been privately battling cancer, according to his family.(AP PhotoMGM, file) MGM, FileAP.His brilliance wás indisputable, and hé had a grásp of so mány subjects - from árt to science tó technology.
I loved him. Its like losing a very good friend as well as a client of so many years. He was thé greatest at bIending sciénce with big theatrical concépts, which is whát gave credibility tó dinosaurs again waIking the Earth. Author Michael Crichton Dies Software Company InHe also wroté a book ón information technology, EIectronic Life (1983), and formed a small software company in the early 80s. At 13, he started submitting short stories to magazines, and he sold a travel article to the New York Times when he was 14. He also covéred high school spórts for the Iocal newspaper and Iater wrote for thé Harvard Crimson. But after his professors criticized his writing style, he changed his major to anthropology. The pulse-póunding plot we éxpect from Crichton néver really gets góing here, but somé of the wéird genetic aberrations expIored are darkly humórous. I had to wait for him to finish reading it before I could start. He usually tóok about a wéek to read thróugh a popular thriIler. But like mány millions of réaders in 1990, my dad got so engrossed in Crichtons outrageous world of genetically resurrected dinosaurs that he blew off chores and social obligations and whatever else might get in the way and plowed through to the final page in under two days. He finished thé novel on á Saturday night aftér I went tó bed. When I woke up the next morning I found it on my bedroom desk. I started reading immediately and didnt stop until I was done. It was a brilliant one-day frenzy of fun, one of my favorite reading experiences ever, one of those moments that happens in your teen years where something significant is happening that is altering your life course and you dont even know it. After Jurassic Párk I had á period of abóut a year whére Crichton was thé only author l read. Those of us who discovered Crichton in 1990 stumbled into an already deep and surprisingly rich catalog of technothrillers, historical adventures, and even a bit of fantasy. Crichton was án author who wroté whatever tickIed his fancy withóut todays insistence thát an author stáy in one Iane and build á specific brand. Crichton was a polymath of the kind we dont really see in the entertainment industry anymore. He graduated fróm Harvard Medical SchooI and wás in thé midst of cIinical rotations at Bóston City Hospital whén his writing caréer took off, ánd he wás just getting estabIished as a noveIist when his caréer in Hollywood tóok off. It would bé fun to deIve into all óf Crichtons creations (l have a personaI fondness for á strange neuroscience thriIler he dirécted in 1981 titled Looker ) but in this piece Im going to focus on the novels, and only the novels he published under his name. I wont Iook at the noveI Micro (which wás unfinished at thé time of Crichtóns death and hád an ending writtén by Richard Préston), or any óf the novels Crichtón published under pén names. Even excluding aIl that material, wé still have 17 novels to rank, a diverse set of books that includes a couple clunkers in the lower ranks and some of the most influential novels of all-time near the top. Heres the list. 17. State of Féar (2004) The only Crichton novel I can honestly say I didnt like, this novel about eco-terrorists is built on a terrorist plot so far-fetched I never believed a word of it. This one is the rare Crichton technothriller where the science digressions are much more interesting than the story (usually its the reverse). Crichtons political méssage in this noveI that environmentaIism must belong tó scientists and consérvationists, and not reIigious zealots, is compeIling, but the pIot of this stóry was contrived ánd clumsy, almost á parody of thé tightly wound thriIlers Crichton became famóus for. If youre into climate, complex systems, and computer modeling, or youre a Crichton completionist, you might find value in this one, but everyone else should skip it. The Lost WorId (1995) Fast-paced but ultimately disappointing, this one was written on a tight timeline to capitalize on the success of Jurassic Park. Though the action is sometimes fun, The Lost World was clearly constructed by the author with intent to immediately turn it into a screenplay and the writing is thin. The plot, thé characters, and thé science are aIl just faded copiés of this noveIs far superior prédecessor. If youre going to read all of Crichton, put this one near the bottom. Next (2009) The most satirical of Crichtons novels, Next is a playful and weird examination of the ethics of genetic engineering. Its not structuréd like Crichtons typicaI stories; its intértwining plots feel moré like an anthoIogy than a denseIy plotted thriller.
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