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Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
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 very 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 very 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 discusion 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.
2004: 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.
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
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Rated by buyers 
- A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
I am a fan of Michael Crichton's work. That said, this story is not one of his best. If you're looking for a great tale to escape into, MC has published far greater examples. The purpose of this story (as well as Crichton's later novel, Next) is to convey a message. It's the spoonful of sugar that helps the reader swallow the hard truth that Crichton wishes to convey.
The book takes its title from the end of a Platonic-style dialogue in which a sociologist specializing in the "ecology of thought" concludes that societies are kept under control of elites in government through ever-evolving oppressive fear. When the Berlin Wall came down, marking the end of the Cold War fear, a new fear became necessary. Crichton's sociologist points out that during 1989 the words "crisis", "catastrophe", etc., particularly concerning natural phenomena, greatly multiplied in media usage.
The message of the book is that the public can easily be led to actions contrary to its own good through ignorance or lack of hard science. Most people accept the "fact" of global warming through anecdotal evidence, typically attained from television or radio news outlets who quote politicians or "scientists" who have published no data in peer-reviewed journals. Crichton challenges us to dig deeper and questions the "truth" which we are being given.
Rated by buyers - Classic Crichton with a twist
State of Fear is the classic Crichton novel--a fun, action-packed story wrapped around a little nugget of science. But in this case, there is a twist. The twist is that for Crichton, the science he wrote about is the pseudoscience of Global Warming, or, to be a little more exact, the study of the environment and its warming trend in relation to the activities of humankind.
Having heard Crichton speak about Global Warming before, I knew he was not a fan. What makes State of Fear a compelling read is that here he lays out his reasons why. For instance, Crichton believes that Global Warming is based on simple premises that have not, and are not being thoroughly tested. He also believes it is a front for social agendas with less palatable social goals. In Crichton's view, these agendas must rely on fear to gain acceptance, and they communicate fear using what appears to be undisputable science. Describing this as but another example of the politicization of science, Crichton clearly believes it is dangerous.
There are other reasons as well, and as Crichton sets them down again and again, he gets a little preachy. Kenner, for example, the main character he uses to espouse his views, is as unyielding as the Global Warming advocates he faces off with. The only difference is that Kenner is a "real scientist" whose resumé is so remarkable it could only be fictional. And Kenner is always there to fight theory with fact, after fact, after fact. Fortunately, the novelty and contrariness of these facts keeps the monotony at bay and keeps the reader engaged.
So does Crichton tells us the Global Warming is a myth? No, he merely challenges the reader to think critically and investigate the theories that so many promote as fact. In the process, he introduces us to a series of forgettable characters who are wrapped up in a globe trotting adventure to fight environmental terrorists. In the end it is fun, interesting, and probably needed.
Rated by buyers 
- Blazingly fast read! Exhilarating book!
I was astounded at how fast I read through this book. This is one heck of a fast paced action packed thriller! Something I notice about Crichton is he seems able to appeal to a broad audience with his books. Many of the subject matters he writes about many people would find uninteresting, but Crichton has a way of making things interesting that, at face glance, might not seem so at first. I am not usually into novels of this type, but Crichton seems able to make ones of quality good enough to keep me coming back for more. This easily gets five stars from me.
Rated by buyers - An Exciting Thriller Based In Controversy
THE STATE OF FEAR, by the impeccable Michael Crichton, is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller based in the world of environmental science and the very controversial subject of global warming. This is a thought-provoking work of fiction that makes you question what you "know," as well as why and how you know it. IMHO, any good book or movie will entertain, make you think, and teach you something. THE STATE OF FEAR does all three.
THE STATE OF FEAR posits whether or not global warming is real. It shows us how scientists and data can be manipulated by governments and environmental groups to make the world believe something that may not be true. It examines the length to which radical organizations may go to make the world believe what they want us to believe. And it does all of this in an absorbing, gripping, spellbinding page turner that keeps the reader on the edge of his seat. The wily twists and turns keep you in suspense and the plot rocketing along until the very last page.
The only flaw I find in this book is the beginning, about the very first 100 pages or so. So much fragmented back story, so many characters, so many facts are being thrown at the reader that the book is very hard to follow and get into. I have to admit that I almost stopped reading, but I am so glad that I did not. This book will make you question everything, and perhaps we don't do enough of that. Is global warming real? Are we, the public, being manipulated with out knowing it? I'll leave it to each reader to decide for himself...
Rated by buyers - State of Fear reviewed
Do you recall the hype of all that made you nervous like El Nino, Anthrax, Bird Flu and Y2K? Read this book and it can explain the latest wave of created fear, Global warming? I have not been a big believer in this "theory" This book explains why better then any one persons opinion, if you have doubts then read the book and take it for what it's worth, nothing will change if you don't, you'll just have a better insight of what we have been exposed to.
Very well researched and written books with good data but read and decide for yourself.
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