Slog - Comments on Michael Crichton

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:39:45 -0800

I liked State of Fear.

Comment by clearlyhere

clearlyhere — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:41:11 -0800

He does write a good thriller. Jurassic Park was a great book. One of his best and it rightly loved by the masses. I always say that Dan Brown is the poor man's Michael Crichton.

Comment by Tim Appelo

Tim Appelo — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:42:16 -0800

He told me he wrote potboiler prose on purpose--his role model was H.G. Wells (who actually had a far superior style). He wanted to use mass entertainment to hawk scientific ideas. Check out S.J. Gould's New York Review essay complaining that the movie version of Jurassic Park sold out the book's message, which was about the crucial importance of contingency. Spielberg et al. imposed a pop mad-scientist moral formula on the novel.

Comment by TIm Appelo

TIm Appelo — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:43:53 -0800

Comment by --MC

--MC — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:44:23 -0800

He was the sf thrillers' Evelyn Waugh, becoming a hateful conservative as he got old and rich. Don't forget, though, that that guy once wrote "The Andromeda Strain".

Comment by Andrew B

Andrew B — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:47:03 -0800

I've loved several of his books (the utterly bizarre Travels among them), but damn, I wish he had lived to offer me a personal apology for Disclosure.

Comment by danhowes

danhowes — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:47:53 -0800

Sad. The Great Train Robbery was my personal favorite of his.

Comment by Lunchbox

Lunchbox — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:48:34 -0800

He'll be missed. Some of his earlier works (the andromeda strain, terminal man) were way outside the box at the time they came out. I hope nobody gives a sh*t about "State of Fear".

Comment by BenJ

BenJ — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:57:08 -0800

He was also the creator of the TV show ER (I can't believe it is still on the air), which might also make him responsible for George Clooney.

Comment by ellarosa

ellarosa — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:03:53 -0800

yeah, "travels" was interesting. he used to have an open mind.

Comment by Crichton Fan

Crichton Fan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:08:18 -0800

"He wanted to use mass entertainment to hawk scientific ideas". (Tim)

It certainly worked with me. I learned so much from his books. Like what the NTSB does from "Airframe". And how nanotechnology works in "Swarm". He will be missed.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:10:34 -0800

Congo was horrible. "They're smart. Too damn smart."

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:29:10 -0800

I also liked his "The Terminal Man" and his movies "Westworld" and "Coma" (written by Robin Cook).

Comment by Greg

Greg — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:34:34 -0800

Screw Jurassic Park. The Lost World was superior in every way. (Confidential to Jenn: the fractals and computer cube stuff is all in The Lost World, not Jurassic Park. In your face!)

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:35:34 -0800

Oh, and "The Carey Treatment", which can be argued as the first pro-choice, movie.

Comment by PC

PC — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:35:40 -0800

eh we should mourn every right wing jerk with talent ?

Comment by julia

julia — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:49:49 -0800

Wow. I loved Jurassic Park & the Lost World as a kid, but after State of Fear I decided that he was dead to me.

I don't take it back.

Comment by Erik Hanberg

Erik Hanberg — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:53:07 -0800

The reports I read said he died "unexpectedly." Anyone else feel like that's pretty much how his novels ended, too? Quickly, abruptly, and unexpectedly. Maybe it was a fitting way to go.

Comment by The_Pope

The_Pope — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:56:33 -0800

Eaters of the Dead was a great book. Cardinal O'Connor especially like it.

Comment by PA Native

PA Native — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:58:55 -0800

Jurassic Park is one of the few books I've read straight through in one sitting. An excellent read.

Congo, on the other hand, is time I wish I could have back.

Comment by David

David — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:16:05 -0800

@18, yes. I think his novels have almost uniformly terrible (perfunctory, random, suspense-killing) endings. What happened to the alien growth in The Andromeda Strain -- it just mutated and blew harmlessly away on the breeze or something? How undramatic. Jurassic Park's ending was weak but not enough to ruin the book. Sphere was almost even better than JP, then the last 50 pages wreck the whole thing. Congo and Eaters of the Dead were terrible from start to finish.

Comment by Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:50:55 -0800

Jurassic Park blew my 12-year-old mind, and I thank my dad for making me read it before we saw the movie. I liked Rising Sun as well, but the rest of his books were meh.

Comment by sockpuppet

sockpuppet — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:47:57 -0800

Yet somewhere, tree sap is hardening around a dead mosquito carrying his DNA.

Comment by another Andy

another Andy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:50:48 -0800

I don't mourn now, because I think he was well past his prime (sometime in the mid-90s); I didn't expect him to come out with anything I'd want to read anyway. But I loved Andromeda Strain, Congo and Sphere when I was little.

Comment by another Andy

another Andy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:52:31 -0800

Comment by Marq

Marq — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:13:35 -0800

I first read Jurassic Park in the 3rd grade right after the movie came out. It took me a month to read (I had to look up the word "paradigm" like 4 times before I got it) and gave me nightmares but I still read the same, battered, falling apart copy once a year.

Comment by bitch, please.

bitch, please. — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:14:54 -0800

@9 we already have roseanne to thank for that.........