NationStates Jolt Archive

That's the name of Michael Crichton's latest book. The plot is cheesy, the characters are one dimensional, and the entire novel is filled with spectacles and cliches. Nevertheless, I reccomend it. Why? Because it is a paradigm shifter on how one views the environment.
It has caused a bit of a storm, as it is sceptical of global warming. But don't write him off: he has a bibliography with about a hundred entries, and he knows exactly what he is talking about.
So, we all know that there has been an observed warming trend. So let me throw out a few questions. Is it possible that the observed warming is because more weather stations are in urban heat islands than in 1900? Are sea-levels rising? And why hasn't the stratosphere gotten hotter in the past twenty years?

excellent book, highly recommended

I stopped reading Crichton at about the age of 14. For precisely the reasons you listed:

The plot is cheesy, the characters are one dimensional, and the entire novel is filled with spectacles and cliches.

Beyond that, he is the epitome of corporate writing. His books no longer serve any point but to make him some $$$$$$.

In fact, the last book by him that I really enjoyed was Jurassic Park. And that book is old. Although Airframe nteresting, it was just OK.

Don't expect me to read Fear.

crichton writes 2 types of books, the cheesy hollywood movie types (e.g. jurassic park) and the social commentary (e.g. rising sun). fear falls into the latter catagory. clearly, it is not intended to be a story/movie.

I stopped reading Crichton at about the age of 14. For precisely the reasons you listed:



Beyond that, he is the epitome of corporate writing. His books no longer serve any point but to make him some $$$$$$.

In fact, the last book by him that I really enjoyed was Jurassic Park. And that book is old. Although Airframe nteresting, it was just OK.

Don't expect me to read Fear.
I think, however, that he is more of a commentator than a professional author. His book is bad if one is looking for literature, but is great on commentating, and superb on weaving facts into some form of a story. Besides, he writes these books as fiction to reach a larger audience. More people with ideas should try that. I mean, Emmanuel Kant's works are largely forgotten, but Voltaire and Ayn Rand's aren't, because they wrote thheir views as fiction.