As many of you know, Michael Crichton died on the 4th of November. I obviously did not know him personally and know very little about him as well, though I would like to write a short remembrance of the intersections that his work has had with my life.
At the time-and-place that I went to University, there were three authors’ books that you needed to be able to say seemingly-clever things about in order to be an accepted part of the geeky-intellectually-arrogant science in-group. These were: Tolkein, Douglas Adams and Michael Crichton. I remember being ignored for an afternoon after admitting that I preferred “The Hobbit” to “The Lord of the Rings” – that kind of statement was Not Clever for all sorts of reasons and perhaps I should not even write it in a blogpost in the here-and-now.
“Jurassic Park” was the first Crichton book that I read, and I absolutely loved it! Chaos theory was new to me, and the idea of dinosaurs running about was pleasing in a childishly bloodthirsty sort of way. Our group discussed whether it was possible to re-create pre-historic organisms for hours, but given that this was 1992-1994 and I was the only one that had even a peripheral connection with biology, these were not particulary informed or otherwise meaningful. It is quite cool that another news story this week was about cloning mice from frozen material raising questions about the possibilities of bringing back woolly mammoths (which are almost as scary as dinosaurs!).
I watched the movie of The Andromeda Strain and thought it was excellent, but did not connect Crichton with it. I have since read “Congo” with its transcriptions of super-cool text-like electronic communication and “A Case of Need” where I found out from the back-cover that Crichton had funded his medical studies by writing (what I would term) a trashy novel once a year during his holidays.
I found this humbling.
Regardless of what you think of these novels, or his later work for that matter, he was certainly one of those super-humans: a class of achiever that make the rest of us look like we aren’t doing very much with our time.
More recently – and bear in mind that I have not owned a tv for the last 10 years – I took out the first series of ER from the local blockbuster (the chap at the counter said that it was very good, and we had chatted enough over previous months for me to trust his judgment) and watched it for the first time. I was completely sucked in, and swallowed it pretty much in one sitting. The counter-chap did not say anything when I returned it and took out the second series, but remarked when I came for the third one: “Now you are just hiring it to watch (he said something different, but I cannot actually remember which verb he thought most appropriate for a woman admiring an attractive man) George Clooney.” Which was true. And I stopped there.
……………………..
Here are few links relevant to this post:
Ian Brooks on our Nature Network has written a post approaching this subject from the phrases used in obituaries. There are some very interesting points in the comments.
The official Michael Crichton website gives a lot more information regarding his output as a whole. He wrote many other books and was involved in many films that I am unlikely to ever watch or read.
The news story about cloning from frozen mice
And finally, something from xkcd:
How cruel are the young. There are all these perceived “in” groups but probably all the people in the “in” groups feel just as much outside and alone as everyone else. The vitriol used on those who do not share opinions is just a sign of immaturity – as I’m sure you know.
I have read quite a few Michael Crichtons over the years; I remember reading and enjoying The Andromeda Strain back in the dark ages when I was young. I read the one about nanotech (Prey?) soon after it came out. I didn’t like it that much, not so much because the science was rubbish but because the characters were not believable, so I didn’t care very much when the action/tension parts happened in the last part of the book. I remember in particular the book beginning with a legal dispute between the main character and his wife in which I kept thinking “people don’t talk like that”, or “people don’t behave in that way”. I haven’t read his last book (the “global warming is a consipracy” one), but have it upstairs somewhere to read on a plane one day…..certainly a stimulating premise!
I have a penchant for collecting DVD boxed sets for one of those days, possibly never to come, when I may get the chance to watch them. I think I may have the first series of ER somewhere – I pick these up when they are on special offer for £10, type of thing. I understand that Geo. Clooney is a major part of that series appeal ;-)
But returning to his novels, Crichton had a good plot outline, which he reworked and rehashed in different settings. From my memory, there isn’t a lot of difference between the plots of Disclosure, Prey, Andromeda Strain, etc – the author has just shifted to a different topic. Clever, in terms of hitting a successful formula and sticking with it.
I enjoyed both the book and film versions of Jurassic Park, and the book version of Andromeda Strain, but wasn’t inclined to read anything else of Crichton’s. On the other hand, ER was one of my favorite TV programs for several years (the earlier ones), when it was more edgy and gritty. The characters seemed realistic, and all (even Clooney’s) had their flaws, faults, and bad decisions, medical and otherwise. I loved the series Homicide: Life on the Streets for the same reasons (and I feel the same way about blogs, for that matter – can’t stand the “always perfect” types).
I think my favorite role for Clooney is the one in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Very different, but it suits him, and of course the story is classic.
Homicide: Life on the Streets is/was my all-time favourite cop show. The original early 90s (1991?) book by David Simon on which it is based is also an all-time classic, though oddly it wasn’t given a UK printing until very, very recently (probably as a result of the critical buzz in the UK for Simon’s latest TV epic The Wire.).
Talking of Michael Crichton, I always thought that one of the things that stood out about his books (despite their rather leaden style) was that he got the doctors and scientists much truer to life than most writers on the same turf – presumably reflecting his background in medicine and research. This was especially true in the earlier books – an example is The Terminal Man (1972), one of my favourites, about the guy who gets a brain implant to try and stop his temporal lobe epilepsy seizures. The book was also made into a pretty decent film, which still shows up on TV occasionally.
As a youngster, seeing the Andromeda Strain film was a great experience for me – it wasn’t just silly sci-fi. In later years, Mr. C drifted into mixing politics with his take on science topics (global warming, and apparently he thought banning DDT was a bit of a scam) – - and thanks to his popularity, his views got more credence and publicity than some real scientists. But the role of fiction in public opinion been discussed at other blogs such as Mind the Gap (Science and Karate)
Still, the fact that he got a medical degree, wrote a lot of successful books (some while still in med school to make money), and was also a successful film director boggles my own limited perceptions.
Oh yes, I remember The Terminal Man now. Had completely forgotten I’d read it!
re: The Cruelty of The Young
One of the things that makes me cringe looking back at my life is that I was (and perhaps still am a little bit) one of The Young.
re: Rehashed plots
I have noticed that I tend to really enjoy authors who re-hash plots – assuming of course that the plots are good and the authors write well. I also find it comforting to re-read old favourites, and there have been years where I have read vanishingly few new ones. In the case of Michael Crichton, I think that I would prefer to re-read Jurassic Park or Andromeda Strain than pick up another one… but you are right, Maxine, in that it probably boils down to pretty much the same thing.
It seems like I should look for: “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” – thank you for the tips.
re: DDT
I have moderately amusing personal anecdotes related to malaria… Perhaps I should write a separate blogpost about these. Suffice to say that I am sympathetic to the views that Crichton expressed for example here. This might seem strange given that I am generally an organic, fairtrade, bunny-hugging type. But there we go: Just the inconvenience of getting malaria would be enough to make me open to the idea of painting DDT (or something similar) on the walls. The motivation is very strong if you and your family could die from it.