How do ya'll feel about Michael Crichton?

Just a question that popped into my mind recently.

Crichton, of course, is the best-selling author of a lot of modern-classic Sci-Fi books, including Jurassic Park and The Lost World which are mainstays in my own library. But he's also known for some controversial beliefs. To wit: he comes off as if he believes Science Is Useless due to being co-opted by corporate interests and being prone to the failings of human error (in Next he claimed that "peer review was an empty ritual").

So what do you think: Once-talented author who went off the deep end and became (or always was) a total crackpot, or is he a genius who got a lot of unfair flack for going against the grain?

(for what its worth, personally I don't know enough about any of the issues he raises to really form an opinion, I just know I like a few of his books)

ISO standard airport writer, basically. He's good at keeping his plots moving and conveying the impression that the reader is learning something unusual in the process; less good at characterization, prose style, and actual research.

As to going off the deep end: well, his views do seem to have hardened with age, but I think those tendencies were always there. Rising Sun was at least as alarmist as, say, Next; it was just aimed at Japanese corporate culture rather than Western scientific culture. I'm uncertain how much of this is genuine and how much is affected, though; fearmongering sells.

He's usually referred to as a writer of techno-thrillers, by the way, not science fiction. He certainly does have more in common with Tom Clancy than, say, Isaac Asimov.

edited 22nd Sep '10 10:40:53 AM by Nornagest

He wrote State Of Fear. QED.

I like his stuff a lot of the time; '90s child, y'know, there's some nostalgia to it. It's fun, and I certainly cared enough about Timeline to be pissed the movie sucked so much.

The man just had some gender issues and a bizarre thing for tossing in references to paedophilia - I kind of hope he got some help in that regard.

I have never seen him as sci-fi writer.In my opinion He only uses science and scientist as plot device and never explores the themes too deep.

Pedophilia? Timeline was the last book of his that I read all the way through, and that was years ago, but I don't remember that being a motif.

I've heard about the infamous "baby rapist with a tiny penis" bit, of course, but I was under the impression that that was an isolated incident.

I think Timeline was probably his best book, because it used interesting scientific and technical ideas to set up the story, rather than making the exploration of controversial scientific and political ideas the focus of the story.

I view Crichton's descent similarly to Orson Scott Card's, though the two are distinguished by having started off from different points—Card was all about the human element, and Crichton was all about setting up an interesting situation and seeing how things played out. (The Andromeda Strain, for instance, focused on the titular disease, with characterization used only in so much as it influenced responses to that disease.)

edited 22nd Sep '10 12:54:46 PM by FeoTakahari

@Norn: Rising Sun had the main character framed for child molestation. And this was treated as a huge injustice, despite him being kind of a tool by taking the bribe offered by the kid's father to ignore the mother's report of domestic abuse.

Don't get me wrong, I felt bad for the guy. Just... not as much as I would've, y'know?

edited 22nd Sep '10 3:00:20 PM by FurikoMaru

I must not remember that book as well as I thought. In my defense, I read it when I was about nine.

Oh, no worries. I can barely remember what happened in The Lost World.

Lost World in a nutshell:

Professor Challenger and three other people find a hidden valley...

Oh wait, this is the Michael Crichton discussion. 2nd attempt:

A guy who is supposed to be dead but isn't goes to yet another dinosaur-infested island for some reason, he and some other people talk about scientific things, and Crichton at one point claims that the internet will kill off the human race  ^*

He was a good writer, but tragically he adopted a very grim view of the world when he found out he had a terminal illness (cancer, I think).

That's what my dad said, anyway.

I was actually really obsessed with Michael Crichton during the eighth grade and read through all of his stuff. I really liked Sphere and Timeline. Reading State of Fear and Next really hurt my opinion of him, but seeing this basically destroyed most of the enjoyment I got out of reading his stuff. It was really disappointing, especially since he was the first author I liked enough to read all their books.

Next had interesting ideas, but it was ruined by the generic thriller plot they were shoehorned into. It would have been better as nonfiction.

Actually I felt the problem with Next is that really it was like fifteen different plots all horribly mashed together. It should've been a short story book.

So far, The Great Train Robbery is the only Crichton book I've read.

I have a bit of an ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, I think it's really well-written and quite convincing. On the other hand, it bothers me because I later found out that the book very much departs from actual history, which is kind of problematic since it's kind of written as if it was a documentary novel.

From what I've heard of Eaters of the Dead, it sounds like it has the same problem.

To make a comparison/contrast, Flashman is an engaging/amusing historical fiction series, but it's generally very historically accurate.

edited 24th Sep '10 11:53:35 PM by Jordan

I think he acknowledges that and in Eaters Of The Dead.

I feel Prey, The Andromeda Strain, and Jurassic Park were his best works. Ne Xt was okay, and State Of Fear - Even though I don't like environmentalists and think global warming was overblown - was mediocre, too exposition filled, even for his style, and too many dropped characters.

Timeline was... good, but it was one of those works that I didn't like despite finding it good.

One thing I can't stand are people who automatically declare Ne Xt - which attacked falsities regarding genetics - to be wrong because of State Of Fear. Wait.

The man just had some gender issues and a bizarre thing for tossing in references to paedophilia - I kind of hope he got some help in that regard.

One complaint about men losing custody cases a lot more against deadbeat moms and insulting people with pedophillia, or making them more villainous.

edited 25th Sep '10 2:09:55 PM by JackMackerel

>_< Two complaints, one in Rising Sun and one in Prey. And the one in Prey was le-e-engthy, and not at all in touch with the modern era, where there's been a backlash against kids-belong-with-their-mothers-full-stop (like we didn't get enough of that in the 19th and preceding centuries). Also, I'm appalled at his defamatory attempt to ever so subtly imply all single mothers are unfit (Rott, if you're in here, don't say a bloody word, this is most definitely not the time).

And those weren't the only things I was talking about. I could go on, but this isn't a thread about Crichton The Big Mean Misogynist, it's about Crichton the author.

edited 25th Sep '10 3:48:26 PM by FurikoMaru

ROTT?

sorry, force of habit.

Yeah, I thought of that, too.

>_< Two complaints, one in Rising Sun and one in Prey. And the one in Prey was le-e-engthy, and not at all in touch with the modern era, where there's been a backlash against kids-belong-with-their-mothers-full-stop (like we didn't get enough of that in the 19th and preceding centuries). Also, I'm appalled at his defamatory attempt to ever so subtly imply all single mothers are unfit (Rott, if you're in here, don't say a bloody word, this is most definitely not the time).

The one in Prey was bitchy because it was from a stay-at-home father who's suspecting his wife of cheating and is afraid he'll wind up in a long-ass legal battle like some of his friends. If I recall, it was one page long, but it's been a while since I read the book. I'm being generous by saying it's more of a character whine than Crichton's whine (since he is constantly worried over his wife cheating).

The single mother in Ne Xt wields a shotgun very well and beats down the bounty hunters pursuing her, so.

edited 26th Sep '10 6:46:49 PM by JackMackerel

If we're going to talk about his sexual issues, we need to bring up Disclosure. Every scene in that book eventually turned to discussing prejudice against men.

I first read Disclosure only recently and amazed how much it reminded me of growing up in the 1990s. I thoroughly enjoyed Jurassic Park (neglected to read the sequel).

I mildly enjoyed Rising Sun if, for nothing else, the character John Connor. Considering all the alarmist crap Crichton espoused in that book, the Japanese would be going through the same things only a few years later.

Of his other books, I liked Timeline a lot, loved The Great Train Robbery. My favorite book by him was Eaters of the Dead (or, its full title: "Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922"...).

His later works, Next and Prey, and the like, I really just neglected out of feeling like I was being beaten over the head a little too much in the first 30 pages.

I've only read his Jurassic Park. I disagree with the themes, but the book is well written; very thrilling, good use of graphs.

^What did you disagree with in particular? I'm just curious, because with Crichton, it's like saying you disagree with water.