If Michael Crichton got this wrong, what else has he screwed up in State of Fear?

Cafe Society
1

I’d gotten about 2/3rds of the way through MC’s new book, State of Fear when he made a couple of really basic and glaring errors; specifically that

  1. Port Moresby isn’t in New Guinea, it’s in Papua New Guinea, a distincion along the lines of saying that you’re visiting Washington, North America as opposed to Washington, USA.

  2. Bougainville isn’t a part of the Solomon Islands, it’s a part of PNG, and has just recently stopped fighting a really stupid war of independance.

  3. There haven’t been cannibals in PNG since at least the 60’s. Some people’s great grandparents may have been but there ain’t any now and I found his use of it as a plot device insulting.

  4. I’m pretty sure he had the natives speaking the wrong language in the Solomons.

Now, considering the book is really nothing more than a series of footnoted lectures about why global warming isn’t happening (in the form of smart character explaining to stupid character), and he’s gotten really basic geographical and historical information like this wrong, what else has he screwed up?

Mods: I don’t think this counts as a rant as I’m honestly after more information but feel free to move it if you want.

2

Port Moresby certainly is located in New Guinea, which is the island it is on, not a separate country. Port Moresby is also in the state of Papua New Guinea. It’s not at all the same as confusing Washington State and D.C.; Papua New Guinea is primarily located on New Guinea.

Bougainville IS part of the Solomon Islands. As a matter of fact, it’s the largest Solomon Island. It’s part of the state of Papua New Guinea, but it’s geographically part of the Solomon Islands, just as Puerto Rico is politically part of the United States, but geographically is still located in the West Indies.

There also have not been dinosaurs roaming the earth in quite some time, but some things make for more exciting novels.