# Author Michael Crichton Dies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 5, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315 "2008-11-05T18:09:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/21 "2008-11-05T19:04:21Z")
Thanks for the adventures and fun ideas explored, RIP Michael.
I was looking forward to more, even if his later stuff got a little out of hand. Jurassic Park (both book and movie) and Sphere (book) were awesome.
[RAAAAAAWWR!](http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/9/8320/thumb_620x2000/280886_1189441753_submedium.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/22 "2008-11-05T19:14:21Z")
I’m probably in the minority when I say that I thought State of Fear was a good book. He made some interesting points, and upon doing some research on my own after that, not too far from the truth.
I’m sad to hear he passed away. I was really looking forward to more of his books. For me he was the only one who god combine (reasonably) solid science with a good thriller. Rising Sun was probably my favorite.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/23 "2008-11-05T19:15:54Z")
He wasn’t my favorite author or anything, but I owned several of his books. Terminal Man was probably my favorite.
Sorry to see him go. ☹
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/24 "2008-11-05T19:16:17Z")
Also one of the creators of the TV series “ER.”
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/25 "2008-11-05T19:33:51Z")
That’s weird - my 12-yr-old stayed up late last night to finish reading _Jurassic Park_. He really liked it.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/26 "2008-11-05T19:41:08Z")
link:
> **['Jurassic Park' author, 'ER' creator Crichton dies - CNN.com](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/11/05/obit.crichton/?iref=mpstoryview)**
>
> Michael Crichton, who helped create the TV show "ER" and wrote the best-sellers "Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain," "Sphere" and "Rising Sun," has died in Los Angeles, his public relations firm said in a news release.
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### Author:  [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/27 "2008-11-05T20:09:07Z")
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
☹
I still give out copies of _Travels_ as holiday presents. I never did finish _State of Need_ and I don’t recall finishing _Prey_, but I have a whole shelf devoted to his books. How sad.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/28 "2008-11-05T20:29:04Z")
He was one of my favorite authors. I started reading his novels in the 70’s, beginning with The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Jurassic Park, Congo, and Timeline were among my favorites. The films made from his novels have often been hit-or-miss, but I have rarely been disappointed with the original novels.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/29 "2008-11-05T20:39:10Z")
He was a little older than I thought he was (he turned 66 last month), but still not terribly old. He had evidently been battling cancer off and on for a time and his death wasn’t unexpected to his friends and family, but he had chosen to be very private about it. As for his height- between 6’9 and 6’10.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/30 "2008-11-05T20:39:40Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> link:
>
> ['Jurassic Park' author, 'ER' creator Crichton dies - CNN.com](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/11/05/obit.crichton/?iref=mpstoryview)
Clearly, some media outlets have a vested interest in promoting an artificial consensus that Crichton is dead.
But where is hard data to support this claim? Isn’t it the height of scientific arrogance to assert that someone is “dead” with no more evidence than the opinion of self-appointed medical “experts” that his body is no longer living?
I liked **Congo** the best. Marvelously goofy, with footnotes.
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### Author:  [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/31 "2008-11-05T20:54:05Z")
I liked a lot of his work, but I lost all respect for him when he had a tantrum over someone criticizing his global warming nonsense, and retaliated by making the critic into a character in his next book. [A character who rapes a two-year old, and is noted to have a small penis, to boot](http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/14/crichton-critic/). Talk about petty and slimy.
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### Author:  [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/32 "2008-11-05T21:19:17Z")
See, some think that petty and slimy; I thought it was funny as fuck.
I love Westworld and enjoyed several of his books. I don’t need to respect a writer as a person in order to enjoy their work.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/33 "2008-11-05T21:25:48Z")
> [@Kal](#):
>
> See, some think that petty and slimy; I thought it was funny as fuck.
Can’t it be both? (Like the late Earl Warren?)
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### Author:  [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/34 "2008-11-05T22:09:37Z")
Booo! This is a bad one.
I loved his stories - he was an awesome, quick-paced writer, and I have (and will ) spent many hours lost in a world of his creation. I loved the ones mentioned so far, but will add my own favorite - _Timeline_. What a fantastic idea for a story, and it was very well done.
Thanks, Mr. Crichton. You added to my life, and I will always appreciate it!
I am so fucking sick of cancer…
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/35 "2008-11-06T00:41:13Z")
NOOO! Damn. I loved his work. Jurassic Park was the first novel I ever read, and I still consider Sphere to be my favorite book.
I believe he has a new book scheduled to come out in December, but last time I checked his website, it didn’t list the name.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/36 "2008-11-06T00:57:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> I’d not call Jurassic Park anti-science; I though his authorial screed against "thin-tellligence’ was dead on. In any event I am sorry to read of his passing.
I dunno. I went through a major Crichton kick in high school that burned pretty bright, and pretty short. What eventually turned me off from him was a pretty consistent anti-science bent throughout all of his novels. Pretty much every story he wrote, everything would have been better if those pesky scientists had just stopped trying to _learn_ about stuff. The end of _Sphere_ was the most explicit in this, where the main characters actively settle on deliberate ignorance as the best way to resolve the novel’s central conflict. I think _Rising Sun_ was the last of his novels that I read, but I wasn’t really surprised when he came out swinging against global warming some years later. His inability to actually understand the science he was writing about was one of his more reliable traits as an author.
That said, _Jurassic Park_ and _Sphere_ were great novels, despite the above flaws. I read my last Michael Crichton book fifteen years ago, but for about nine months there when I was seventeen, he was the coolest damned thing I’d seen in print. I’m sorry to hear he’s gone.
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### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/37 "2008-11-06T01:52:43Z")
noooo…
I love JP.
And I loved his sequel to it. The lost world was MY favorite actually.
But I remember as a kid just reading his stuff and loving it. Congo WAS goofy.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/38 "2008-11-06T02:23:31Z")
good grief! this is a really bad year to be a writer.
i may have to rethink that write a november novel thing.
i enjoyed many of his books.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/39 "2008-11-06T03:39:45Z")
Damn :(.
I long knew about him from some of his films, of course. But I did not read any of his works until I checked _Timeline_ out of our library here a few years ago. This year I’ve read his _Airframe_ and _The 13th Warrior_ (formerly known as _Eaters of the Dead_). He’s a good read.
RIP, Mike.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/author-michael-crichton-dies/471315/40 "2008-11-06T04:57:01Z")
I was reading The Great Train Robbery today when I heard of his death.
Coincidence? Well, last week when I heard of Tony Hillerman’s death I was reading his Finding Moon.
Now, if you have a favorite author you don’t want me to use my rather frightening powers on by reading one of his books, contact me and we will work out a modest financial deal. And nobody gets hurt.
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