Michael Crichton: like a character in his books
p2pnet news view | Movies:- “Very sad about this,” says moviefan in a p2pnet Reader’s Write. “I’m big fan of his books and movies.”
Me too.
We’re talking about the cancer-linked death of Michael Crichton who wrote The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, among other books.
He was 66.
The New York Times has a great obituary in which it says, among other things »»»
Michael Crichton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 66, was like a character in a Michael Crichton novel. He was unusually tall (6 feet 7 inches), strikingly handsome and encyclopedically well informed about everything from dinosaurs to medieval banquet halls to nanotechnology. As a writer he was a kind of cyborg, tirelessly turning out novels that were intricately engineered entertainment systems. No one — except possibly Mr. Crichton himself — ever confused them with great literature, but very few readers who started a Crichton novel ever put it down.
And »»»
All the Crichton books depend to a certain extent on a little frisson of fear and suspense: that’s what kept you turning the pages. But a deeper source of their appeal was the author’s extravagant care in working out the clockwork mechanics of his experiments — the DNA replication in “Jurassic Park,” the time travel in “Timeline,” the submarine technology in “Sphere.” The novels have embedded in them little lectures or mini-seminars on, say, the Bernoulli principle, voice-recognition software or medieval jousting etiquette. Several also came with extensive scientific bibliographies, as if the author, having learned all this fascinating stuff, couldn’t help sharing it with his reader. Mr. Crichton, who also wrote for movies and television, was like a perpetually astonished graduate student who was more at home in the lab and the library than in social situations. His gizmos, as some critics never tired of pointing out, were often more subtle and more interesting than his characters.
Says his web site »»»
While the world knew him as a great story teller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us — and entertained us all while doing so — his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes. He did this with a wry sense of humor that those who were privileged to know him personally will never forget.
Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand.
He will be profoundly missed by those whose lives he touched, but he leaves behind the greatest gifts of a thirst for knowledge, the desire to understand, and the wisdom to use our minds to better our world.
Michael’s family respectfully asks for privacy during this difficult time.
A private funeral service is expected, but no further details will be released to the public.
The pic, from the NYT obit, shows Crichton in 1977.
JN
Michael Crichton – Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton dies, November 5, 2008
New York Times – Builder of Windup Realms That Thrillingly Run Amok, November 5, 2008
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