In the car this afternoon I turned on the radio and heard a news report ending ".... Crichton was 66." Was? That Michael Crichton has died in his 60s shocked me not simply because I'm now concentrating on the mortality of my father[1], in his 80s, but also because he always looked at least 20 years younger than his chronological age. I'd corresponded with him recently and didn't know he was sick.
Crichton had his enemies, especially after his recent anti-global-warming book (which I chose not to read). That he was married five times suggests that his personal life was not entirely tranquil. And he was hyper, hyper aware that in America he was regarded as a "genre" writer whereas in Italy, for example, he would be listed among the big names of Quality Lit.
But I was honored to have met him 20 years age, when I was living in Japan, and to have been a friend since then. He seemed unassuming, funny, charming in every way -- the unusual famous person who was genuinely considerate of one's spouse and kids. Very earnest about his political causes, including a very prescient argument fifteen years ago about the impending decline of the "Mediasaurus," now known as MSM. And, there is no way around it, incredibly talented. At one point in the 1990s, he was responsible for the #1-rated TV show (ER), the #1 box office movie (Jurassic Park), and the #1 best selling-novel -- and I'm not even sure now which of his novels it was. He must have been the only person in history to have paid his way through medical school by writing successful novels.
[...]
He will be missed.
1Sadly, Fallows wrote two days later that his father passed away this week as well.
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2 comments:
Global warming is a myth.
No true evidence that this is anything more than normal temperature variations exists.
Like the communists that keep repeating 'the big lie' often enough people start to believe just due to the onslaught of repetitions.
Crichton was right on this one.
I've been skeptical of global warming alarmism since I heard the dean of the environmental sciences department at my alma mater express skepticism about it years ago. He's since passed away though, and now the department has some sort of climate change study program, according to an alumni newsletter I received last week.
It's too bad that Fallows decided not to read State of Fear. It would have been interesting to hear his reaction to it.
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