State of Fear

State of Fear
by Michael Crichton

State of Fear

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Book Summary Information

Author: Michael Crichton
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Print
Published: 2005-10-25
ISBN: 0061015733
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Avon
Product features:

State of Fear by Michael Crichton
Thriller, suspense mystery
First Avon Books paperback printing, November 2005
Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN-10: 0061015733, ISBN-13: 9780061015731

Book Reviews of State of Fear

Book Review: State of Denial
Summary: 3 Stars

It's really hard to know how to review this book. Michael Crichton is using this fictional device to not-so-subtly voice his exasperation about the hysteria surrounding environmental concerns, particularly global warming. The reviewer must, therefore, address both the quality of the storytelling as well as the veracity of the author's claims.

First, the story itself: By and large, "State of Fear" is a fairly good page-turner, though by no means Crichton's best. The plot moves quickly, sometimes too quickly. Characters are introduced and intersect in satisfying ways. The protagonists must endure a series of trials that read suspensefully enough, trials that include some exotic locales and some well-written bad guys. The characters grow from their experiences with danger, but they don't grow enough based upon the severity of their trials. The nebulous "super spy" character is intriguing, but each time he exposes a world-threatening conspiratorial plot, then proceeds to go in under-manned and under-gunned, one asks: Why didn't he just call in the Marines? Crichton leaves open too many character-driven loose ends (that is, unless he plans a sequel) for the book to have ended satisfyingly for me, and Crichton just cannot resist leading the caricature of a real person toward a grisly demise (and Martin Sheen thought he had it bad in Apocalypse Now).

Still though, this is not a book to win literary awards-it is popular fiction and reads as such. Crichton always excels at being able to maintain tension. He achieves that here as well, and this is what suspense novels are supposed to do.

Now for what Michael Crichton is really trying to say with this book...

I do not believe that Crichton is trying to disavow global warming or ridicule environmentalists, but rather, I believe that he is simply trying to temper the hysteria that sometimes balloons up around dire warning made by environmentalists. He believes that these warnings are often based upon bad science, incomplete research, or upon science that is easily manipulated to demonstrate a desired outcome. By the time this science is distilled for the popular press, it has been converted into sound bites or slogans that lodge easily within people's minds. People believe that they know the "facts"; they have read something here or there, scientists have said this or that, so it must be true. On this point, I agree somewhat with Crichton. He is also disgusted with large environmental organizations, environmental and nature organizations that started out with the most idealistic of intentions but over the years have evolved into self-serving, bloated bureaucracies that can rival the federal government for waste and manipulation. I can agree somewhat with Crichton on this point also.

As a tree-hugging environmentalist who believes absolutely that global warming is a real threat, I have to admit that reading "State of Fear" caused me some uncomfortable moments. The science that Crichton presents calls into question all of my assumptions about what I thought I "knew" about global warming. It would seem as if all of my concerns have been unfounded. While I would not say that I have been hysterical upon the subject of global warming (reading Charles Macay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" will help disabuse you of your hysteria if you think you are inclined that way), I have nevertheless been a vocal proponent for the reduction of consumption and the reduction of the use of fossil fuels. This is what Crichton is trying to achieve with "State of Fear": simply that we pause to reinforce what we think we "know" with facts rather than sound bites and slogans.

While I trust the science that Crichton has included in this book, science that seems to indicate that global warming does not exist (or if it does, it's too early to tell), what I don't trust is that the science that Crichton presents has been any less manipulated than the science he is lambasting. In the end though, as long as the scientific method is being utilized, I don't believe that there is "good" or "bad" science, but more than likely, simply complete or incomplete research. Many of us would not be alive today if it weren't for science; still more would not be alive if, from time to time, scientists had not taken intuitive leaps from preliminary findings. So I will now endeavor to study global warming in much greater detail, to be doubly sure that I know what I'm talking about. In the meantime, though, despite the confusing contradictions of all of the science that seems to simultaneously refute and reinforce concerns about global warming, there are some things that we know without question:

We know that carbon dioxide is a heat trapping gas.

We know that millions of years ago, there was much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there is now.

We know that over the millions of years, vast amounts of plant and animal life were locked into what were to become coal and oil deposits, and that their carbon was locked away with them.

We know that the earth has cooled since that time.

We know that through the use of fossil fuels, we are reintroducing that carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at accelerating rates.

We know that atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from 280 ppm to more than 379 ppm since the advent of the Industrial Revolution.

Human beings do not live long enough to register long-term climatic trends, and the science of tracking temperatures barely began with the Industrial Revolution. We may, indeed (though doubtfully), not have a problem right now. We do not know how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can absorb before triggering a cascade of weather-related phenomena that would negatively impact the biosphere from our point of view. Regional variations in climate (more hurricanes than names, northward insect migration [fire ants; bark beetles]) may not necessarily be part of a trend, but it is neither hysterical nor unreasonable to make realistic assumptions about possibilities. Michael Crichton is correct when he comments that we cannot maintain the environment in a static condition-the environment is always changing and there is little we can do to stop it. What we can do is try to mitigate our own negative impact.

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Summary of State of Fear

The "Crichton effect" -- this term has come to signify the distinctive blend of fear, fantasy, and authentic cutting-edge science driving the blockbuster novels of Michael Crichton. Hailed as "the father of the techno-thriller", Crichton boasts an impressive history of global bestsellers -- from The Andromeda Strain to Jurassic Park to Prey -- that explore the frightening possibilities of breakthrough research led astray by abuse and corruption. Drawing on his past as a Harvard Medical School student and his ongoing study of the world of technology, Crichton's gripping fiction is grounded in scientific fact culled from the latest academic journals.

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

A Michael Crichton Timeline
Amazon.com reveals a few facts about the "father of the techno-thriller."

1942: John Michael Crichton is born in Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 23.

1960: Crichton graduates from Roslyn High School on Long Island, New York, with high marks and a reputation as a star basketball player. He decides to attend Harvard University to study English. During his studies, he rankles under his writing professors' criticism. As an act of rebellion, Crichton submits an essay by George Orwell as his own. The professor doesn?t catch the plagiarism and gives Orwell a B-. This experience convinces Crichton to change his field of study to anthropology.

1964: Crichton graduates summa cum laude from Harvard University in anthropology. After studying further as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University and receiving the Henry Russell Shaw Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him to travel in Europe and North Africa, Crichton begins coursework at the Harvard School of Medicine. To help fund his medical endeavors, he writes spy thrillers under several pen names. One of these works, A Case of Need, wins the 1968 Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award.

1969: Crichton graduates from Harvard Medical school and is accepted as a post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Science in La Jolla, Calif. However, his career in medicine is waylaid by the publication of the first novel under his own name, The Andromeda Strain. The novel, about an apocalyptic plague, climbs high on bestseller lists and is later made into a popular film. Crichton said of his decision to pursue writing full time: "To quit medicine to become a writer struck most people like quitting the Supreme Court to become a bail bondsman."

1972: Crichton's second novel under his own name The Terminal Man, is published. Also, two of Crichton's previous works under his pen names, Dealing and A Case of Need are made into movies. After watching the filming, Crichton decides to try his hand at directing. He will eventually direct seven films including the 1973 science-fiction hit Westworld, which was the first film ever to use computer-generated effects.

1980: Crichton draws on his anthropology background and fascination with new technology to create Congo, a best-selling novel about a search for industrial diamonds and a new race of gorillas. The novel, patterned after the adventure writings of H. Ryder Haggard, updates the genre with the inclusion of high-tech gadgets that, although may seem quaint 20 years later, serve to set Crichton's work apart and he begins to cement his reputation as "the father of the techno-thriller."

1990: After the 1980s, which saw the publication of the underwater adventure Sphere (1987) and an invitation to become a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988), Crichton begins the new decade with a bang via the publication of his most popular novel, Jurassic Park. The book is a powerful example of Crichton's use of science and technology as the bedrock for his work. Heady discussion of genetic engineering, chaos theory, and paleontology run throughout the tightly-wound thriller that strands a crew of scientists on an island populated by cloned dinosaurs run amok. The novel inspires the 1993 Steven Spielberg film, and together book and film will re-ignite the world?s fascination with dinosaurs.

1995: Crichton resurrects an idea from his medical school days to create the Emmy-Award Winning television series ER. In this year, ER won eight Emmys and Crichton received an award from the Producers Guild of America in the category of outstanding multi-episodic series. Set in an insanely busy an often dangerous Chicago emergency room, the fast-paced drama is defined by Crichton's now trademark use of technical expertise and insider jargon. The year also saw the publication of The Lost World returning readers to the dinosaur-infested island.

2000: In recognition for Crichton's contribution in popularizing paleontology, a dinosaur discovered in southern China is named after him. "Crichton's ankylosaur" is a small, armored plant-eating dinosaur that dates to the early Jurassic Period, about 180 million years ago. "For a person like me, this is much better than an Academy Award," Crichton said of the honor.

2004: Crichton?s newest thriller State of Fear is published.

Amazon.com's Significant Seven
Michael Crichton kindly agreed to take the life quiz we like to give to all our authors: the Amazon.com Significant Seven.

Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Prisoners of Childhood by Alice Miller

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Witter Bynner version)
Symphony #2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms (Georg Solti)
Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: Surely you're joking.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: Small room. Shades down. No daylight. No disturbances. Macintosh with a big screen. Plenty of coffee. Quiet.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: I don't want an epitaph. If forced, I would say "Why Are You Here? Go Live Your Life."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Benjamin Franklin

Q: If you could have one superpower what would it be?
A: Invisibility

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