R.I.P. Michael Crichton
Nov. 5th, 2008 11:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulMichael Crichton passed away today. He was only 66 years old. Cancer.
It makes me a bit sad because he was one of the authors that got me back into reading for pleasure (the other being Douglas Adams). I remember it so clearly, I was in 6th grade and 'Jurassic Park' was coming to theaters in the summer. I have always been a huge Steven Spielberg fan so it was on my radar. My mom suggested that I read the book first so I could compare it to the movie. She must have mentioned it to my Uncle Jim too because someone bought me the book on tape (yes actual cassettes, abridged too!) as a gift. So I read the book, then listened to it over and over while I played Tetris/Dr. Mario, waiting for the movie to come out in theaters. I loved it. It was one of my back-up books that I would grab for random road trips. At some point, water was spilled on it but I didn't care. Just because the pages were yellow didn't mean I couldn't read them.
And, of course, it didn't stop there. Crichton's back catalog was too good to pass up. I read Sphere, which blew my mind at the time with its crazy plot twists (twists that did not work on film, and could not work on film and I knew that movie would suck but I still watched it). I read Andromeda Strain and since most of the science was way over my head, the dated jargon went right over my head. A Case of Need was fascinating because the story was still relevant even though it was one of his oldest books. Congo was horrible and the movie was exactly like the book. I adored Timeline even though it was really just Jurassic Park backwards. Lost World pwned the crappy movie (no whiny child in the book). I listened to Airframe but barely remember the plot. I saw Eaters of the Dead but never bothered with the book, but it was my first introduction to the Beowulf story. Oddly enough, I think Great Train Robbery, one of his most famous book to movie, is one of the few I haven't read or listened to.
I never bothered to watch ER but I know that show helped pave the return of prime-time medical shows, which means in some weird way it helped Scrubs and House get on the air.
My mom and I used to poke fun at Crichton's poor character development skills. He tended to give ages, hair color, maybe one distinguishing feature, and assume you could discern everything you needed to know from there about that person. Still, my early Crichton addiction was a gateway drug for pseudo-science stories.
He wasn't the best writer in the world, but he could tell a damn good story and get you thinking about the implications in the real world. Anyone that can get you thinking outside the box, that can paint a image so vividly in your mind, that you still remember it after the book is over (like the scene in Jurassic Park when Tim & Lex are hiding behind the waterfall...or in Timeline when the owner of the company sees Washington crossing the Delaware...or the fact that I had to read the last few chapters in Sphere twice before I knew what the heck just happened)
Goodbye Michael Crichton. Though you may have passed on, I promise to keep your books in my Reader's Advisory catalog for years to come.
It makes me a bit sad because he was one of the authors that got me back into reading for pleasure (the other being Douglas Adams). I remember it so clearly, I was in 6th grade and 'Jurassic Park' was coming to theaters in the summer. I have always been a huge Steven Spielberg fan so it was on my radar. My mom suggested that I read the book first so I could compare it to the movie. She must have mentioned it to my Uncle Jim too because someone bought me the book on tape (yes actual cassettes, abridged too!) as a gift. So I read the book, then listened to it over and over while I played Tetris/Dr. Mario, waiting for the movie to come out in theaters. I loved it. It was one of my back-up books that I would grab for random road trips. At some point, water was spilled on it but I didn't care. Just because the pages were yellow didn't mean I couldn't read them.
And, of course, it didn't stop there. Crichton's back catalog was too good to pass up. I read Sphere, which blew my mind at the time with its crazy plot twists (twists that did not work on film, and could not work on film and I knew that movie would suck but I still watched it). I read Andromeda Strain and since most of the science was way over my head, the dated jargon went right over my head. A Case of Need was fascinating because the story was still relevant even though it was one of his oldest books. Congo was horrible and the movie was exactly like the book. I adored Timeline even though it was really just Jurassic Park backwards. Lost World pwned the crappy movie (no whiny child in the book). I listened to Airframe but barely remember the plot. I saw Eaters of the Dead but never bothered with the book, but it was my first introduction to the Beowulf story. Oddly enough, I think Great Train Robbery, one of his most famous book to movie, is one of the few I haven't read or listened to.
I never bothered to watch ER but I know that show helped pave the return of prime-time medical shows, which means in some weird way it helped Scrubs and House get on the air.
My mom and I used to poke fun at Crichton's poor character development skills. He tended to give ages, hair color, maybe one distinguishing feature, and assume you could discern everything you needed to know from there about that person. Still, my early Crichton addiction was a gateway drug for pseudo-science stories.
He wasn't the best writer in the world, but he could tell a damn good story and get you thinking about the implications in the real world. Anyone that can get you thinking outside the box, that can paint a image so vividly in your mind, that you still remember it after the book is over (like the scene in Jurassic Park when Tim & Lex are hiding behind the waterfall...or in Timeline when the owner of the company sees Washington crossing the Delaware...or the fact that I had to read the last few chapters in Sphere twice before I knew what the heck just happened)
Goodbye Michael Crichton. Though you may have passed on, I promise to keep your books in my Reader's Advisory catalog for years to come.
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Date: 2008-11-06 05:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-06 08:20 pm (UTC)sad day.