Michael Crichton Dies

[Young Drachma]

Michael Crichton Dies - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com

Michael Crichton, the author of the blockbuster science-fiction novels “Jurassic Park,” “The Andromeda Strain” and “State of Fear,” has died. He was 66.

[Lathum]

wow. Thats a shame

[PackerFanatic]

Sad day - I like a lot of his stuff

[Radii]

Jurassic Park was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I got a signed first edition copy of it as a gift in high school, one of my favorite gifts.

I would highly recommend Crichton's non-fiction book, Travels (Amazon.com: Travels: Michael Crichton: Books) to anyone. Dude led an incredibly interesting life and tells a great story.

[BrianD]

This is sad. His are some of the few books worthy of a multiple re-read.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Sad. I had no idea he was 66, I thought he was in his fifties.

But then again, I guess he'd been writing for 30+ years, so i really shouldn't be surprised.

Still, that is quite young to die nowadays...

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by fantastic flying froggies

Sad. I had no idea he was 66, I thought he was in his fifties.

But then again, I guess he'd been writing for 30+ years, so i really shouldn't be surprised.

Still, that is quite young to die nowadays...

I knew he had to be up there in years.. I remember reading Jurassic park in highschool (prior to it ever being made into a movie). I remember it was a white cover book with a dinosaur on it, not much else. After reading that, I went back and read Congo and Andromeda Strain which were considerably older if I remember right. I also believe that Crichton was responsible for getting E.R. on tv which is in my opinion one of the great shows of our lifetime (even if you didn't watch it, it seemed to be what led to so many other similar type shows from the last 15 years).

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Radii

Jurassic Park was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I got a signed first edition copy of it as a gift in high school, one of my favorite gifts.

I would highly recommend Crichton's non-fiction book, Travels (Amazon.com: Travels: Michael Crichton: Books) to anyone. Dude led an incredibly interesting life and tells a great story.

Really sad. One of my favorite authors. I'll second the plug for Travels. I've probably read that book 5 times. He was a curious, open-minded guy, and some of the stories he told were hilarious. He'll be missed.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I knew he had to be up there in years.. I remember reading Jurassic park in highschool (prior to it ever being made into a movie). I remember it was a white cover book with a dinosaur on it, not much else. After reading that, I went back and read Congo and Andromeda Strain which were considerably older if I remember right. I also believe that Crichton was responsible for getting E.R. on tv which is in my opinion one of the great shows of our lifetime (even if you didn't watch it, it seemed to be what led to so many other similar type shows from the last 15 years).

I think I went through the same progression with his books. I currently have them sitting on my bookshelf and my iPod...sort of like old friends that need to be revisited from time to time.

[MJ4H]

I've read them all, many of them upwards of ten times. In fact, I am just finishing up Rising Sun for about the 15th time (no exaggeration). I am a major league fan.

This SUCKS.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

I've read them all, many of them upwards of ten times. In fact, I am just finishing up Rising Sun for about the 15th time (no exaggeration). I am a major league fan.

This SUCKS.

Oh, I totally forgot that he wrote Rising Sun as well. I loved that book and was disappointed when it was made into a movie. I did not like the movie that much at all. I did remember since my last post that he also wrote Sphere, but I don't think I ever read that book and only saw the movie and didn't like it. So I figured it not worth an extra mention.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I loved both the 13th warrior and the movie version (even though I am sure I am in the minority on the movie version of that one)

[fantom1979]

I have read Congo, Sphere, and Jurassic Park. Its amusing to me that all of those were made into movies, but none were as good as the books (as usual).

[Radii]

Rising Sun is probably one of my least favorite Crichton books, along with his last couple books, the one on Nanotechnology and the environment.

Jurassic Park, Congo, Andromeda Strain, Lost World, and Disclosure(another book that was 500 times better than the movie) are probably up at the top for me.

[MJ4H]

Sphere is a million times better than the movie. The ending is lame in both the book and movie, though. My favorites are:

Rising Sun
Disclosure
Airframe
Sphere
Andromeda Strain
Jurassic Park

not a big fan of Congo, but I've read it.

[GrantDawg]

I never liked his stuff for the most part, but I did like Airframe pretty well.

Anyway, RIP.

[B & B]

This one's for Grantdawg.

Ive never read any of Crightons books, nor have I seen any Jurassic Park movies.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Andromeda Strain

The original 1971 movie (based on the novel) was outstanding. The A&E network released a horrible remake as a mini-series earlier this year.

"The Terminal Man" was also an excellent novel by Crichton. I never got around to watching the movie.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

The original 1971 movie (based on the novel) was outstanding. The A&E network released a horrible remake as a mini-series earlier this year.

"The Terminal Man" was also an excellent novel by Crichton. I never got around to watching the movie.

The original remains one of my favorite movies of all time. Haven't read a lot of his books, in fact Coma and Andromeda Strain are the only ones that comes to mind. And I'm a ER fan so its a bit sad he didn't live long enough to see the last season of the show.

[Marc Vaughan]

Didn't he write 'Timeline' also?

(was a great author imho - sad to hear of his passing)

[MJ4H]

Yes.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Didn't he write 'Timeline' also?

(was a great author imho - sad to hear of his passing)

Yeah he did, I forgot about that one, only read it once.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Radii

I would highly recommend Crichton's non-fiction book, Travels (Amazon.com: Travels: Michael Crichton: Books) to anyone. Dude led an incredibly interesting life and tells a great story.

This thread contains the 2nd and 3rd recommendations for Travels I heard/saw today (my co-worker recommended it as well), I put it on my Amazon wishlist, maybe I'll get it for the holiday. If not, I'll but it afterwards.

/tk

[Kodos]

Congo was a terrible movie, but I enjoyed the book. Just last week I was thinking that I should read the Jurassic Park books again soon. Maybe he finished that last book he was working on before he died (it was mentioned in a Yahoo article).

I just realized that I didn't ever read his latest published book, Next. So I guess I have at least one new book left of his to read.

[MJ4H]

Next is...different.

[Kodos]

I heard it wasn't very good, which is why I haven't read it yet. It's sitting on my bookshelf.

[MJ4H]

Eh, it's alright. It's just strange.

[Arles]

One of my favorite authors. RIP

[PilotMan]

This has ruined my day. My favorite author has passed away. It just took me totally by surprise. I hear no plugs for State of Fear. So good that I made my 13 year old son read it. I have read all of his books and one that he authored under a pen name. Just crushing news.

[Draft Dodger]

I'm a big fan as well. Timeline was my favorite (guess I'm in the minority there) although I've enjoyed pretty much everything other than the steaming pile of crap that was State of Fear.

I know that he's not the only author to have a tremendously high crappy movie to awesome book ratio, but he's got to be pretty high on the list.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Seeing the 1971 film version of Andromeda Strain on TV as a youngster was probably the biggest influence on me developing an interest in science fiction.
And seeing Westworld, which he both wrote & directed didn't hurt either.

[Draft Dodger]

(and I actually am a bit embarrassed to admit that one of the few Crichton books I've never read is, indeed, Andromeda Strain)

[Daimyo]

He was my favorite pop author when I was in high school. I read all of his fiction novels through Airframe, but I haven't touch any of them in at least 10 years. His works really fueled my interests in science and technology back then. I never really thought about it until now, but I guess in that regard he had a pretty significant impact on my life.

Very sad.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

(and I actually am a bit embarrassed to admit that one of the few Crichton books I've never read is, indeed, Andromeda Strain)

Dry as hell if you want my honest opinion. But it's fun to read occasionally having seen the movie so many times. I've got a copy in the bookcase just waiting for the right time to spring it on my son.

[Radii]

Oh man, no mention of The Great Train Robbery yet. Not standard Crichton at all, but just an outstanding story.

I am with PilotMan here, this news seems to be affecting me in the same way that having a childhood sports hero die might. Just shitty.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I know that he's not the only author to have a tremendously high crappy movie to awesome book ratio, but he's got to be pretty high on the list.

The trouble with his books is that they are deep enough into science and the ethics of science that you don't have much to show on the screen. It would be a LONG movie to make the ethics arguments properly, so adaptations tend to focus on the action.

Disclosure was a decent movie adaptation, but even that focused too much on action and not enough on psychology.

[SFL Cat]

Really enjoyed most of his books.