'Michael Crichton',
pronounced [1], (born
October 23,
1942) is an
American author,
film producer,
film director, and
television producer. His best-known works are
techno-thriller novels,
films and
television programs. His works are usually based on the
action genre and heavily feature
technology. Many of his
future history novels have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and science background.
Biography
Crichton was born in
Chicago,
[2] Illinois to John Henderson Crichton and Zula Miller Crichton, and raised in
Roslyn,
Long Island,
New York.
1 Crichton has two sisters, Kimberly and Catherine, and a younger brother, Douglas.
He attended
Harvard College in
Cambridge, Massachusetts as an undergraduate, graduating
summa cum laude in 1964.
[3] Crichton was also initiated into the honors organization
Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to become the Henry Russell Shaw Traveling Fellow, 1964-65 and Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology at
Cambridge University, England, 1965. He graduated from Harvard Medical School, gaining an
M.D. in 1969 and did post-doctoral fellowship study at the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies,
La Jolla, California, in 1969–1970. In 1988, he was Visiting Writer at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
While in medical school, he wrote novels under the
pen names 'John Lange' and 'Jeffery Hudson'. ''
A Case of Need'', written under the latter pseudonym, won the 1969
Edgar Award for Best Novel. He also co-authored ''Dealing'' with his younger brother Douglas under the shared pen name Michael Douglas. The back cover of that book contains a picture of Michael and Douglas at a very young age taken by their mother.
His two pen names were both created to reflect his above-average height. According to his own words, he was about 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) tall in 1997.
[4] ''Lange'' means "tall one" in
German,
Danish and
Dutch, and Sir
Jeffrey Hudson was a famous
seventeenth century dwarf in the court of Queen
Henrietta Maria of
England.
Crichton has admitted to having once, during his undergraduate study,
plagiarized a work by
George Orwell and submitted it as his own. According to Crichton the paper was received by his professor with a mark of "B−". Crichton has claimed that the plagiarism was not intended to defraud the school, but rather as an experiment. Crichton believed that the professor in question had been intentionally giving him abnormally low marks, and so as an experiment Crichton informed another professor of his idea and submitted Orwell's paper as his own.
[5]
Crichton has been married five times and divorced four times. He has been married to
Suzanna Childs,
Joan Radam (1965-1970),
Kathy St. Johns (1978-1980) and
Anne-Marie Martin, the mother of his only child, daughter Taylor. Crichton is currently married to
Sherri Alexander.
Literary techniques
Crichton's works are frequently cautionary in that his plots often portray scientific advancements going awry, commonly resulting in worst-case scenarios. A notable recurring theme in Crichton's plots is the
pathological failure of complex systems and their safeguards, whether biological ("''Jurassic Park''"), military/organisational ("''The Andromeda Strain''") or cybernetic ("''Westworld''"). This theme of the inevitable breakdown of "perfect" systems and the failure of "
failsafe measures" can be seen strongly in the poster for "Westworld" (slogan: "''Where nothing can possibly go worng ..''" (sic) ) and in the discussion of
chaos theory in "Jurassic Park".
The use of
author surrogate has been a feature of Crichton's writings since the beginning of his career. In ''
A Case of Need'', one of his pseudonymous
whodunit stories, Crichton used first-person narrative to portray the hero, a
Bostonian pathologist, who is running against the clock to clear a friend's name from
medical malpractice in a girl's death from a hack job
abortion.
That book was written in 1968, nearly five years before the
landmark case that
legalized abortion nationwide in the US, ''
Roe v. Wade'' (
1973). It took the hero about 160 pages to find the chief
suspect, an underground abortionist, who was created to be the author surrogate. Then, Crichton gave that character three pages to justify his illegal practice.
Some of Crichton's fiction uses a
literary technique called
false document. For example, ''Eaters of the Dead'' is a fabricated recreation of the
Old English epic ''
Beowulf'' in the form of a scholarly translation of
Ahmad ibn Fadlan's
tenth century manuscript. Other novels, such as ''
The Andromeda Strain'' and ''
Jurassic Park'', incorporate fictionalized scientific documents in the form of diagrams, computer output,
DNA sequences, footnotes and bibliography. However, some of his novels actually include authentic published scientific works to illustrate his point, as can be seen in ''
The Terminal Man'' as well as the more recent ''
State of Fear''.
Fiction
Non-fiction
Apart from fiction, Crichton has written several other books based on
scientific themes, amongst which is ''
Travels'', which also contains
autobiographical episodes.
As a personal friend to the
Neo-Dadaist artist
Jasper Johns, Crichton compiled many of his works in a
coffee table book also named ''Jasper Johns''. That book has been updated once.
Crichton is also the author of ''Electronic Life'', a book that introduces
BASIC programming to its readers. In his words, being able to program a computer is liberation:
: In my experience, you assert control over a computer—show it who's the boss—by making it do something unique. That means programming it....[I]f you devote a couple of hours to programming a new machine, you'll feel better about it ever afterward.
[6]
To prove his point, Crichton included many self-written demonstrative
Applesoft (for
Apple II) and
BASICA (for
IBM PC compatibles) programs in that book. Crichton once considered updating it, but the project seemed to be canceled.
His non-fiction works are:
Movies and television
Crichton has written and directed several motion pictures:
''Pursuit'' is a TV movie written and directed by Crichton that is based on his novel ''Binary''.
''Westworld'' was the first feature film that used 2D
computer-generated imagery (CGI) and the first use of 3D CGI was in its sequel, ''
Futureworld'' (
1976), which featured a computer-generated hand and face created by then
University of Utah graduate students
Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke.
Crichton directed the film ''
Coma'', adapted from a
Robin Cook novel. There are other similarities in terms of
genre and the fact that both Cook and Crichton are
physicians, are of similar age, and write about similar subjects.
Many of his novels have been filmed by others:
He has written the screenplay for the movies ''
Extreme Close Up'' (
1973) and ''
Twister'' (
1996) (the latter co-written with Anne-Marie Martin, his wife at the time).
Crichton is also the creator and executive producer of the television drama ''
ER''. In December 1994, he achieved the unique distinction of having the #1 movie (''Jurassic Park''), the #1 TV show (''ER''), and the #1 book (''Disclosure'', atop the paperback list). Crichton has written only three episodes of ''ER'':
★ Episode 1-1: "24 Hours"
★ Episode 1-2: "Day One"
★ Episode 1-3: "Going Home"
Computer games
''Amazon'' is a graphical text adventure game created by Michael Crichton and produced by
John Wells under Trillium Corp. ''Amazon'' was released in the United States in 1984 and it runs on Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and the DOS systems. ''Amazon'' was considered by some to be a breakthrough in the way it updated
text adventure games by adding color graphics and music. It sold more than 100,000 copies, making it a significant commercial success at the time.
In 1999, Crichton founded Timeline Computer Entertainment with
David Smith. Despite signing a multi-title publishing deal with
Eidos Interactive, only one game was ever published, ''Timeline''. Released on 8 December 2000 for the PC, the game received poor reviews and sold poorly.
Awards
★
Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, 1969 (''
A Case of Need''; written as Jeffrey Hudson)
★ Association of American Medical Writers Award, 1970 (''Five Patients'')
★ Mystery Writers of America's
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, 1980 (''
The Great Train Robbery'')
★ The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Journalism Award, 2006 (''State of Fear'')
★ A dinosaur, ''
Crichtonsaurus bohlini'', was named after him in honor of ''Jurassic Park''
[2].
★ Crichton was named to the list of the "Fifty Most Beautiful People" by ''
People'' magazine, 1992
Speeches
"Aliens Cause Global Warming"
In 2003 he gave a controversial lecture at
Caltech entitled "Aliens Cause Global Warming"
[3] in which he expressed his views of the danger of "consensus science" — especially with regard to what he regards as popular but disputed theories such as
nuclear winter, the dangers of
second-hand smoke, and the
global warming controversy. Crichton has been critical of widespread belief in
ETs and
UFOs, citing the fact that there is no conclusive proof of their existence. Crichton stated that "The
Drake equation cannot be tested and therefore
SETI is not science. SETI is unquestionably a religion." Crichton has commented that belief in purported scientific theories without a factual basis is more akin to
faith than
science.
Environmentalism as a religion
In a related speech given to the
Commonwealth Club of California, called "Environmentalism as a religion"
[4] (see
Radical environmentalism), Crichton described what he sees as similarities between the structure of various religious views (particularly Judeo-Christian dogma) and the beliefs of many modern urban
atheists who he asserts have
romantic ideas about Nature and our past, who he thinks believe in the initial "paradise", the human "sins", and the "judgment day". He also articulates his belief that it is the tendency of modern
environmentalists to cling stubbornly to elements of their faith in spite of what he would contend is evidence to the contrary. Crichton cites what he contends are misconceptions about
DDT, second-hand smoke, and global warming as examples.
Widespread speculation in the media
In a speech entitled "Why Speculate?",
[5] delivered in 2002 to the
International Leadership Forum, Crichton criticized the media for engaging in what he saw as pointless speculation rather than the delivery of facts. As an example, he pointed to a front-page article of the
March 6 ''
New York Times'' that speculated about the possible effects of
U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to impose
tariffs on imported
steel. Crichton also singled out
Susan Faludi's book '' for criticism, saying that it "presented hundreds of pages of quasi-statistical assertions based on a premise that was never demonstrated and that was almost certainly false". He referred to what he calls the "
Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect" to describe the public's tendency to discount one story in a newspaper they may know to be false because of their knowledge of the subject, but believe the same paper on subjects with which they are unfamiliar. Crichton used the
Latin expression ''
falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus'', which he translated as "untruthful in one part, untruthful in all", to describe what he thought should be a more appropriate reaction. The speech also made several references to Crichton's skepticism of environmentalists' assertions about the possible future ramifications of human activity on the Earth's environment.
Role of science in environmental policy-making
In September 2005 Crichton testified at a Congressional hearing on climate change, having been called by global warming skeptic Senator
James Inhofe [6]) to advise the Environment and Public Works Committee. In introducing himself to the committee, Crichton gave his credentials:
I am Michael Crichton, known to most people as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of the television series ER. My academic background includes degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School; I was a visiting lecturer in Physical Anthropology at Cambridge University; and a post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute, where I worked on media and science policy with Jacob Bronowski.
Crichton spoke on issues such as the role of science in policy making, criticisms of climate-change researcher
Michael Mann and what Crichton claimed was the deliberate obstruction of research into the subject by some in the scientific community.
[7]
Criticism
Many of Crichton's publicly expressed views, particularly on subjects like the
global warming controversy, have caused heated debate. An example is meteorologist
Jeffrey Masters' review of ''
State of Fear'':
:"[F]lawed or misleading presentations of Global Warming science exist in the book, including those on Arctic sea ice thinning, correction of land-based temperature measurements for the
urban heat island effect, and
satellite vs. ground-based measurements of Earth's warming. I will spare the reader additional details. On the positive side, Crichton does emphasize the little-appreciated fact that while most of the world has been warming the past few decades, most of Antarctica has seen a cooling trend. The Antarctic ice sheet is actually expected to increase in mass over the next 100 years due to increased precipitation, according to the IPCC."
[8]
Peter Doran, author of the paper in the January 2002 issue of ''
Nature'' which reported the finding referred to above, that some areas of
Antarctica had cooled between 1986 and 2000 , wrote an opinion piece in the
July 27 2006 New York Times in which he stated "Our results have been misused as 'evidence' against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel ''State of Fear''".
[9] Crichton himself states in the book that though he uses a number of studies to support his stance, the authors of these studies do not necessarily agree with his interpretations. Additionally, some of the characters in the novel caution that they do not necessarily claim that global warming is not an issue, but only that more research is necessary before we make any definition conclusions.
Al Gore is reported as having said on
March 21 2007 before a US House committee: "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor [...] if your doctor tells you you need to intervene here, you don't say 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem.'" This, in
Dave Langford's opinion, is a reference to ''State of Fear''.
[10]
''Next'' controversy
In his 2006 novel ''Next'' (released November 28th), Crichton introduces a character named "Mick Crowley" who is a Yale graduate and a Washington D.C.-based political columnist. "Crowley" is portrayed by Crichton as a child molester. The character is a minor one who does not appear elsewhere in the book.
[11]
A real person named ''
Michael Crowley'' is also a Yale graduate, and a senior editor of ''
The New Republic'', a Washington D.C.-based political magazine. In March 2006, the real Crowley wrote an article strongly critical of Crichton for his stance on global warming in ''State of Fear''.
[12]
References
1. - Crichton, Michael. "For Younger Readers", michaelcrichton.com, 2005. Retrieved Dec. 11, 2005.
2. "Michael Crichton’s Mark on the Science Fiction World"; "Michael Crichton"; [1]; Profile by IGN; see the IMDB entry here
3. http://www.michaelcrichton.com/aboutmc/biography.html
4. http://www.adara-interactive.com/crichton/ow_transcripts2.htm
5. King of the techno-thriller, The Observer, December 3, 2006
6. Crichton, Michael. ''Electronic Life'', Knopf, 1983, p. 44. ISBN 0-394-53406-9
★ Trembley, Elizabeth A. ''Michael Crichton: A Critical Companion'', Greenwood Press, 1996, ISBN 0313294143
★
International Leadership Forum
External links
★
michaelcrichton.com - Official website
★
Recorded BBC ''Five Live'' interview with Michael Crichton
★
Michael Crichton: From Scientist to Novelist, by Tal Cohen
★
Earth Institute News, Columbia.edu Criticism of the science of ''State of Fear''
★
★
Audio interviews with Michael Crichton by Don Swaim of CBS Radio - RealAudio format
★
Michael Crichton's International Leadership Forum blog page
★
Official publisher web page for NEXT
Critical essays of Crichton's work and/or ideas:
★
Review of Michael Crichton's State of Fear – Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters, Chief Meteorologist at The Weather Underground
★
Michael Crichton and Global Warming – David B. Sandalow, Environment Scholar for the Brookings Institute
★
Science Fiction: Michael Crichton takes a novel approach to global-warming alarmism. – Iain Murray, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
★
Rebuttal on Crichton's Speech
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