However, as an earth scientist, I was very disappointed in his attempt to debunk anthropogenic climate change, especially when it became obvious that he was cherry picking and distorting the research of dedicated climatologists. Science fiction writers can do that to advance the story line, but not when they are testifying before Congress. Mr. Crichton stepped over the line there and that is sad coda to his legacy.

Having learned of his cancer, I wonder if the author was diagnosed around the time that he wrote this and whether, like so many others, his personal fears prevented him from accepting what his giant intellect obviously would have made so obvious to him, i.e. the dangers and potential consequences of global warming.

His story is one of the highest education (Harvard Medical) and also of family connections to advertising and the corporate ‘Disnification’ of contemporary American culture. It’s disappointing that, in the end, he didn’t have the character to use his notoriety for the public good, or at least decided that entertainment was the best he could do for people.

When the Jurassic Park movie came out, I took a British visitor to our local drive-in theater to watch it. During the rainy scene when the camera pointed to the liquid vibrating in a glass in the SUV as the T-Rex was approaching, the sound was also creating that same effect for a beverage sitting on our dashboard! Campy, yes, but fun for a Brit who had never been to a drive-in theater!

My father was a Fellow at Children’s Hospital in Boston when Michael Crichton was a med student at Harvard.

My father was 6′3″ – he spoke of Michael Crichton’s height, how he was already a famous writer, and how very smart he was. Then he added that Michael Crichton was the only medical student he met at Harvard who seemed bored.