There is a new book out by Michael Crichton called "State of Fear" which has been mentioned to me by a couple friends. I thought it might be worth checking out, and since at the moment I have a bit of the flu and am more or less "home-bound", I felt it would be a good day to go to the local Barnes and Noble and "pre-read" it. What I mean by "pre-read" is, basically, read all the S&R parts (suspenseful and racy) and if I liked it, buy the book. Otherwise I could just put it back on the shelf and go home.
Incidentally, I used to do this in libraries often when I was in early teenage years. I would find the "thriller" section (including Stephen King novels) and read just the "sex" parts and also the "scary" parts. I might actually read the entire novel in some cases. I think I developed some bad habits. I have since quit reading the sex scenes in novels, though at the time it was educational.
Anyways, today I was more interested in what Chrichton had to say about the environmental movement (he says they're misguided), whether he would really frame them as the villains (he does) and whether he would really argue, at least within the framework of this story, that global warming is not a real phenomenon as most scientists accept it is (he does argue this).
Crichton's book does contain what I would consider his "trademark" style of detailed scientific evidence which backs up a certain theory or claim being put forth by a character in the book. In this case, the protagonists seeks to debunk a popular theory (global warming being caused by human activity) and stop the "mad scientist" radical environmentalists. Meanwhile, some "good" scientists analyse weather data to find that in fact "global warming" is not truly "global" but is in fact "local" - a phenomenon, according to the book, of strong localized increase in average temperatures due to concentrated energy use and deforestation in urban areas.
I think it's admirable to take what we hear in the press with a grain of salt, and Crichton with this book encourages us to do so (In the back of the book, he actually says this). However, in this day and age, with this fossil-fuel worshipping administration, with the wars it has led us into (if you don't think the fact we're in Iraq has to do with oil, then you shouldn't be reading this blog), with the hurricane season we just had, and with all the signs pointing to a real warming trend - why would anyone want to say humans aren't the cause of the problem? Or put another way: why would anyone not want to play it safe and say, ok, I guess warming weather is a problem, so what can we do to prevent it from happening?
I believe Crichton wrote this book because it's a popular idea in certain circles that environmentalists are pushing an "agenda" and the media are sympathetic to it and blowing it out of proportion. I also think he's a gifted scientific researcher / writer who can run with such an idea. However, I am offended at the same time that he would "use" the environmental movement in this way to set up an techno-action thriller so he can sell more copies of his book. In the end, I think it's all about money and sales to him and so he does not in my opinion differentiate himself from right-wing talk show hosts who will say anything to make a buck on the airwaves.
Needless to say, I did not buy this book and don't recommend it to anyone except to read an interesting anti-theory. You can do that in the store or, if you reserve it early, at your local library. In the meantime, keep recycling, don't drive when you don't need to and tell your representative in Washington it's time to get Americans to save gas.
If you want to read good fiction this holiday season, I instead recommend reading something from John Grisham. "The Brethren" and "The Partner" are a couple of my favorites. Grisham does a better job developing his characters and interweaving the plots (towards the end of the book everything kind of "comes together"). He also has a new book called "The Broker", which I would be reading right now if it wasn't for the fact I made personal committment to myself to read Dosteyevsky's "The Idiot" this year.
p.s. I did not drive to Barnes and Noble for this excercise, because I combined it with another errand.
p.s.s. if you want to read a more positive review of "State of Fear", check out what Charley Reese has to say.
