State of Fear
by Michael Crichton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael CrichtonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Print
Published: 2005-10-25
ISBN: 0061015733
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Avon
Product features:
- State of Fear by Michael Crichton
- Thriller, suspense mystery
- First Avon Books paperback printing, November 2005
- Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
- ISBN-10: 0061015733, ISBN-13: 9780061015731
Book Reviews of State of Fear
Book Review: A *very* hot issue - real or created? Readers decide ...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a thoroughly entertaining, frightening, and educational novel about global warming, environmental issues, and sci-fi high tech interference with nature and the weather ... written as a murder mystery. Interspersed throughout the book is a vast amount of scientific data from the 1880s to current times presented in the form of graphs and footnotes that back up the author's viewpoint that the environment is *always* changing and manages to balance itself without outside interference from mankind. Clearly, the author's message seems to be for the most part, left alone nature corrects the problems that arise with everyday modern living. However, the author *does* advocate studying the changes in nature and man's interference, to prevent misuse and destruction. It seems to this reader, the author espouses modern life despite its problems rather than the "back to nature" and more primitive lifestyles of the past ...
In this fascinating novel, an impending catastrophe of astronomical proportions for all of mankind is predicted by a group called NERF ((National Environmental Resource Fund) which was founded by lawyers. They present themselves as environmental activists working to save the planet. They expect a 10 million dollar donation from a wealthy philanthropist, George Morton, who since he retired from his business career, has had two main interests, pretty women and making the world a better place to live. The only problem is, George Morton has discovered that NERF plans to use the money to finance a lawsuit against the government for its lack of action against corporations and businesses whom they claim created the problems of rising waters in the Ocean. NERF maintains the island nation of Vanutu, located somewhere out in the Indian Ocean and all its inhabitants will be disappear due to a rise in sea level created by global warming. George Morton has learned the truth, NERF is falsifying data, there is no such threat of rising Ocean levels. He speaks at a major fundraiser for NERF, where he receives their coveted "Man of the Year" award but blows apart their plans by rescinding his planned donation.
The story begins in Paris but later chapters takes off in a myriad of directons. In Paris an oceanographic researcher is discovered floating in the Seine River. Peter Evans, one of George Morton's lawyers meets with the head of NERF, after NERF discovers details placed in the 10 million dollar donation contract limits their funding due to specific clauses. Subsequently, George Morton unexpectedly buys a Ferrari and disappears, his bloated dead body washes up on a California beach and is identified by his lawyer and most recent personal assistant, Sarah. Peter Evans finds himself recruited to visit places such as, Iceland, Antartica, the Solomon Islands, and the jungles of Malaysia, as George Morton's representative. He accompanies John Kenner, Ph.D. from MIT who heads the Center for Risk Analysis and Sanjon Thapa Ph.D. a research associate for the Department of Geoenvironmental Engineering. They are tracking the mysterious disappearance of secret high tech equipment from governmental labs throughout the world and their subsequent reappearance in obscure places where their use and abuse could create major ... possibly permanent catastrophic environmental damage.
This book is a nonstop exhilarating, exciting reading experience. It is a suspense-filled novel complete with a mesmerzing subject matter that is given a thorough examination in a most intriguing, entertaining and enjoyable manner. An environmental terrorist group accesses the most sophisticated technology with plans to wreak havoc and destruction on innocent people. All this, in order to influence power and control over the nations of the world. They falsify data and tout an untrue philosophy. They have no qualms about killing possibly millions of innocent lives just to win millions of dollars in donations and achieve more control over environmental issues. There are some amusing moments in the book, too. One is where a very attractive athletic female defends herself against the unwanted advances of a vain, shallow, handsome male actor, who is a spokes person for the environmetnal group, NERF. Another is the inclusion of cannibals who end up feasting on an unsuspecting victim ... In conclusion, Michael Crichton has written a phenomenal book which follows in the great tradition of other modern New York Times best-selling authors, Tom Clancy (world threats to mankind, high tech equipment with unusual acronymns), Dean Koontz (frightening threats from unusual sources that are overcome by caring people), and John LeCarre (murder mysteries associated with threatening clandestine groups). Michael Crichton has combined the best of these three novelists in one book. This book is most highly recommended, my plans are to reread it several more times to discover what I missed. It is jam-packed with research and footnotes and enjoyable twists, turns, and surprises. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Summary of State of Fear
The "Crichton effect" -- this term has come to signify the distinctive blend of fear, fantasy, and authentic cutting-edge science driving the blockbuster novels of Michael Crichton. Hailed as "the father of the techno-thriller", Crichton boasts an impressive history of global bestsellers -- from The Andromeda Strain to Jurassic Park to Prey -- that explore the frightening possibilities of breakthrough research led astray by abuse and corruption. Drawing on his past as a Harvard Medical School student and his ongoing study of the world of technology, Crichton's gripping fiction is grounded in scientific fact culled from the latest academic journals.Amazon.com Exclusive Content
A Michael Crichton Timeline Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
Amazon.com reveals a few facts about the "father of the techno-thriller."
1942: John Michael Crichton is born in Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 23.
1960: Crichton graduates from Roslyn High School on Long Island, New York, with high marks and a reputation as a star basketball player. He decides to attend Harvard University to study English. During his studies, he rankles under his writing professors' criticism. As an act of rebellion, Crichton submits an essay by George Orwell as his own. The professor doesn?t catch the plagiarism and gives Orwell a B-. This experience convinces Crichton to change his field of study to anthropology.
1964: Crichton graduates summa cum laude from Harvard University in anthropology. After studying further as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University and receiving the Henry Russell Shaw Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him to travel in Europe and North Africa, Crichton begins coursework at the Harvard School of Medicine. To help fund his medical endeavors, he writes spy thrillers under several pen names. One of these works, A Case of Need, wins the 1968 Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award.
1969: Crichton graduates from Harvard Medical school and is accepted as a post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Science in La Jolla, Calif. However, his career in medicine is waylaid by the publication of the first novel under his own name, The Andromeda Strain. The novel, about an apocalyptic plague, climbs high on bestseller lists and is later made into a popular film. Crichton said of his decision to pursue writing full time: "To quit medicine to become a writer struck most people like quitting the Supreme Court to become a bail bondsman."
1972: Crichton's second novel under his own name The Terminal Man, is published. Also, two of Crichton's previous works under his pen names, Dealing and A Case of Need are made into movies. After watching the filming, Crichton decides to try his hand at directing. He will eventually direct seven films including the 1973 science-fiction hit Westworld, which was the first film ever to use computer-generated effects.
1980: Crichton draws on his anthropology background and fascination with new technology to create Congo, a best-selling novel about a search for industrial diamonds and a new race of gorillas. The novel, patterned after the adventure writings of H. Ryder Haggard, updates the genre with the inclusion of high-tech gadgets that, although may seem quaint 20 years later, serve to set Crichton's work apart and he begins to cement his reputation as "the father of the techno-thriller."
1990: After the 1980s, which saw the publication of the underwater adventure Sphere (1987) and an invitation to become a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988), Crichton begins the new decade with a bang via the publication of his most popular novel, Jurassic Park. The book is a powerful example of Crichton's use of science and technology as the bedrock for his work. Heady discussion of genetic engineering, chaos theory, and paleontology run throughout the tightly-wound thriller that strands a crew of scientists on an island populated by cloned dinosaurs run amok. The novel inspires the 1993 Steven Spielberg film, and together book and film will re-ignite the world?s fascination with dinosaurs.
1995: Crichton resurrects an idea from his medical school days to create the Emmy-Award Winning television series ER. In this year, ER won eight Emmys and Crichton received an award from the Producers Guild of America in the category of outstanding multi-episodic series. Set in an insanely busy an often dangerous Chicago emergency room, the fast-paced drama is defined by Crichton's now trademark use of technical expertise and insider jargon. The year also saw the publication of The Lost World returning readers to the dinosaur-infested island.
2000: In recognition for Crichton's contribution in popularizing paleontology, a dinosaur discovered in southern China is named after him. "Crichton's ankylosaur" is a small, armored plant-eating dinosaur that dates to the early Jurassic Period, about 180 million years ago. "For a person like me, this is much better than an Academy Award," Crichton said of the honor.
2004: Crichton?s newest thriller State of Fear is published.
Amazon.com's Significant Seven
Michael Crichton kindly agreed to take the life quiz we like to give to all our authors: the Amazon.com Significant Seven.
A: Prisoners of Childhood by Alice Miller
Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Witter Bynner version)
Symphony #2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms (Georg Solti)
Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa
Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: Surely you're joking.
Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: Small room. Shades down. No daylight. No disturbances. Macintosh with a big screen. Plenty of coffee. Quiet.
Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: I don't want an epitaph. If forced, I would say "Why Are You Here? Go Live Your Life."
Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Benjamin Franklin
Q: If you could have one superpower what would it be?
A: Invisibility
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