State of Fear by Michael Crichton
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Book Reviews of State of Fear
Book Review: A Must Read for Anyone Concerned About Socialism
Summary: 5 Stars
Socialism? Yes, socialism, for the propaganda campaign concerning global warming (GW) is one of the left's "back doors" to socialism. GW permeates education, media, and big business (don't they all proclaim to be green these days?). "Front door" socialism hasn't worked anywhere it has been tried and therefore can't be sold as such, so the left instead tries to scare us about the environment (and health care, for that matter) to grab power and shrink freedom. State of Fear (SOF) is a wonderful antidote for this insidious desease.
First of all, while I do not read much genre fiction, I found SOF a...CLICHE-ALERT..."page-turning" thriller. Fast-paced, with many changes of scene, it moves often from one exotic locale to another. SOF would have been made into a movie were it not for its politically-incorrect theme, which must have induced several Hollywood producers to break out in hives, spewing expletives as they threw the proposal into the trash...er, I mean the recycling bin. Crichton is (was) a very good story-teller and I now plan to read some of his earlier works (eg, Jurassic Park).
But more important, and the aspect of SOF that excited me the most, was the seamless way he teaches the reader about the multiple serious problems that cripple the current science behind the "globaloney" scare. His scientific criticism is woven into the text, including charts and graphs, and extensively footnoted at the bottom. Even better, Crichton has several items of end matter that explain his skepticism about global warming and an excellent annotated bibliography. The committed environmentalist might want to read those first, so she may see that Crichton loves wilderness, but is simply quite unconvinced by the flimsy "science" used to sell political proposals that seek unprecedented power over the economy.
I have read other books (all non-fiction) on climate change and this work of fiction is the most painless way to understand why some of us "heretics" are skeptical of things like cap-and-trade. I have 4 years of climatology under my belt, including 1 year of grad school, 2 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and work on 2 federally-funded research projects in environmental science, so I think I have a better perspective on this than the average "Joe."
So, I would advise global warming skeptics to read this book - for its entertainment and its educational value. And if you are a dyed-in-the-wool, nothing-will-change-my-mind greenie, this book will let you know what we heretics are thinking.
Greenies, a word of advice. The more you try to repress our speech, the more skeptical people will become. Better to engage us in a rational way than to use ad hominem attacks and threats. (By the way, according to The Gallup Poll, global warming is way down the list of people's concerns, even when asked about environmental issues. Most folks are more concerned about clean air, water, and safe food stocks. So the bullying hasn't been very effective. Maybe it's time to try evidence and argument.)
Book Review: Reality Check
Summary: 5 Stars
This will be a short review as others have covered most of what I might say. The book is first, a very entertaining read (as with most of Crichton's work). He weaves a great story. This is undoubtedly Crichton's most controversial book simply because it touches upon such a viscerally emotional topic - global warming - and is still timely today, nearly six years from its initial publication.
Climate change fanatics (and there's no denying climate does change - the question is, is this change really out of the ordinary historically and is it the result of man made industry?) have ripped the book. However, Crichton himself admitted that he was not ideologically driven on this issue. Rather, he was fully open to accepting global warming (as am I) and potential human causes - it's just about the data. And, the data is ambiguous at best.
Ironically, the recent information about the extraordinary bias of climatologists makes this book prophetic. Regardless of your perspective however, if you are a reasonable and rational person, it behooves you to read this with an open mind.
Crichton's website speeches on this topic are wonderful exercises in objectivity. He notes the countless rash moves humankind has made to alleviate what was thought to be a clear problem - only to find out later that 1) the actions taken brought about new and more troubling problems; and 2) that humanity's understanding of the initial problem was actually flawed. Crichton has also noted the documented cases of attempts to stymie and cover-up aberrant data or contradictory data by global warming scientists, even to the point of blackballing reputable scientists who have published legitimate data that questions the consensus.
I'm all for a healthy environment and think that, Americans in particular, have taken such too lightly. But, the propaganda hysteria promoted by Al Gore & Co. is ridiculous and incredibly biased; unfortunately.
Crichton's death is a sad blow to reasonable thinking in the 21st century.
Book Review: State of Fear, Michael Crichton
Summary: 5 Stars
The plot follows an international non-profit organization, the National Environmental Resource Fund, NERF. NERF is preparing for a big event, the conference on Abrupt Climate Change. George Morton, a millionaire philanthropist, tells his attorney and pseudo-son, Peter Evans, to delay his upcoming contribution. Morton mysteriously dies, but before he dies, he gives Peter a list that contains geographical locations around the world. Morton had befriended MIT professor John Kenner, and with Morton's private jet at their disposal, Peter and Kenner start to travel to all of the locations to find the reason Morton had chosen to lock his funds. All the while, some mysterious things are happening. Leading researchers are being killed and huge equipment is being purchased. There seems to be no pattern or logic to it whatsoever. Several attempts are made to stop Evans and Kenner during their travels. Crichton ties all the various plotlines together very well, and part of the suspense is figuring out all the various connections.
I had to laugh at myself as I read the book. Of course I know that global warming is real. A big scene occurs early in the book where Peter Evans is presented with the same idea, and he shares my response. Gradually, Crichton's story presents Evans with facts that cause him to question his beliefs. The same thing happened to me. I still believe that global warming is real, and I still turn off the lights and recycle, but State of Fear reaffirms to me I had better pay attention and think, because it is easy to manipulate data and confuse people. The title is woven into the story very well. It all occurs in one dialog late in the novel, so I will not spoil it. I continually think about the message as I hear about events going on around the world.
I love the way Crichton is able to weave technical information into his stories without turning the story into a technical paper. Both of the novels also have a subtle profound message. I highly recommend State of Fear, by Michael Crichton.
Book Review: ClimateGate was predicted years ago
Summary: 5 Stars
Crighton's end notes tell you he wanted to write a novel to raise people's awareness of Global Warming as an issue. In his typical style, he invested a great amount of energy researching his chosen topic in preparation for writing his novel, only to find that the source data on climate change was rife with errors and inconsistencies. Hence, State of Fear was written from the perspective climate change is big business and filled with 'the bad guys' trying to keep the world in the dark as a form of control. Gee...have you read the headlines lately?
Lawyer Peter Evans works for many environmental groups, but one of his largest clients is philanthropist George Morton. When George dies shortly after having Peter change his donation policies, Peter is drawn into an investigation of the operations of two environmental groups, NERF and ELF, discovering that global warming science may not be as settled, nor as unbiased, as he originally thought. Picking up a few friends along the way, including Sarah Jones, Morton's lovely assistant, he manages to foil plans to generate disasters which are then attributed to global warming.
Providing source data in the novel truly illustrates Crichton's point...don't take the word of others, look at it yourself because where money is involved (have you seen what kind of investments go into climate research?), people can become corrupt. His writing style is fast paced and action packed, sometimes to the detriment of character development, but the main theme of the story, and the skill with which he crafts the tale, make this a great read, both entertaining and enlightening.
Book Review: Important is how you read it
Summary: 5 Stars
I understand the frustration of those who expected this book to be a James Bond novel. What I don't understand is they all pretend liking Crichton's other novels. I also understand the frustration of those who religiously believe in "Global Warming" and for them obviously this book is an heresy. This book is not even about global warming, but about the fact that well organized circles are trying to make us being afraid by everything that sorrounds us like: climate, food, nature and everything that technology brings to us. If you really try to understand what Crichton says, you will notice right away that this is not an action novel but a manifesto; a cry to shake-up those sorrounded by fear. Another thing that few noticed, is that Crichton is presenting both sides of the story (something that someone as Al Gore will never be capable of). And there is one more thing to be said about this book: Al Gore's "The Inconvenient Truth", pretended as being a scientific book, does not have any footnote or bibliography mentioning used sources, while "The State of Fear" pretending to be a fiction work, has multiple footnotes on most pages and hundreds of bibliographycal references. In the end, the message of this book is simple: try and think with your own brain and if there is one single human being starting doing this, that would mean this book was not useless.