State of Fear - Review
Before I go into the review or rather my view of the book, "State of Fear", I must say that I'm an ardent fan of Michael Crichton and I have read all his books (except his non-fictions)
I have read the book, "State of Fear", by Michael Crichton. It definitely lacked the punch that most of his earlier books had. He is the best in the field of research and write authors. But I guess, this time he did an excessive research, although, of a kind, that is prejudiced from the beginning.
And the plot and characters, never jelled with me. I couldn't relate with any of the characters, because they lacked life. If you had read, Sphere or Prey, you would know, what I mean. And the technical explanations he gives us about global warming, suggests that Global Warming is not even an issue and that, it is almost a natural phenomenon. Whatever abnormal weather we experience, like high or low temperature are region based and also based upon the population density.
By his arguments, I guess, he is suggesting that there is no need to worry about something called Global Warming at all. Does that mean, that we could use our vehicles more and more, burn more waste, cut down more trees and do whatever we are doing right now to strangle the earth? He could have suggested mildly that its bad to cry wolf; but still the danger lurks close by.
He might have been annoyed by some of the high profile seeking techniques of some of the organisations that rally against global warming. But that doesn't warrant an irresponsible book like this.
And in his endeavour to pour out his grievances, he has missed out on the narration of the story. And the worst part is equating global warming crisis with Nazism.
Ok, he might have been called a person against science, when he spoke about the perils in playing GOD (dealing with DNA manipulation and cloning) in Jurassic Park OR a sexist when he wrote Disclosure. But this is kind of different and it makes some (many) people think that maybe global warming is a think of a very distant future. Crichton agrees the Earth is getting warmer. But he says there is little to worry about because the climate is always changing and there is no evidence to determine if the changes are manmade or natural. In fact he says, climate scientists admit they can't predict what temperatures will be in 100 years.
I don't care about global warming. What I do care is the precaution we take now, for the sake of preventing global warming. Start caring for your Earth, from NOW.
He has come under heavy firing from all quarters regarding this book, but he has still yet to give out an explanation. Perhaps his book is one.
Here are some of the related links :
Views by David B. Sandalow, Environment Scholar, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
Views by Gavin Schmidt, Earth Institute climate scientist and RealClimate.org contributor
Review by David Roberts
Review by S. Fred Singer, Science & Environmental Policy Project
Review by Robert Zirkelbach
Review by Bryan Curtis
If I add any more links, it would look like that I haven't come out of the influence of the book.
I have read the book, "State of Fear", by Michael Crichton. It definitely lacked the punch that most of his earlier books had. He is the best in the field of research and write authors. But I guess, this time he did an excessive research, although, of a kind, that is prejudiced from the beginning.
And the plot and characters, never jelled with me. I couldn't relate with any of the characters, because they lacked life. If you had read, Sphere or Prey, you would know, what I mean. And the technical explanations he gives us about global warming, suggests that Global Warming is not even an issue and that, it is almost a natural phenomenon. Whatever abnormal weather we experience, like high or low temperature are region based and also based upon the population density.
By his arguments, I guess, he is suggesting that there is no need to worry about something called Global Warming at all. Does that mean, that we could use our vehicles more and more, burn more waste, cut down more trees and do whatever we are doing right now to strangle the earth? He could have suggested mildly that its bad to cry wolf; but still the danger lurks close by.
He might have been annoyed by some of the high profile seeking techniques of some of the organisations that rally against global warming. But that doesn't warrant an irresponsible book like this.
And in his endeavour to pour out his grievances, he has missed out on the narration of the story. And the worst part is equating global warming crisis with Nazism.
Ok, he might have been called a person against science, when he spoke about the perils in playing GOD (dealing with DNA manipulation and cloning) in Jurassic Park OR a sexist when he wrote Disclosure. But this is kind of different and it makes some (many) people think that maybe global warming is a think of a very distant future. Crichton agrees the Earth is getting warmer. But he says there is little to worry about because the climate is always changing and there is no evidence to determine if the changes are manmade or natural. In fact he says, climate scientists admit they can't predict what temperatures will be in 100 years.
I don't care about global warming. What I do care is the precaution we take now, for the sake of preventing global warming. Start caring for your Earth, from NOW.
He has come under heavy firing from all quarters regarding this book, but he has still yet to give out an explanation. Perhaps his book is one.
Here are some of the related links :
Views by David B. Sandalow, Environment Scholar, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
Views by Gavin Schmidt, Earth Institute climate scientist and RealClimate.org contributor
Review by David Roberts
Review by S. Fred Singer, Science & Environmental Policy Project
Review by Robert Zirkelbach
Review by Bryan Curtis
If I add any more links, it would look like that I haven't come out of the influence of the book.
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