Michael Crichton, 1942 – 2008

When I was in secondary school, there was once when I needed something to do during my non-studying time. This maybe because of the fact that I was in a boys school, and living in a boys dormitory, with no or little access to the “fun stuff” that kids that lived at home seems to enjoy. Not to mention the monetary problem, and lack of interaction with the opposite gender.

So I resorted to borrow books from the school library. Being the science fiction fan that I am, I stumbled upon the novel that inspired the movie of the same name, Jurassic Park.

This is when I fell in love with Michael Crichton’s books.

I don’t know what makes me love his books, actually. But for the most part, is the realism of the fiction he wrote. And to add credibility to that realism, he often includes bibliography of his research prior to writing. This usually is about 5, 6 pages long, so you could understand the amount of work and research he went through in order to have his fiction believable.

When suggested to read Sydney Shieldon, Stephen King,or even Dan Brown, I would scoff them and show them Crichton‘s bibliography, and challenge them to separate the fact from fiction in his books.

Mainly, Crichton writes a lot about biotechnology, medical and law, but at times, he also delves into history.

He’s also created the TV hit series “ER” which success breeds other medical drama series like House, and Grey’s Anatomy, and maybe even our own Ampang Medikal.

His topics have always been quite controversial, and most of the times discusses the fine line of ethics and human needs.

A number of his books have been ported into the silver screen, but not many managed to be as successful as the novel. The most successful would be Jurassic Park (1993), followed with Andromeda Strain (1971 and remade into a 2 part telemovie in 2008) , Twister (1996) and Congo, IMHO. Jurassic Park since the first have lost its fangs, however, but another one is in the pipeline for 2010 release, but no news about its production yet.

I had just finished reading his latest book Next a couple of months back, and felt some difference in writing style, in which I’m not sure of. But the fact was still intriguing, and backed by researches, that I have problem differentiating the fact and the fiction.

Now, with only a small number more books of his left to complete my collection, including the one that would be published posthumusly, I’m in dire need of a new favorite author.