Crichton Binge
Spurred in part by a generous donation from Zachary (who unfortunately seems to have abandoned his blog like yesterday’s dead fad), I’ve been on something of a Michael Crichton binge lately.
First was State of Fear, which I wrote about once before, and that Zachary offered to send—and later did. I found myself somewhat disappointed to discover that it did not really have much influence on my thinking about the story’s central theme, that of global warming, but then I probably expected too much from this particular book (come to think of it, of all of Crichton’s work, only A Case of Need ever really influenced my thinking).
Crichton basically uses the global warming debate as a pretext for telling a an action/adventure story in which the protagonists get trapped in an icy crevasse in Antarctica and chased by cannibals on a tropical island—you know, the normal day-to-day activities of global warming critics. Although Crichton tells this story in about 600 printed pages, you cannot help but get the feeling that this is a story he really wanted to tell on the big screen.
Next came Airframe, which I enjoyed a lot, no doubt because, like the protagonist, I work in QA for a large company (although I’m not yet a VP—I’ll have to keep working on that). If you have any doubts about the safety of commercial air travel, this book will either assuage your fears by showing how much effort manufacturers put into ensuring your safety or push you over the edge by explaining how the fierce competition in the air travel industry cuts away at profit margins and puts constant pressure on critical things like maintenance.
Airframe was chased by Timeline, which I think was designed specifically to appeal to the inner Galahad in all of us. You may have some experience with extreme weather phenomena or even extreme turbulence, but extreme time travel is something that none of Crichton’s readers can relate to on a first-hand basis, so he gets to have a bit of fun with this one. Although the supporting characters come off as a bit two-dimensional, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable bit of fantasy physics.
These last two were picked up at a charity book fair at work, so my total outlay for these three books (thanks to Zachary’s generosity!) came to about 300 yen, which is next to nothing for books of this entertainment value. I started feeling a little bit guilty about reading several hundred pages of his work without contributing to Crichton’s financial well being, though; so when I spotted a copy of Prey at one of my few remaining local bookstores, I felt compelled to buy it. Now I’m living in fear of my kids developing a sudden, unexplainable rash…
In any case, I’ve gotten much, much more than my money’s worth out of Crichton novels lately, thanks in large part to book fairs. Speaking of which, there’s a good one coming up soon, so stop by if you have a chance (you could pick up some of the Crichton novels I’ll be donating!) or donate some books—because truly worthwhile books are too important not to share.
