Michael Crichton 1942 – 2008
Michael Crichton passed away yesterday, after a battle with cancer. I’ve written about Michael Crichton books and movies more times in this blog than probably any other author, most recently my rants about the terrible disaster that was the Andromeda Strain miniseries. His writing always managed to perfectly hit the things I adore reading about, medicine and law mixed in with science fiction. Others have come close, but he’s always been the absolute best at that.
While I’m saddened that such a wonderful mind is gone, I am at least brightened by the fact that these are books that stand up to re-reads, and movies that stand up to deeper analysis. Even though I hated the miniseries, I still watched the commentary from the DVD’s (I had to know WHY they went so far away from the book. Now I know.). My favorite way to spend a weekend is still to curl up with one of his books, and read it cover to cover. It doesn’t matter if I’ve read it before. The story’s still there and still solid.
If you haven’t ever read any Michael Crichton, now is a great time to start. Check out a full list of his stuff at Wikipedia.
