I didn't even know he was sick.I've always enjoyed Crichton's books for two reasons: his approach meant to simultaneously educate and entertain, and one of his books has a very sentimental meaning for me.
Look at any of these books he's written and you'll notice something strange . . . it's hard to tell the difference between the fiction and the nonfiction titles. The reason for this is simple: the guy always did his homework. Seriously--how many authors have you read that include multi-page, multi-subject bibliographies at the end of fiction works? Some of his novels rely on his medical school training, while others have forced him--and by extension, us--to learn all sorts of new things. Crichton is not only one of my literary influences, but one of my world-outlook idols as well. He, like Disney, sought to both educate and entertain. He was careful to include accurate detail.
A little over three years ago I had the opportunity to go out with a woman who, like me, loved reading. I had just finished reading Crichton's Timeline not long before, had really enjoyed it, and recommended it to her. I sort of used the book as a pretense for going out with her, and it's sort of been one of those items that we look back on fondly as a piece of the "us" puzzle. (I married her this summer.) I regret that I never got the chance to thank Mr. Crichton personally.If you've never read any of his work, pick up a title and give it a try. If you've read some of Crichton's stuff, try to find a book of his you haven't read yet--that's what I'm going to do. Sadly, he won't be on any of the "Coming Soon" lists anymore; so we should take advantage of everything he left here for us.
Michael Crichton -- 1942-2008
