I know someone who used to work in book production at Crichton's former publisher. Crichton's copy wasn't the cleanest, which is understandable given the volume of his output and others products, so the copy editors had to fix numerous mechanical problems and frequently send pages back to him asking for clarifications. Problem was, Crichton didn't like to be corrected, even for simple mechanical errors. He had a set of stamps with endearments like 'BLOW ME!' 'FUCK YOU' 'BULLSHIT' and other like phrases, and when he was especially annoyed by a copy editors intervention--which was most of the time--he would liberally pepper a page with these stamps. In short, a real class act.
Granted, I'm only repeating what somebody told me, and even if true, it should have no bearing on the quality of Crichton's research. But personally, I'd like to think a guy like that would be dishonest AND an asshole.
Curtiss
> Friday on "20/20" I talk to Michael Crichton about his new book, "State
> of Fear," which made me laugh with delight, because the villains are ...
> well, I won't tell, because I don't want to give the plot away. But
> finally! A star Hollywood writer/producer is scientifically literate.
> The "Jurassic Park" author spent three years doing climate research and
> discovered what he'd heard about global warming made little sense. But
> he almost didn't write "State of Fear" because he knew it would anger
> his friends. I'm glad he wrote it, and OK, I'll give it away: the
> villains are environmental groups! What a switch! In my interview with
> Crichton, he says: "environmental organizations are fomenting false
> fears in order to promote agendas and raise money."