Saturday, April 14, 2012

M is For Michael Crichton

A little note for everyone stopping by for the A to Z challenge:

First off, hi! Welcome! Look around, have fun. My posts will be short this month, but they'll be following a theme: Books and Authors. I'll be showcasing some of my favorites within those categories. But I'll also be having some special posts regarding the release of my debut novel, Elemental, from time to time.  



Bio (taken from here):

Michael Crichton was a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER. His latest posthumous novel, MICRO, was released on November 22, 2011. 

Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, researching public policy with Jacob Bronowski. He taught courses in anthropology at Cambridge University and writing at MIT. Crichton's 2004 bestseller, State of Fear, acknowledged the world was growing warmer, but challenged extreme anthropogenic warming scenarios. He predicted future warming at 0.8 degrees C. (His conclusions have been widely misstated.) 

Crichton's interest in computer modeling went back forty years. His multiple-discriminant analysis of Egyptian crania, carried out on an IBM 7090 computer at Harvard, was published in the Papers of the Peabody Museum in 1966. His technical publications included a study of host factors in pituitary chromophobe adenoma, in Metabolism, and an essay on medical obfuscation in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Crichton's first bestseller, The Andromeda Strain, was published while he was still a medical student. He later worked full time on film and writing. One of the most popular writers in the world, he has sold over 200 million books. His books have been translated into thirty-eight languages and thirteen have been made into films. 

He had a lifelong interest in computers. His feature film Westworld was the first to employ computer-generated special effects back in 1973. Crichton's pioneering use of computer programs for film production earned him a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 1995. 

Crichton won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for ER. In 2002, a newly discovered ankylosaur was named for him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini. He is survived by his wife Sherri, his daughter Taylor and his son, John Michael. 

Yup, I was a huge Michael Crichton fan in my teen years. While everyone was watching Jurassic Park or Sphere, I was reading them (actually, I read Sphere LONG before the movie came out--it's still one of my favorite reads ever).

If you haven't read his books, or seen any of the movies based on his books, I'm going to assume that you have indeed been living under a rock. It's okay. But welcome out! The sun is nice and warm out here. :P And if you haven't done either of those things and you don't consider yourself having lived under a rock, what are you waiting for?? :D

Have a great weekend, everyone!

15 comments:

  1. Oh yes to Michael Crichton. TIMELINE was my favorite.

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  2. I just read my first Michael Crichton a few months ago - SPHERE. I have the Andromeda Strain on my TBR list and will most likely plow through all of his books. They're so fast and interesting! Fellow A-Zer!

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  3. I still miss Michael Crichton. I actually prefer Lost World to Jurrasic Park, but i really love Congo, though i haven' read it in years

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  4. I still remember exactly what I was doing when I heard Michael Crichton had died. I miss him. He's one of my favorite authors of all time, and I've read just about all his books (still trying to find the ones he wrote under the pseudonym John Lange).

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  5. My husband just finished reading Pirate Latitudes and enjoyed it. It's next up on my reading list, I think...

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  6. You know, I said his name wrong for my whole life up until two days ago when my mom finally corrected me. I've got a whole bunch of his beauties on my reader. I'm excited to dive in.

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  7. Look forward to the rest of your challenge run…can’t believe we’ve had 14 days already!
    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  8. Wow, he really produced some major movies, shows, and books. I haven't actually READ any of those books--just watched the movie. Thanks for the informative post! :)

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  9. i remember half way watching the andromeda strain many years ago--i would like to read it

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  10. MC is one of my top Authors as well! He died way too early!! :)

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  11. Wow. I'm a fellow participant in the A-Z challenge and consider Michael Crichton to be my all-time favorite author. Sphere also happens to be my favorite of all his books.

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  12. I remember Michael Crichton being huge around my house when the first Jurassic Park movie came out. Best of luck on your new book!

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  13. I read a few of his books back in the day. He's definitely a legend in both print and film.

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  14. I'm a huge fan of Michael Crichton. The last one of his I read was Prey and I'm looking forward to reading Micro. It is a tragedy that he died. I'm so glad you did this post about him.

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  15. i SUCK!
    i'm a huge fan of his worlds, but have yet to actually read one of his books!
    i fail at reading.

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Yay! Comments! Oh, how I do love them! :D