RIP Michael Crichton

I found out recently that my favorite author, Michael Crichton, passed away on November 4th 2008 from cancer. It came as a huge shock to me because, not only was I unaware that Crichton was even sick, but there was very little publicity about it at the time I heard the news. Obviously, news of Obama's victory and the passing of Proposition 8 overshadowed everything in both the media's and public's eyes, but for me, Michael Crichton's demise was a huge emotional blow. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Crichton, he authored numerous science fiction books, his most famous being Jurassic Park. My favorite of the bunch is definitely Timeline, but I have also enjoyed many of his other novels as well. He generated much controversy in his novel State of Fear, in which he combated the idea of global warming and criticized the sensational emphasis the scientific community has put on it. He has also made and written several movies, and he is the creator of the popular show ER. 

For me Crichton has never failed to put out an interesting, thought provoking, engaging novel that I spend the wee hours of the night reading. His novels always stimulate my interest in a variety of topics ranging from science to history to technology to business, providing me with insights about topics I never knew anything about, be it airplanes, dinosaurs, the Middle Ages, Japanese culture, genetics, bioengineering, quantum mechanics, nanotechnolgy, or time travel. He is one of the few authors that has consistently kept me engaged in whatever he writes and is probably the single most important influence on my scientific curiosity. 

RIP Michael Crichton. Your novels have had a profound impact on me, and I wish your family the best.