Michael Crichton died yesterday following a battle with cancer. He was only 66 years old. I'm kind of glad he won't get to see Jurassic Park 4. I've only read a few of Crichton's books, Jurassic Park, Lost World and Sphere. My girlfriend has read all of his books and they are her favorite works of fiction. His next book is still listed as coming out in December according to Amazon.com, but the title is pending, so who knows?
Michael Crichton's books taught me a lot about science without trying hard to teach. I'm not a scientist and I have never taken a large interest in science, but I think I took away a lot of science education from the three books that I read. I learned about DNA and the responsibilities of researchers from Jurassic Park. I learned about evolution as it pertains to the environment in Lost World. In Sphere I learned about "spacetime".
When I read Jurassic Park I was in Florida at my grandparents' house. They lived in a retirement community that consisted of trailer homes. The air was very humid and heavy. The temperature was too very warm. The humidity and heat mimicked the conditions I imagined the characters in the book had to deal with. It was great to read that story in that setting. Jurassic Park had a lot to do with genetics and things that you had to be taught in order to grasp. Lost World was more intuitive.
In Lost World, the genetics was scraped in favor of trying to figure out how the dinosaurs would have behaved based on animals that exist today. This was science I could be a part of because it was deductive. Dinosaurs with long necks must've eaten from the tops of trees! Nope, not all of them. In Lost World the protagonists notice that the tree tops are full of leaves, while the lower branches and surrounding brush has been stripped bare. So why the long necks? Crichton postulates that the dinosaurs have long necks in order to balance out their tails, which they need for protection. Without the balance provided by their necks, they couldn't swing their tails.
Another interesting tidbit gleaned from Lost World was the way science changes over time. When I was younger I thought facts were facts and that once something was discovered it was always going to be the same. In Jurassic Park we all learn that tyrannosaurus rex had poor eyesight and couldn't see it's prey unless it moved. Therefore, if a t-rex corners you, just stand still! In Lost World we discover that theories have changed and when one of the villains is cornered by a t-rex he freezes up...and is promptly eaten causing a nearby witness to proclaim that he was "misinformed". Guess science is more fluid than I thought. It make sense now, but when I first read the book it was a revelation to me.
What I took away from Sphere is much more complicated and I have no idea how to explain the higher implications of it to you. There is a part in Sphere wherein the characters are talking about time travel and space distortion and one of them brings up the theory of spacetime and explains it for the benefit of all of us, the stupid readers. Spacetime is what you get when you combine time and space into one diagram or equation. If you throw a ball from one person to the other in a straight line, it'll take a second to get from person A to person B. If you throw the ball in a high arc it'll take 5 seconds to get from person A to person B. The balls have the same spacetime. You can't get a ball to go in the straight line and take 5 second to make the trip, similarly you cannot make a ball that is thrown in an arc get to person B in 1 second. Spacetime is involved when discussing gravitational pull of objects in space. I'm not saying anything else, because I'd just be making it up. You now know what I know. Here's some more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime
So "Thank you, Michael Crichton" for entertaining the hell out of me and forcing me to learn in the process.
2 comments:
Interesting post. While I haven't read his books, I've obviously seen the movies and watched ER years ago. I agree that sometimes (most times?) the best way to teach people is to intertwine the information around a story.
While Michael Crichton's science might be a bit suspect at times and perhaps a bit misleading his books (and subsequently movies) inspired so many kids and young adults to take up science careers. There is a definitely a boom of paleontologists in my age range (20-30) all wanting to study dinosaurs because of Jurassic Park.
I don't remember the first MC book I read or where it was or anything like that. But I do remember waiting patiently for a new book to arrive every two years or so. 2 years ago I read NEXT and loved it. I had been anxiously waiting for this December's release, whatever it might have been. I can only hope that if his book was finished it will get published someday. But I pray that if it was not finished that no one else finishes it for him...
Michael Crichton's books are masterpieces in my eyes. I can only hope that someday the become Penguin Classics like Moby Dick and The Wonderful World of Oz.
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