“You may have seen the future,
But I have seen the past!” — Miriam Goldberg
Miriam Goldberg and I have been dear friends since 1990. We met due to our common interest in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks television series. Another item of mutual interest was Michael Crichton’s novel that was published the same year, Jurassic Park. Perhaps the plot was the precursor of her quote, as well as her essay, “A Fragile Species.”
November 4, 2010, was the second anniversary of the death of Michael Crichton, who would have been 68 had he survived lymphoma. At the time of his death he was working on two more novels. One, Pirate Latitudes, has been published posthumously and the other (a techno-thriller) is being completed by another writer and currently has no publication date.
Crichton and I first crossed trails in a small dark theater when my date and I saw The Andromeda Strain in 1971. I was a freshman in college then and studying diligently to maintain my student deferment. The thought of dying in a rice paddy in Southeast Asia was both a frightening nightmare and a motivator for doing well in school. The Terminal Man was published in 1972 and was the first of Crichton’s works that I read — and I was hooked. But life got in the way and it wasn’t until 1990 when I read Jurassic Park that the desire to read everything Crichton wrote drove my reading habits.
Crichton was born in Chicago on October 23, 1943 and grew up on Long Island in New York. He apparently inherited his interest in writing from his father who was a journalist. He studied literature at Harvard until a famous incident with a professor led to his decision to change majors. After earning a degree in anthropology (summa cum laude) and being a visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge (UK), he entered Harvard Medical School. He received his M.D. from Harvard in 1969 three years after his first published work.
Article comments
1 - Jon Sobel
I was always a great admirer of his imagination. I found it sad when he joined the global warming denialist fringe, but that doesn't take away from what he contributed to our popular culture.
2 - fcetier
"global warming denialist fringe" ?
If this story is accurate, it may not be a "fringe movement".
3 - Lynn Voedisch
Congressmen aren't scientists, Chip. It's a fringe movement in science, and that's what counts.. I also was sad to see that Crichton joined the deniers, because there's nothing to gain there. The evidence is obvious to anyone who lives in or near the arctic. We still need to clean up this planet.
Issues aside, good story!
4 - Kate
You had me at Twin Peaks on this story. Well done!
5 - fcetier
Crichton's website announces that the next book, "Micro" will be released on Nov. 22, 2011.