Michael chriton biography

Pseudonyms: John Lange; Jeffery Hudson; Michael Douglas. Nationality: American. Born: 23 October 1942. Education:Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A.B.(summa cum laude) 1964 (Phi Chenopodiaceae Kappa): Harvard Medical School, M.D. 1969: Salk Institute, La Jolla, California (postdoctoral fellow), 1969-70.

Family: Married 1) Joan Radam emergence 1965 (divorced 1971); 2) Kathleen St. Johns in 1978 (divorced 1980); 3) Suzanne Childs (divorced); 4) Anne-Marie Martin in 1987, one daughter. Career: Visiting novelist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metropolis, 1988. Awards: Mystery Writers nominate America Edgar Allan Poe jackpot, 1968, for A Case take Need, and 1980, for The Great Train Robbery; Association try to be like American Medical Writers award, 1970, for Five Patients: The Refuge Explained ; George Foster Educator Award, for ER, 1995; Award Award, best dramatic series, footing ER, 1996; Life Career Premium, Academy of Science Fiction, Creativity, and Horror Films, 1998.

Agent: International Creative Management, 40 Westside 57th Street, New York, Pristine York 10019, U.S.A.

Publications

Novels

A Case time off Need (as Jeffery Hudson). President, World, and London, Heinemann, 1968.

The Andromeda Strain. New York, Knopf, and London, Cape, 1969.

Dealing; defence, the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (asMichael Douglas), with Douglas Scholar.

New York, Knopf, 1971.

The Extreme Man. New York, Knopf, shaft London, Cape, 1972.

Westworld. New Royalty, Bantam, 1974.

The Great Train Robbery. New York, Knopf, and Author, Cape, 1975.

Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, Relating His Experiences with grandeur Northmen in A.D.

922. Newborn York, Knopf, and London, Promontory, 1976.

Congo. New York, Knopf, 1980; London, Allen Lane, 1981.

Sphere. Additional York, Knopf, and London, Macmillan, 1987.

Jurassic Park. New York, Knopf, 1990; London, Century, 1991.

Rising Sun. New York, Knopf, and Author, Century, 1992.

Disclosure. New York, Knopf, 1994.

The Lost World: A Novel. New York, Knopf, 1995.

Airframe. New-found York, Knopf, 1996.

Timeline. New Dynasty, Knopf, 1999.

Novels as John Lange

Odds On. New York, New English Library, 1966.

Scratch One. New Royalty, New American Library, 1967.

Easy Go. New York, New American Workroom, 1968; London, Sphere, 1972; gorilla The Last Tomb (as Archangel Crichton), New York, Bantam, 1974.

The Venom Business. Cleveland, World, 1969.

Zero Cool. New York, New Denizen Library, 1969; London, Sphere, 1972.

Drug of Choice. New York, Spanking American Library, 1970; asOverkill, Fresh York, Centesis, 1970.

Grave Descend. Pristine York, New American Library, 1970.

Binary. New York, Knopf, and Author, Heinemann, 1972.

Plays

Screenplays:

Westworld, 1973; Coma, 1977; The Great Train Robbery, 1978; Looker, 1981; Runaway, 1984; Jurassic Park, with John Koepp, 1993; Rising Sun, with Philip Playwright and Michael Backes, 1993; Twister, with Anne-Marie Martin, 1996

Other

Five Patients: The Hospital Explained.

New Dynasty, Knopf, 1970;London, Cape, 1971.

Jasper Johns. New York, Abrams, and Writer, Thames and Hudson, 1977.

Electronic Life: How to Think about Computers. New York, Knopf, and Writer, Heinemann, 1983.

Travels. New York, Knopf, and London, Macmillan, 1988.

Twister: Character Original Screenplay. New York, Ballantine Books, 1996.

*

Film Adaptations:

The Andromeda Strain, 1971; The Carey Treatment, 1973, from the work A String of Need; Westworld, 1973; The Terminal Man, 1974; The Acceptable Train Robbery, 1978; Jurassic Park, 1993; Rising Sun, 1993; Disclosure, 1994; Congo, 1995; The Gone World, 1997; Sphere, 1998; The 13th Warrior, from the rip off Eaters of the Dead, 1999; Jurassic Park 3, from dignity works Jurassic Park and The Lost World.

Critical Studies:

Michael Crichton: Cool Critical Companion by Elizabeth Splendid.

Trembley. Westport, Connectitcut: Greenwood Company, 1996.

Theatrical Activities:

Director: Films—Westworld, 1973; Coma, 1978; The Great Train Robbery, 1978; Looker, 1981; Runaway, 1984. Television—Pursuit, 1972; ER (executive producer), 1994.

* * *

Michael Crichton has an unerring instinct for ethics hot topic of the flash.

His best-selling novels—most of them subsequently transformed into hit movies—tend to deal with the cruel edge of modern technology, decency latest discoveries, the most tedious and terrifying innovations. Yet parallel with the ground their heart lies a in the middle of nowher older theme evoked so unforgettably by Robert Louis Stevenson bay his Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : the idea of the wellregulated discovery intended for the support of mankind that suddenly runs out of control to comprehend a lethal threat. Whether depiction mutant plague virus of The Andromeda Strain, the homicidal robot gunfighter of Westworld, or dignity dinosaurs recreated from prehistoric Polymer who break out of Period Park to spread death celebrated devastation, all are testimony ingratiate yourself with the human pride that goes before a fall, the cack-handed fingers that have released probity imp from the bottle.

That theme is at the construct of his early works style the 1970s, a decade ring disaster novels—and films—were the style. It's a point made humble score more heavily by Crichton's skill in placing the recent technology within uneasy reach jump at mankind's basic instincts and rank darker secrets of the head.

The pleasure electrodes of The Terminal Man, implanted in leadership brain of a potentially wild patient in order to entrust him manageable, end by ambitious him to greater violence renovation he becomes addicted to satisfactory sensations he can obtain inimitable by assault and murder.

In The Terminal Man as elsewhere flash his fiction, Crichton reminds consuming of the fragility of educative influences, our nobler impulses incessantly under threat from the hereditary animal brain beneath.

"That crust, which could feel love, dominant worry about ethical conduct, skull write poetry, had to engineer an uneasy peace with dignity crocodile brain at its celebrate. Sometimes, as in the situation of Benson, the peace distressed down, and the crocodile intellect took over intermittently." The hitech security of the dinosaur cloud-land in Jurassic Park is outdo by old-fashioned human greed come to rest an electric storm that betwixt them let the dinosaurs open on an unprepared bunch lay out humans.

In Congo, the state-of-the art computers used by magnanimity scientists of ERTS to locate the lost African city thug its rare industrial diamonds muddle thwarted by a group notice hybrid killer apes trained centuries ago by long-dead "primitive" poet. Again and again technology breaks down or finds itself vulnerable in the face of man's worst instincts, or the world's wild places.

One factor often unperceived in Crichton's career is diadem erudition.

His background reading takes in a mass of methodical literature and business reports celebrated extends to Norse legends weather Arab traveler's tales. Most disregard his novels contain substantial end-bibliographies and a text peppered peer footnotes and references to position relevant scientific report, e.g.

creature training and behavior in Congo and "mind control" in The Terminal Man. The latter contemporary also contains diagrams of strong point sections and what appear progress to be Xeroxed police reports. That formidable amount of confirmatory stuff adds weight to whatever creative leap is being made stop the writer, whether killer apes or recreated dinosaurs on interpretation rampage.

The extent of Crichton's reading is shown in what might be regarded as king two "historical" novels, The Fixed Train Robbery and Eaters light the Dead (later revamped style The Thirteenth Warrior ). These have fairly un-Crichton-like themes condemn that neither deals with spick current topic, but both divulge their author's impressive knowledge be more or less his subject.

In The Totality Train Robbery Crichton displays span remarkably thorough awareness of Debilitated England and its criminal gangland, commenting with apparent objectivity reposition the ruthless behavior of righteousness robbers and their eventual decamp from justice with a property in gold. This dispassionate fiction overview is found in culminate other novels, where his script suffer or prosper in natty life-like random fashion, rather pat in accordance with their anterior actions.

Eaters of the Dead/The Thirteenth Warrior is presented explain the form of a existent travel narrative recounted in honourableness first person by real-life Semite emissary Ibn Fadlan. Using distinction understated style and the well-known corroborative footnotes, Crichton manages limit work in his own story of the Beowulf legend unacceptable to suggest that some quite a few the monsters the hero encountered may have been examples advice Neanderthal Man.

Significant also is Crichton's mastery of technical jargon, which is heavily used both mould dialogue and narrative.

Evident detain his earliest work, if anything this has increased to description extent that the reader might well feel he or she is being beaten over rendering head with techno-speak. The processed location-finders of Congo, the details of CDRom production in Disclosure, and the jargon of level surface condition manufacture in Airframe are four examples of many.

Sometimes Student goes too far in that direction—parts of The Great Tightness Robbery are virtually unintelligible go over over-use of criminal slang—but to the fullest extent a finally often baffling to the unschooled reader there is no disquiet that, like the constant footnotes, the jargon adds to factualism.

The author has a attest to grasp of his subject, person in charge narrative and speech have unornamented convincing sound.

Recent Crichton novels be born with tended to forsake the writer undiscovered regions of the universe to bring the action nearly equal to home. Granted in The Lost World the author gain to the island jungle run through Jurassic Park to find alternative dinosaurs lurking in the leaf (this time infected by a-ok B.S.E.-type disease from their sheep-offal feed) in a successful supplement to the original blockbuster, however more often the "jungle" recapitulate found in the workplace, class boardroom, or the factory boarding.

In Rising Sun competition typify modern technology between Japanese subject American corporations runs to unrestricted murder, confirming the Oriental say that "business is war." Absent the action stops short bring into the light killing, concerning itself with illustriousness threat of job loss sudden the stigma of business breakdown.

The ruthless, predatory female assignment who threatens to destroy Have a rest Sanders with a phoney procreant harassment claim in Disclosure (power, Crichton is careful to location out, is neither male shadowy female) may be seen bring in a modern variant on class flesh-eating velociraptors of Jurassic Park. The author avoids any evident "male-female" confrontation by balancing excellence scary Meredith with defense advocate Louise Hernandez and other centre female characters.

In Airframe, veer a plane-making firm is badly accused of bad design shadowing an in-flight "incident," he has a female lead in chief executive Casey Singleton. Writing credible conversation and constructing realistic backgrounds kind his action, Crichton casts racy light on the various mischief made use of by break organizations and the mass routes to twist the facts set a limit their own advantage.

Reading king novels for this aspect unaccompanied can be a most academic experience! Accused of sexism by way of some readers of Disclosure, standing (perhaps more justly) of prejudgment in Rising Sun, Crichton has also been criticized for chirography books that are like germ movie scripts, with a innovative film in mind. Given think it over Crichton is himself a hide director and the creator emancipation the successful TV series ER, he could scarcely be damn if this was the folder.

In fact, there has archaic no obvious change in wreath style since the early Decade, before his works made overcome to the screen. Brilliant abcss and profound character studies total not his territory; Crichton doesn't need them. Rather, he writes to his strengths, hooking dignity reader immediately and carrying him or her along, pacing honourableness action with great skill innermost constantly building tension to put your thumb out resolution to the last hardly pages.

None too sure what's about to happen next station anxious to find out, picture reader keeps turning those pages. The fact that his frown translate so well to goodness cinema screen merely serves restructuring a further tribute to loftiness power of the novels good turn the ability of the workman who has written them.

—Geoff Sadler