My initial reaction to State of Fear was pretty good. Probably because I was really glad to be reading a “story” and not a textbook for a class. I haven’t gotten to do that since I was in high school. As I continued to read I became a little off put with the way environmentalists were being portrayed. I don’t consider myself an environmentalist but I still know that they are not out to harm us like Chrichton depicts. I understand that it’s a story but he is still clearly trying to base it on truth (with the real footnotes, etc.)… I have a very hard time believing that any environmentalist group would try to conjure up natural disasters in order to make the public believe in global warming. It’s just far too silly.
In the front matter Crichton says “The United States, the largest economy in the world, was also the largest emitter of carbon dioxide and therefore the largest contributor to global warming”. I really hate this passage. I think that it has something to do with the way he writes it so matter of factly. I imagine him saying it in a really cocky voice. He also drastically over simplifies things. I also hate it because it’s simply not true. China is the world’s largest contributor of CO2 emissions. But I guess that I better get used to made up facts if I’m going to get through the next 400 pages. The language he uses in this book is also very simplified. Like you said Ben, it’s seems like it’s written at a 4th grade level. I’m not complaining because this makes for a quick read… but… come on! I expected a little more out of the infamous Michael Crichton.
“The nasty little apes that call themselves human beings can do nothing except run and hide. For these same apes to imagine they can stabilize this atmosphere is arrogant....” This is a very interesting passage to me. The romantic in me likes the idea that we have no control over our atmosphere and that it is what it is … Even though I know that this isn’t true. It actually makes me think about myself. I also just like hearing humans being referred to as “nasty little apes”. I always get a great deal of satisfaction when Robin refers to us as little pinkish brown monkeys. Sorry, off topic.
My final reaction to the book actually has nothing to do with the story. Anyway, It could easily be 300 pages shorter if he just decreased the font size to that of a normal novel. It just bugs me.
I, too,kind of like the idea that we don't have any control over the atmosphere. Sometimes I wish that I could convince myself of that or at least convince myself that there's no way that the decisions made by one person (me) can make any sort of difference. It doesn't work though-I don't actually believe that and I generally adopt a "do it for the herd" mentality.
ReplyDeleteI'm also with you on the font size. And what's with the dimensions of this book? Could they not have made the pages a little bigger so it isn't so awkwardly thick? Annoying.
I agree with you, Crichton does jump to some strange conclusions. How does a large economy equal large pollution rates? True, pollution is worse in China. I'm guessing it doesn't have so much to do with economy size as it does with how crowded a country is.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I found funniest about the book is that it would be knee-deep in a fictional story, then throw a bunch of real references at the reader. Like that printout of studies against global warming.
But what Crichton should really talk about are the studies for global warming, perhaps compare it to the studies he has now. It would be a lot more fair of him to make a 2-sided argument instead of seeking out the rare study that goes against global warming.
I agree the whole story is a little out there. I think the fact that the book is fiction is a really good way excuse for him to be able to exaggerate and overstate things to make his point without being criticized. Ok so he is criticized anyway but he is able to say those were the "fiction" parts and therefore he didn't have to be accurate or even reasonable. I don't know if that made sense but it came to mind when i read your post. thanks for sharing
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