Birth and Death:
Michael Crichton was born October 23, 1942, in Chicago, IL. He died November 4, 2008 of cancer.
Michael Crichton's Background:
Michael Crichton was raised in a family of six on Long Island. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1964. Crichton had originally majored in English, but became convinced that one of his professors had become prejudiced against him and was giving him abnormally low grades. He proved his theory by submitting an essay by George Orwell as one of his own. The professor awarded the paper a B-, and Crichton immediately switched from English to Anthropology.
After serving as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University in England, went back to Harvard Medical School, graduating with his M.D. in 1969.
Michael Crichton's Writing:
By 1969, Crichton had already written seven novels, several of them under the pseudonym of John Lange and one of them as Jeffery Hudson. Even early in his career he had chosen the techno-thriller as the primary genre in which he would work. Books such as Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain were often driven by the results of scientific experiments gone bad and the avoidance of the ensuing terrible consequences.
During the 1970s and '80s, in addition to writing books, Crichton was a writer and director for movies and television. He famously wrote the screenplay for Jurassic Park and was the creator of the television series, ER.
In the 1990s and into the 21st century, Crichton focused his attention on novel-writing, producing a novel every two years on the average. Books like Prey (2002) mirrored his early work thematically with man's technological advances landing us in big trouble.
State of Fear (2004) was a departure for Crichton in which he attempted to meld his political views with his literary work. The book featured numerous footnotes that spoke not only to voluminous research Crichton had done in debunking global warming, but also of his agenda in writing the novel. Ultimately, it was a disappointment to many of his readers.
Crichton's books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide, and many of them have been made into blockbuster movies. Michael Crichton died of cancer at the age of 66.
Recent Novels by Michael Crichton:
- Prey (2002)
- State of Fear (2004)
- Next (2006)
