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Here you will find what I will try to keep up as the most complete listing of works by and on Michael Crichton. If you are looking for news and thoughts on Michael Crichton don't forget to visit www.musingsonmichaelcrichton.com and the links therein!
Michael Crichton (1942 - 2008) Michael Crichton's death left many of us with a great void, one that never will be filled again. We were unprepared for his departure, because all his works were so full of life. He not only brought dinosaurs back to life, but was profoundly concerned with our life, human life. Many reviews have pointed out the great variety of topics and stories of his works. However, there is a common thread to all of them, if one looks colsely: a deep and well-founded worry about the shrinking space left for humaneness in a society that becomes more and more dependent on technology. Michael Crichton was eager to call our attention towards the need of bringing the human being back to the center of our civilisation. Be it in the form of robots on the rampage, medical abuses or an exaggerated paranoia about global warming, his warnings against forgetting that people should never be second to any other priority, let alone left out of the picture alotgether, will never lose relevance. On the contrary, his reminder will unfortunately be ever more necessary as we go along the path of filling our lives with technology. Let this website be one of the many signposts that keep alive his directions for building a more humane world. Watch also this report that was broadcast on the local TV station Teidevisión-Canal 6 of the island Tenerife (Spain). Thanks to this station and Manuel Díaz, the show's director and presenter for allowing its upload to the web.
Some (more) Words of Thanks
Before we go on, let me give publicly special thanks to Francisco "Fran" Campos, a friend who has helped decisively to make this collection as complete as it is. I also want to thank Kahlessa, for drawing my attention to many works by Michael Crichton without which I could not claim to own his "complete works". Please visit her message board, Kahlessa's Corner - there you will find the most interesting information, comments and links about Michael Crichton you could wish for.
About the Background Image The background picture of this site is part of a frame of Michael Crichton’s movie Coma, chosen because of its symbolism as a summary of the most relevant features (in my view) of his thinking reflected in his stories: medical background, advanced technology taking over ever more aspects of our lives and a profound worry about humankind’s relationship with this technology. Regardless of the theme of the novel or film, there is always a reflection about the consequences of going too far in the use of a particular technology, often even touching ethical aspects of a far deeper scope than his fame as an author of best-sellers or blockbusters sometimes leads to expect.
Michael Crichton and Dinosaurs It has often been mentioned that there is a dinosaur named after Michael Crichton. Well, in fact there are already two! The reason is that it was not a particular species what got his name, but the whole genre of Crichtonsauria. This genre was discovered when its first specimen was unearthed in 2002: the Crichtonsaurus Bohlini. But more recently, in 2007 another species within this genre was found and called Chrichtonsaurus Benxiensis.
Crichtonsaurus Bohlini. Photo courtesy of TimSpfd. See more pictures of the Crichtonsaurus and other dinosaurs at his flickr collection.
I hope you’ll enjoy this site. Do not hesitate to contact me with additional information, suggestions or comments.
Design and webmaster: Cristina Hansen Last
update: September 2010 |
