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The latest work from Michael Crichton is a screed masquerading as a book. There may have been a story buried there at one point, but it's been hopelessly obscured by the very large chip on Mr. Crichton's shoulder.
A disclaimer: I'm somewhat sympathetic to his point of view. The science of global warming does have some rather glaring weaknesses to it. Having said that, I'd rather have had a story than just someone yelling very loudly how wrong the other side is.
Even if you are completely simpatico with Crichton's opinions on global warming, there are too many gaping holes in the plot to ever invest in the characters. This is very clearly a story built to service the dissemination of his point of view. I lost count of the number of incidents where a character takes the time to deliver a long and length diatribe about the evil conspiracy of criminologists. Just to add to the incredulity of it, he would usually take the time to monologue while in the midst of a life or death situation.
The saving grace to this book are the appendixes. Crichton lays out the evidence on which he built his thoughts as well as very clearly delineating his mindset. To be quite honest, I'd rather he have just done that rather than try to shoehorn his opinions into a storyline.
(as a side note, I'm way behind on writing about some of the books that I have read recently. So, there's going to be a deluge as I catch up...)
Posted by Casper at March 6, 2005 05:32 PM