State of Fear

Jan 02, 2008 Mark Sawkar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The threat of global warming is essentially nonexistent. Even if it were a real phenomenon, it would probably result in a net benefit to most of the world." -p407

I just finished reading "State of Fear," Michael Crichton's (creator of ER and author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and many others) latest novel. We discussed this a few months ago but I must say this book really is a delicious slap in the face for ill-informed environmentalists. If you have environmentalist leanings, or think that glo...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Fahad rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

اشتريت هذا الكتاب منذ يومين.

لا أميل عادة إلى هذا النوع من الكتب، رغم أنها من أظهر أنواع الأدب الحديث، أي الأدب الذي صنع خصيصا ً لإمتاع القارئ، ولأنه كذلك فهذا الأدب يتميز بميزة مهمة، وهي أنه أدب سهل، سريع، يمكن أن يقرأ في أي مكان، وأي زمان، أي قارئ متعمق سيبتعد عن هذا النوع، فنحن نكره المباشرة، نكره السطحية والسرعة، نريد أدبا ً معقدا ً، ليس لأننا نعشق التعقيد، ولكن لأن الحياة معقدة، كل شيء يبدو بسيطا ً، هو نتاج ظروف وعوامل متداخلة، متشابكة تتوه فيها أعظم العقول، فلذا نحن نعشق الأدب الذي يأخذنا إ...more اشتريت هذا الكتاب منذ يومين.

لا أميل عادة إلى هذا النوع من الكتب، رغم أنها من أظهر أنواع الأدب الحديث، أي الأدب الذي صنع خصيصا ً لإمتاع القارئ، ولأنه كذلك فهذا الأدب يتميز بميزة مهمة، وهي أنه أدب سهل، سريع، يمكن أن يقرأ في أي مكان، وأي زمان، أي قارئ متعمق سيبتعد عن هذا النوع، فنحن نكره المباشرة، نكره السطحية والسرعة، نريد أدبا ً معقدا ً، ليس لأننا نعشق التعقيد، ولكن لأن الحياة معقدة، كل شيء يبدو بسيطا ً، هو نتاج ظروف وعوامل متداخلة، متشابكة تتوه فيها أعظم العقول، فلذا نحن نعشق الأدب الذي يأخذنا إلى تلكم المناطق المتداخلة.

ولكننا نعرف جيدا ً، أن أدبا ً كهذا يحتاج إلى بال صافٍ، وإلى وقت، فلذا عندما نفقد الوقت، ونكون من النوع الذي لا يتوقف عن القراءة، من النوع الذي جعل القراءة جزءً كبيراً من حياته، بحيث أن مرور يومين من دون كتاب يعادل كارثة شخصية، عندها تأتي أهمية هذا النوع من الكتب، أنت تعرف أنها سهلة، أنها لن ترهقك، فلذا تشتريها، تضعها بجانب فراشك، وعندما تعود ليلا ً، مرهقا ً، قضمت منك الهموم أشياءً، وجمد البرد فيك أشياءً أخرى، عندها تريد ذلك الدفء الذي يرفق بأعضائك، تريد تلك الحروف السهلة التي تأخذك إلى وادي النوم، تتداخل الحروف بسرعة، وتسقط نائماً، وعندما تنهض في الصباح، لا تشعر بأي ندم، الكتاب ليس مهماً جداً بحيث تخشى أنه سيفقد قيمته مع كل هذه القراءة المتقطعة المتداخلة، كما أنه يعدك بأن يكون مشوقاً، فلذا ربما يفلح في تصفية بالك.

مشكلة هذه الكتب أنها غير محظوظة، فصفاء البال والفراغ يأتيان سريعاً، فلذا تجد هذه الكتب نفسها نصف مقروءة عادة، وتخلي مكانها لكتب أكثر أهمية.

------------- وبعد الانتهاء من قراءة الكتاب ---------------------

حالة رعب

كنت قد كتبت عندما حصلت على هذا الكتاب، أنني سأقرؤه بنصف بال، لأنني لا أمتلك وقتا ً ولا ذهنا ً صافيا ً، ولكن الأخوة مشكورين نصحوني بقراءة معمقة لأن الكتاب مختلف.

والآن وأنا اختتم الكتاب، أجد بالفعل أنه لا يناسب المشغولين، فحجمه الكبير وموضوعه يحتاجان إلى صفاء أكثر، ولكنني أختلف مع الأخوة حول أهميته، أو حول اعتباره مرجعا ً، الكتاب يلعب أحد أدوار الرواية بامتياز، وهو دور إثارة الاهتمام حول موضوع معين، بحيث نندفع لقراءات جادة حول الموضوع، ولكنه للأسف يخفق في الجانب الآخر، ألا وهو إثارة الاهتمام بالقصة نفسها، فيما يلجأ المؤلف لإظهار الصراع العلمي والسياسي حول موضوع البيئة بشكل عام، والاحتباس الحراري بشكل أخص إلى الحوارات التي يجريها بين أبطالها، حيث يضمنها وجهات النظر المختلفة، ويناقش الأفكار والأطروحات من خلالها.

الكتاب بشكل عام جيد، ولكن كان يمكنه أن يكون أجود، والأهم هو أنه يثير القارئ للبحث في قضايا، ربما لم يكن يعلم أنها مثار الجدل علميا ً، حيث حولتها الدعاية الكبيرة والقوية إلى قضايا شبه محسومة ومتفق عليها.

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Nov 14, 2007 Robert McDonald rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: nobody

I never expected to read this book. But my mom left a copy of Michael Crichton’s book State of Fear at my house, and I found myself reading it. The book is an odd mix of fiction and pseudo-scientific argument.
As a fiction piece, it’s actually okay. For reasons that are irrelevant to the plot, evil villains are trying to shear a big iceberg off into the ocean, create a flash flood in a canyon, and make a tidal wave hit LA. The good guys are of course trying to stop them, and manage to stop them...more I never expected to read this book. But my mom left a copy of Michael Crichton’s book State of Fear at my house, and I found myself reading it. The book is an odd mix of fiction and pseudo-scientific argument.
As a fiction piece, it’s actually okay. For reasons that are irrelevant to the plot, evil villains are trying to shear a big iceberg off into the ocean, create a flash flood in a canyon, and make a tidal wave hit LA. The good guys are of course trying to stop them, and manage to stop them just in time. Crichton’s a good writer, and this book is fun to read. For a Crichton book, though, it is one of his worst, and nowhere near as entertaining as Andromeda Strain. Mostly this is because his rhetorical goal for the novel continually gets in the way of the plot.
The central argument of the book seems to be: “It’s not clear global warming is caused by people, and even if it is it’s not clear how bad it’ll be, therefore we should do nothing.” The evil villain of the book is a cabal of environmental groups determined to scare the populace to maintain funding for the military-industrial complex in the post- Cold War world. Global warming is thus fundamentally a hoax perpetrated by tens of thousands of people, in Crichton’s view. Even better, they all manage to keep the hoax secret. Apart from errors of fact, of which there are several, the book also makes several serious errors in its reasoning.
First is the widespread use of anecdotal reasoning. For instance (and yes, I see the irony here), Crichton makes a big deal about how the warmest year on record in the US was 1934. Whether of not this is true depends on how you calculate average temperature, but it doesn’t really matter- 1934 was really warm. But, fifteen out of the 25 warmest yeats since records started being kept in 1895 have occurred after 1981. Globally, the trend toward warmness is even stronger. Particular anecdotes are irrelevant; in a large enough body of data or a large enough collection of papers you can find a factoid to support almost anything.
Second is the intentional misrepresentation of scientific uncertainty by Crichton. For example, he talks about how global circulation models are uncertain about how increases in temperature will affect cloud cover and hence albedo. This is true, there is uncertainty on this point, but it doesn’t necessarily follow logically that everything about the model is wrong. When I estimate that a townhouse in Cambridge costs $350,000 to $500,000, I have some uncertainty in my estimate, but that does not imply the true value if zero. When the IPCC says the net radiative forcing of human activities on climate is +0.6 to +2.4 W/m2, there is some uncertainty in that estimate, but that does not imply the true value is zero.
Finally, Crichton has misunderstood how science works. The process of peer review is a blind review of the facts cited in a paper, exactly the opposite of how Crichton portrays it. There is intense competition in science, with multiple groups analyzing the same data, exactly what Crichton calls for. Sadly, Crichton’s book of fiction was not peer reviewed, nor did he face any competition from competing scientific interpretations of the literature about global warming, which allowed this travesty of a rant to be published.
-The Cosmopolitian Ecologist (less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you've read many of my reviews you know it's not unusual for me to open a review with something like "This is an interesting book" or simply "Interesting".

That applies here also.

I looked through some of the other reviews of this book and I find that in many if not most cases the "number of stars in the rating" depends heavily on whether you agree with the stance of the main character (or one of the main characters, Kenner is the spokesman in most of the narratives but the protagonist is Evan...more If you've read many of my reviews you know it's not unusual for me to open a review with something like "This is an interesting book" or simply "Interesting".

That applies here also.

I looked through some of the other reviews of this book and I find that in many if not most cases the "number of stars in the rating" depends heavily on whether you agree with the stance of the main character (or one of the main characters, Kenner is the spokesman in most of the narratives but the protagonist is Evans).

Anyway...where was I? Oh, Yah. The book's story telling isn't bad and while I've read better by Crichton, I've also read worse. I did get involved with the plot, liked the characters (fairly well, though Peter did gripe me a bit for a while. The thing is he was supposed to so I really can't complain).

I found the objections raised by several other reviewers to be unfounded, the book is pretty good...and since I largely agree with it, I gave it a bump from 3.5 to 4 stars.

The book itself deals with the global warming controversy. The main character is a lawyer (sorry attorney) working for a large environmental organization. During the course of the book buried (or scattered) amidst the book's plot are dialogs and discussions about said controversy. AND YES the book's point is that much that is assumed about global warming is just that, assumed. While it is the case that if an author wants to make a point and he's writing both sides of a conversation the cards are a bit stacked in his favor, here Crichton does a fairly credible job of offering objections. (though from the other reviews I've read some disagree with me.) I've run on many of the things said here and I've experience situations like the ones pictured in the book. It would have been easy for Crichton to have indulged in Straw Man arguing mostly he avoids this.

The picture of these debates (and the people who try to prove the unprovable and when they can't mostly refuse to acknowledge reality is real. I know some of them) sets the backdrop for a story of environmental terrorists who set out to engineer environmental disasters. From this they will establish credibility...and get money from donors.

In retrospect I can see why reviewers in sympathy with said position might not care for the book.

So, be aware and if you're basically a global warming zealot maybe you give this one a pass. If on the other hand you think the evidence for human caused global warming may have been somewhat overstated (like Nobel Prize winner Dr. Ivar Giaever who "quit" the America Physics Society over their stance that the evidence was "incontrovertible" with which he "strongly" disagreed) or if you consider yourself to still be undecided, maybe you try the book.

Hey the story's pretty good. The arguments aren't bad (though I see some who disagree with me there...wonder why?) In other words, not a bad read and at times pretty good. There's a nice unusual murder weapon and some satisfying action to go with the debates. Enjoy...if it's your cup of tea. (less)

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Sep 20, 2007 Nathan rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who model their life on Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park.

Shelves: books-i-hope-die, fiction

State of Fear is centered around a plot by eco-terrorists to bring world attention to global warming by, you guessed it, blowing up half the world. Yes, the nonsensical plot that makes up the spine of this book leaves the rest of this skeletal narrative in the hands of a man we've rarely seen: Michael Crichton, political philosopher. First of all, the book, released in 2004, asks you to believe that there is a "state of fear" being pushed on the public in order to "scare" them into belief of Glo...more State of Fear is centered around a plot by eco-terrorists to bring world attention to global warming by, you guessed it, blowing up half the world. Yes, the nonsensical plot that makes up the spine of this book leaves the rest of this skeletal narrative in the hands of a man we've rarely seen: Michael Crichton, political philosopher. First of all, the book, released in 2004, asks you to believe that there is a "state of fear" being pushed on the public in order to "scare" them into belief of Global Warming so as to wreck the US economy and maintain elitist academia's stranglehold on the world. I.F.O.N.L.Y. The premise, that politicians, journalists and celebrities use fear tactics to control the population is as old as time itself. It is a practice that has been used in the history of every society on the face of the planet at some point, throughout human history. That Crichton presents this as a supposedly revolutionary idea is just the start of this novel's problems. What's more striking is that despite coming out in 2004, in an age where (until 2006) Republicans won election after election based on fear tactics (whether it's Fear of Gay Marriage or Fear of Terrorism), no mention is made anywhere in the novel of the modern state of fear we are all really, genuinely, disturbingly living in. It is telling that Crichton has good friends in the oil industry, won an award for "journalism" for this book from oil producers in the US (the first award of its type, created specifically for him), and that Crichton was one of a handful of people who got a private audience with George W. Bush to "advise" him on Global Warming. There's an old saying that people often accuse others of what they're most likely to do themselves. One has to wonder how much of Crichton's "state of fear" is really the result of his own work. (Beware those powerful, evil climatologists and academics!) I'd love to live in a country where the only real "fear" was a "fear" of liberal pacifists who were worried about the weather, rather than a country where I'm told daily to fear everything about the world, and told to fear my own gut instincts, and told that questioning my government was a form of aiding terrorism. If that's not a controlling state of fear, I don't know what is. That "state of fear" is mentioned nowhere in Crichton's love letter to his friends in the oil Industry and the White House. Crichton's State of Fear, instead, follows bumbling environmentalist Peter Evans, a basically good-hearted but naive, brainwashed liberal. Over the course of the story, he receives his "education" on the evils of the climate change lobby by John Kenner. Kenner is a rogue agent of some mysterious government detective agency, because it could only be, obviously, a shadowy CIA-like agency that would have the courage to stand up to the vicious tree huggers. The character of Kenner is about as filled out as a picture tube, and it is clear from the beginning that Kenner is actually Michael Crichton himself, or rather, a mouthpiece for Crichton's views. Nowhere in the novel is the action as heavy as the dialog, and Kenner takes up most of the space with his self-indulgent rants. Consequently half the novel reads more like a transcript of an O'Reilly Factor episode than a fiction novel. The characters are flat, lifeless and dull, and nothing in this book is as intelligent, quirky or interesting as the plot devices and concepts Crichton has come up with in his other works. Disappointing as a fan of his imaginative fiction, disappointing as someone smart enough to pick up on being lectured to (an even cursory examination of his "sources" reveals how dodgy they are, hence he clearly didn't intend the novel to be of interest to anyone with one year of college under their belt), and disappointing to anyone who thinks the agenda of a work of literature should be better hidden behind solid writing (though arguably that last group would include those evil academics).

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Mar 20, 2007 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Global warming advocates and opponents

Michael Crichton continues to impress with both his story telling and with his researching capabilities. State of Fear, on its surface, is a novel about the global warming debate. But the issues it touches upon go deeper than just whether or not global warming is a phenomenon we should be concerned about.

A particularly cogent theme of the book is the role of politics in shaping scientific research. In particular, Crichton delves into how global warming research is shaped by political agendas (bo...more

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Aug 15, 2008 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Exciting book! I've read it 3 times now. After reading State of Fear you'll think everyone who believes in global warming is an idiot. Definitely read the author's message at the end, it's really interesting.

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Jun 04, 2008 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: folks who a)think before speaking and b)dispute global warming and want someone to agree with them.

Shelves: fiction, mystery-thriller, political

I was nervous about starting this book because I more or less knew the plot and the ending because of a few conversations with folks who read it when it first came out a couple of years ago. Despite my reservations, I dove in and found the book to be very enjoyable, with a few minor caveats.

Michael Crichton is well known for his views regarding environmental action groups and the policies they advocate, and this book more or less sets forth these opinions in an accessible and entertaining nove...more I was nervous about starting this book because I more or less knew the plot and the ending because of a few conversations with folks who read it when it first came out a couple of years ago. Despite my reservations, I dove in and found the book to be very enjoyable, with a few minor caveats.

Michael Crichton is well known for his views regarding environmental action groups and the policies they advocate, and this book more or less sets forth these opinions in an accessible and entertaining novel. Crichton heavily employs journal references and hard data to support the factual aspects of the plot, which does appear to lend some credibility to his claims regarding global warming and stands in contrast to much of the other popular reading I've seen on the same subject.

That said, a quick look at the entry on Wikipedia for this book shows that much of the science and data Crichton uses--as well as the way he uses it--has caused a fair amount of criticism from the scientific community. While such criticism serves as a reminder that the book is in fact a work of fiction and not a scholarly text, I couldn't help but notice a funny similarity between this book (and criticism of it) and my personal favorite, Atlas Shrugged. While the latter is, in my opinion, a timeless landmark of a book and the former is just a thought-provoking and fun read, critics of the two books seem to fall right into harmony with the antagonists portrayed in the plots.

To clarify, when I talk with someone who is a critic of Atlas Shrugged, the arguments they make remind me a great deal of things James Taggart says to his sister Dagny throughout Atlas Shrugged. Similarly, when I read what critics of State of Fear said about the book, the statements were often exactly what the critics of the protagonists in the plot were saying. In other words, such authors seem to know their critics very well. This is an interesting form of persuasive writing, because it attempts to discredit critics by preemptively discrediting them through a fictional counterpart.

As for the story itself, I found it really entertaining and engaging. The book (at least the version I read) is over 600 pages, and I read it in about 3 days. Very fast-faced (meaning the plot unrolls over the course of a week or two) and James Bond-ish, in that it involves multiple locations around the globe, high technology, beautiful women, and plots to destroy the world (sort of). Because I'm a lover of anything related to James Bond, this was a very pleasant aspect of the book.

Caveats?

First, the book has horrific language. Not as bad as, say, The Bourne Ultimatum or that ilk, but bad enough to make me bust out a pen half-way through to blacken out the curses in the event that my wife decides she wants to read it.

Second, all of the characters opposing the theory of global warming were portrayed as intelligent and ethical. This is not realistic, and this attribute of the novel bugged me from start to finish, even if I am sympathetic to their views.

Lastly, and relatedly, there was not a single character in the book that was simultaneously a) in favor of the theory of global warming, b) intelligent, c) educated (not the same as intelligent!), and d) ethical. This was, to me, the single biggest flaw in both the story line and in Crichton's case against the theory of global warming. It appears that he is suggesting between the lines that such individuals do not exist, since anyone who sincerely thinks and uses science and reason will come to the exact same opinions as the protagonists, which I dispute firmly. (less)

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Apr 23, 2008 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

This is propaganda written by an ultra-rich person. Utterly despicable. I just thought Crichton was mediocre until I read this. Now I think he's insidious. There're 2 basic thrusts: Global Warming is a myth & ecology activists are phenomenally stupid. I don't actually have much of an opinion about global warming one way or the other so I don't hate this novel so much b/c it's a threat to mass consciousness there. I hate it b/c it's so repulsively propagandistic (w/o any self-acknowledgement...more

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Aug 01, 2007 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who do or don't believe in statistics

This book was intriguing to me. It is not what I would consider my normal genre, but the student I tutored last year did a report on Michael Crichton and this book was in a lot of the research we did. I had no idea Michael Chrichton was so multi-talented.
Anyway, my husband had listened to this book on CD while driving, and really enjoyed it, so I picked it off the shelf. Once I started reading, I had trouble stopping for food, drink, bathroom breaks, or even sleep. (This is the reason I can onl...more

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Apr 03, 2007 Jack rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who have read Crichton and enjoy him.

Shelves: modernfiction, nytbestseller

OK, so, controversy concerning global warming aside, this is a pretty solid effort from Crichton. Particularly more engrossing than Timeline although probably not as believable as Prey. His readers seem to understand and expect that he will take rather liberal license with stretching the realm of scientific possibility in his stories, but the point is his skeptic characters' sure seem to believe it and that's good enough for me. The point is, storywise, I think this is pretty solid.

I'm not sure...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Evan rated it 1 of 5 stars

As a thriller, this books fails to achieve Cricthon's usual intensity. The plot is an obvious vehicle for the rhetoric, and full of predictable thriller-writer strategies. The premise--climate scientists with guns--never ceases to feel absurd. The characterizations are flatter than usual, and vicious where he means them to be merely satirical. There is cranky old man venom in the writing. In short, this book is a piece of propaganda and would never have been published were it not for Crichton's...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Elliott Hughes rated it 3 of 5 stars

For those who haven't had the time nor the inclination to dig into the debate over anthropomorphic global warming, State of Fear is a great intro. Crichton's unique hybrid of fiction thriller and scientific apologetics for those who express doubts over the human origins of our planet's warming climate is gripping; it's also i petit legal drama for those who like that angle.

I now smile whenever I hear a broadcaster on NPR refer assumingly to the man-made phenomenon of global warming. And if you w...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Kiersten rated it 1 of 5 stars

If you want to write an essay on your opinion of global warming, Mikey, do so. Don't disguise it as a novel when you've only got 10 pages of plot.

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Nov 18, 2010 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-books, thrillers-and-mystery

Michael Crichton's State of Fear is a book that you will either love or hate, depending on your personal feelings about global warming, celebrity endorsements of everything from political candidates to government programs, government intervention in and control of our personal lives and choices as well as the politically motivated demonizing of certain industries.

Michael Crichton builds his stories plotline around the theory that global warming is a non-existent "problem" being foisted on the...more

Michael Crichton's State of Fear is a book that you will either love or hate, depending on your personal feelings about global warming, celebrity endorsements of everything from political candidates to government programs, government intervention in and control of our personal lives and choices as well as the politically motivated demonizing of certain industries.

Michael Crichton builds his stories plotline around the theory that global warming is a non-existent "problem" being foisted on the world by a bunch of environmentalists who are in truth creating an artificial crisis for people to focus on while they advance their personal political agendas and in the process will create a destructive "butterfly effect". (Lending a certain credibility to Crichton's book one might cite the current eco-crisis that is literally destroying the agricultural industry in California's central valley due to the withholding of crop water instigated by a group of "environmentalists" who want to save a fish from extinction....but don't seem to have a problem creating a situation that has lead to the extinction of thousands of jobs as well as "drying up" a viable and valuable U. S. food production area.)

The villains in State of Fear are members of a fictional organization known as ELF (Environmental Liberation Front) who have orchestrated a series of "natural disasters" to lend credibility to their global warming claims and have timed their eco-terrorism attacks to coincide with a conference on global warming. They are being tracked by four individuals an environmentalist lawyer named Peter Evans, international law enforcement agents Sanjong Thapa and John Kenner, and Sarah Jones assistant to a now deceased financial mogul named Morton all of whom are working together to thwart ELFs' plan. This fearsome foursome, Evans and Sarah in particular, survive so many life threatening encounters throughout the novel that they must possess feline genes.

As in all fairy tales, as opposed to real life, the good guys triumph, the bad guys get their comeuppance and mankind is saved from yet another catastrophe.
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Nov 15, 2009 Justin Mitchell rated it 1 of 5 stars

Alright, alright to explain: I only read this book because I heard that Chrichton used it as a platform for a reactionary argument against global warming. So I was curious. And after reading it, I was pretty amused. I was reminded a lot of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. In similar fashion, Chrichton advances a very twisted view of reality, bascially trying to present anyone who disagrees with him as having some sort of mental or emotional problem. Also like Rand, the book is full of immature, mea...more

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Feb 27, 2009 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

State of Fear by Michael Crichton
Beginning with the mysterious death of a wave analyst in France, this book has its moments of action all around the world; though, the main setting is Los Angeles, California in 2004. It also takes place in Antarctica, the Solomon Islands, Iceland, and several other places throughout the world, all the while chasing after the relentlessly evil plot of the eco-terrorist group ELF.
The reason I really enjoyed this book was how you were just dropped in the middle o...more State of Fear by Michael Crichton
Beginning with the mysterious death of a wave analyst in France, this book has its moments of action all around the world; though, the main setting is Los Angeles, California in 2004. It also takes place in Antarctica, the Solomon Islands, Iceland, and several other places throughout the world, all the while chasing after the relentlessly evil plot of the eco-terrorist group ELF.
The reason I really enjoyed this book was how you were just dropped in the middle of all the action, then you have to read on in the book to figure out what had just happened. But, this is the kind of book that keeps you guessing most of the time, but still gives you a few hints here and there.
The main plot begins when George Morton, a millionaire philanthropist, and Peter Evans, a junior associate from the law firm of Hassle and Black, arrive in Iceland. Nickolas Drake CEO of NERF (National Environmental Resource Fund) has come to persuade a local glacial geologist to fudge, if not lie outright, on a paper soon to be published.
George starts behaving oddly, to both Sarah (his assistant) and Evans; he goes out on seemingly random trips around the globe, alone. Until one night at the banquet in honor of George, he gets drunk and drives off. Evans and Sarah jump in Georges limousine and take off after him, they round a curve to find a crashed model 1972 365 GTS Daytona Spyder, the same make of Ferrari George was driving.
The story contains a diverse variety of characters; take, for instance, Nick Drake. He is always very melodramatic about anything and everything when it comes to the environment. That is a great contrast to John Kenner; he is part of the government the NSIA, or the National Security Intelligence Agency, “A part of the government that stays under the radar”, or so Kenner says.
I think the characters in the book are very believable, they have character flaws that most people have. This way I can see them as actual people instead of just characters in a book. They’re not the kind of characters that are too good or nice to be true, like little miss Polly Perfect.
I really liked the facts that were in the book, it has the most footnotes of any fiction book I’ve ever read. The references can be tracked down easily and further reading about one subject or another can be easily found.
This book has many strengths but in turn it has some pretty big weaknesses. One of these is the characters, they are so down to earth and seem like you could really get to know them. One such character like this is Peter Evans. He is a young man that has a lot of problems, just like any other person you would meet today. He has an absence of a relationship in his life that he can’t seem to over come, and is ignorant when it comes to the climate and the issue of global warming. According to John Kenner, Peter “is just too misinformed about the issue of global warming”. He doesn’t know much about it and what he has heard is from stand point of, more or less, eco-nazis. One character that goes against this is Nick Drake, he is an ex-litigator that turned into an eco-nut after he retired. He twists and contorts the information given from scientists to make it fit his purposes. Nick is just one of the not-so-original bad guys trying to “help make the world a better place”.
One, if not the only, weakness in this work are its excessive dry spells in the midst of action. One instance is when Evans is forced to keep professor Hoffman company. Hoffman goes on about all that is bad in the world, about how fear is controlling everyone, and while some of it was interesting most of it was very dry. That happened in a few places, but it did help explain a few things so it may have been a good thing, it was just very dry.
The theme of this book, I believe is that, things are not always what you are led to believe. Take the topics of global warming and climate change, they are found prevalently in the media and are almost screamed by some scientists. But, this book raises quite a few good points and provides a good view from the other side of the mirror. It’s not a book for people that think the world is going to end due to global warming for the simple reason that they will only gawk at it and deny all of the references and footnotes.
In closing I would I would like to say that I loved the book, it was a good eye opener that there are more than enough data disproving global warming. It was just refreshing to see where other people stand on that issue in a way that hasn’t been ran into the ground thousands of times.

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Eco-Fiction
Page count: 567
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Mar 11, 2009 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, fiction

"So what [we:] need is to structure the information so that whatever kind of weather occurs, it always confirms your message. That's the virtue of shifting the focus to abrupt climate change. It enables [us:] to use everything that happens. There will always be floods, and freezing storms, and cyclones, and hurricanes. These events will always get airtime. And in every instance, [we:] can claim it is an example of global warming. So the message gets reinforced. The urgency is increased."

This fro...more

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May 18, 2008 George rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: burn

I disliked this book intensely. Right from the beginning it was critical of enviornmental subjects such as global warming. I was involved with through such studies in the 1990s and into the new century, and many of his opinions were ill-founded: although I recognized that the problems he spoke of exist, they are hardly dominant in any of the enviromental fields.He claimed to be a defender of the scientific method regarding an approach to the crises apparent in the world, yet there were obvious g...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Debbie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm sad to say I didn't care for the writing in this book. It came across as a soapbox. The reason I'm sad to say that is because I, as a geologist, agree with Crichton that the evidence supporting humans as the driving factor in global warming isn't sufficiently supported by the available science. However, the book confuses the issue by rolling in debate about wether or not global warming (for whatever reason) is even happening, a distinction I've found many people don't understand. I doubt you...more

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Mar 23, 2008 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who likes a great story

Shelves: science, fiction, charity-2009

Do you enjoy seeing pompous, self-righteous jerks get their rightful comeuppance? Then you will like this book. Dr Crichton delivers his usual competent tour through a scientific realm, mixing a decent amount of action and suspense with actual facts. Global warming zealots are the target here and he hits the bull’s eye, judging from the reaction about this book. The book reads exceptionally fast for all the science and background explanation necessary. For the average person with a little common...more Do you enjoy seeing pompous, self-righteous jerks get their rightful comeuppance? Then you will like this book. Dr Crichton delivers his usual competent tour through a scientific realm, mixing a decent amount of action and suspense with actual facts. Global warming zealots are the target here and he hits the bull’s eye, judging from the reaction about this book. The book reads exceptionally fast for all the science and background explanation necessary. For the average person with a little common sense, this story is a great read that will leave you shaking your head as you ponder the far-left fanatics of the environmental movement.

The story revolves around a lawyer and his rich client who donates money and dabbles in the environment advocacy arena. On the other side is the Earth Liberation Force and associated fellow travelers, like the front group “NERF” who seek to control the political agenda. The problem is the science is not working out for the global warmers. So the more radical elements decide to kind of push Mother Nature along with a few “natural” disasters, aided by technology. Some of the selected disasters are more believable than others. They are all timed to reinforce the outcome of a conference on global warming and a “call to action”.

Things pick up at the beginning as a shadowy MIT professor and a friend come into the picture to warn the rich guy off because his money is going to support terrorist activity. The rest of the book is essentially discovering what the terror targets are and trying to stop the attacks. I thought the book was weak in a few areas. Many of the characters are caricatures, the wimpy lawyer, the drunken big-shot Hollywood actor (who has a delicious part), the strong silent government agent, the hyperactive, crazed global warming activists, the ditzy wife of rich LA guy, etc. Frankly, there needed to be more activity by some of the real official organizations charged with investigating and stopping terrorist activities and less freelancing by the hodgepodge team that comes together to stop the bad guys. It would still have made a great story and more realistic.

Global warming advocates are on a religious crusade, faith in rapid heat rise and world collapse replacing the more conventional religious doctrines. This book does great service by giving facts and references to seek out more knowledge on the topic. The idea that the earth’s status was somehow at a perfect temperature state in the recent past and shouldn’t change seems pretty arrogant and childish.

Crichton skewers the people behind the global warming hysteria. The actors with their 15,000 sq. ft. homes, SUV’s, private jets, vacation homes, etc want everyone else to live frugally but not them. As if to punctuate the buffoonery on the enviro side, an article by Andrew Ross Sorkin, published 20 Mar 08, details a gathering of business and political guys to discuss saving the world and getting rich. Google it: “At island retreat, Branson and friends seek to save a world 'on fire' “
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Aug 28, 2007 Estrina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crichtons, favourites

I bet everyone, I mean, everyone who has been to school and studied science knows what global warming is and perhaps it's the hot enviromental issue for the past a few decades. There are a number of campaigns to overcome this threat, to save the earth. But this book justifies that no such threat exists or at least it will not threaten the earth for a few hundred years. Questions were raised and answered with proof and statistical data. Convincing indeed. The twist started when this guy called Ni...more I bet everyone, I mean, everyone who has been to school and studied science knows what global warming is and perhaps it's the hot enviromental issue for the past a few decades. There are a number of campaigns to overcome this threat, to save the earth. But this book justifies that no such threat exists or at least it will not threaten the earth for a few hundred years. Questions were raised and answered with proof and statistical data. Convincing indeed. The twist started when this guy called Nick Drake wanted to get quick bucks from NERF (guess you know what this is.. some kind of non-profit environment organisation) by supporting a lawsuit for Vanutu, a remote country with only 1 feet above the sea level that claims to be affected badly by the global warming. There was a theory that global warming could raise sea level. So based on this conclusion, Vanutu might vanish along with the increase of the sea level. However the scientists at NERF, including Drake himself knew that the theory of global warming was not proven yet, moreover the average temperatures of some places on earth proved to be declining over the years while in some places the data showed a fair increase of the temperature. So noone had a right to say that global warming had really occured because the term 'global' represents all over the earth. George Morton, a tycoon and an enviroment-enthusiast, agreed to fund the lawsuit for $10 million, but when he found out that Drake was gonna play fool with the money, he took back the fund and disappeared.

Desperate looking for money and upset by the withdrawal of the fund by Morton, Drake and some scientists set up some environment disturbance to attact the media so that they could convince the public that global warming was proven and it caused the catasthropes or whatever changes in climate. This way, he would be able to get support for the Vanutu lawsuit and he would get the bucks. So there he made the ice in Antartics melt by blowing off the iceberg, then launched a number of rockets to mess up the weather to create flash floods, and in the end created a huge landslide in Solomon Islands to generate tsunamis that would travel 500 miles an hour, to swip the coast of California.

Professor John Kenner from Tokyo with his assistant Sanjong Thapa, Peter - Morton's attorney, Sarah - Morton's PA, and Kenner's niece, together with the help of Morton himself who reappeared at the last chance to win over the war, tried to halt the evil plan. The long journey across the world, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, to Mount Terror in the Antartics, to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and in the end to the Resolution Bay in the Solomon Islands, is very engaging and tense with all the obstructions - the murder plot in the crevasse in the Antartics, the Canibals in Solomon Islands and a number of attempts to stop their mission. In the end they succeeded with only minor damage to the earth. Though I somewhat believe that global warming really occurs, I don't have a say on the scientific data that on some places the temperature has been declining for the past few decades or even a couple centuries.

Well, whether global warming exists or it is a mere theory, what matters most is how to conserve the earth, how to keep the nature for the future, for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren. Start recycling, be a friend to the environment.(less)

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Nov 08, 2007 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: makes-you-think

Holy crap. First of all, a good, solid Crichton novel. Second, you will never think about global warming or science in general the same way again... I don't know how much of the information about global warming presented in the book is true, but it sure does make you wonder about a lot of things. What the book is really about is the politicization of science and the manipulation (even if unintentional) of scientific information. And all of this is presented in the form of an exciting, well-told,...more

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Jan 16, 2008 Shannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, despite being a tree-hugger and one of the main themes of the book being that it questioned the entire concept of global warming. It was a very compelling page-turner, and I think Crichton does an excellent job of conveying the message not that global warming is necessarily false or that there aren't things we could all be doing differently in our lives, but that every news headline (and every study too) should be taken with a grain of salt and the data behind it shou...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Patrick Mcginley rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: stayaway

This is the worst book I have ever had the misfortune of wasting my time with. Not only are the politics deplorable (it's about a group of eco-terrorists who induce fake desasters to back up their false claims of global warming), it's also shoddily written. The characters are paper thin and idiotic, the hero is a dim-witted buffoon, and the plot consists of icreasingly boring action-scenes, interrupted by the preachings of an obnoxious Jack Bauer rip-off. The bad guys all drive Priuses and the g...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book didn't pull me in right away. In fact, I put it down for a month or two before I picked it up again. I was impatient with the fact that all the women are beautiful- and these impossibly beautiful women were actually interested in a weak, ineffectual, out-of-shape and whiny lawyer. Right. The fantasy of every average Joe...that phenomenal women will find him cute in a pathetic sort of way. I was cheered up by the fact that the women were also intelligent and competent (except for the af...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, 2009

I'm giving this book 2 stars because it is trashy. More so than other Crichton books I have read. The language is pretty terrible.

However the argument that it makes about global warming is pretty much in line with my view. The systems associated with the world's climate are incomprehensibly massive. There is no way that we can predict with any certainty what impact (if any) increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will have over time. Many scientists are biased toward producing results that w...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Bellezza rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

Maybe it's just me, but this has to be one of the longest books I've read this year. Long as in tedious. It didn't get exciting until page 500, and that's a long time to work with something that's touted as a thriller and acclaimed by such reliable sources as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Chicago Tribune.

The basic issue of this book is global warming; we must examine it from all sides, political and scientific, emotional and intellectual, until we come up with the premise that it's...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Rossrn Nunamaker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: conspiracy_theory, detective-crime, fiction

Despite the number of well known books, movies and tv show ER, I'd never read any of Michael Crichton's books, so I picked up State of Fear and enjoyed it.

To begin, I don't read fiction to learn. I read non-fiction for that. So for me, I don't care about the author's research or message, or his appendix or bibliography.

The story is about a lawyer, Peter Evans, who works primarily for a very wealthy client, George Morton, who supports an Environmental organization, NERF.

Morton becomes suspicious...more

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Jan 24, 2009 Kennis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Folks, I never thought I would be questioning whether or not Global Warming is actually happening or not, but after reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear, that is exactly what I found myself doing. Even though it is a work of fiction, it still got me thinking. I personally cannot say whether or not Global Warming is occuring, I am no scientist. However, I feel that I have no evidence or proof whatsoever to back up my opinion, and therefore cannot be that good of an opinion. In this book, Cric...more Folks, I never thought I would be questioning whether or not Global Warming is actually happening or not, but after reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear, that is exactly what I found myself doing. Even though it is a work of fiction, it still got me thinking. I personally cannot say whether or not Global Warming is occuring, I am no scientist. However, I feel that I have no evidence or proof whatsoever to back up my opinion, and therefore cannot be that good of an opinion. In this book, Crichton has done a heck of a lot of research to show that there is not enough evidence to prove that Global Warming is happening. This made the book that much more interesting to read, because he actually cites his sources - also making it that much more believable. In the end of the book, the author mentions some of his thoughts on the topics that he brings up in his book, many of which I agree with. On in particular stuck out: "I am certain there is too much certainty in the world." Not enough people are willing to question their own beliefs. How else are we to achieve progress. This world does not need blind followers. While I do believe that Global Warming and the climate in general are difficult to understand, it is impossible to say that we humans do not have a profound impact on our environment. However, I do have one thing to say about environmentalist, particularly the fundamentalists. Please, shut the hell up. Save the world my ass. While I do believe that pollution and waste are bad and should be decreased, I also believe that this planet has been through a hell of a lot and I highly doubt that the human race is going to destroy it. Yeah, the Earth may not be the same as it is now in a few millions years, but trust me, it will bounce back - it has before. But nevertheless, be nice to it so we can live on it as long as possible.

This book also brought up another good talking point - that we live in a state of fear. This idea seems plausible - maybe relating to evolutionary biology, or "survival of the scardest" as I put it. In thess short segments, Crichton explains this "State of Fear."

Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health, and comfort... Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment... They are in particular panic over things they can't even see - germs, chemicals, additives, pollutants... And even more amazingly, they are convinced that the environment of the entire planet is being desroyed around them... Everything is going to hell, and we must all live in fear.

You may ask, how this State of Fear is instilled upon everybody, especially since we live in different nations? Well...

The PLM [Politico-Legal-Media Complex:]... is dedicated to promoting fear in the population - under the guise of promoting safety... the PLM is powerful and stable, precisely because it unites so many institutions of society. Politicians need fears to control the population. Lawyers need dangers to litigate, and make money. The media need scare stories to capture an audience. Together, these three estates are so compelling that they can go about their business even if the scare is totally groundless. If it has no basis in fact at all.

Then you may state - Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press. Well...

That is the classic PLM answer. That's how they stay in business... but think. If it is not all right to falsely shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, why is it all right to shout 'Cancer!' in the pages of The New Yorker? When the statement is not true?

Now, you are probably wondering, Kennis, what is this all about. Well, while I am not so sure of the existence of the PLM, I do think that we live in a State of Fear - I mean, look what happened after 9/11; instead of building underground bunkers under our homes for fear of nuclear winter, we are buying gas masks and worrying about what the hell threat level orange means. While I do believe that some fear is good, living in a constant state of fear is rediculous. And the worst fear is that of the unknown and the uncontrollable. Fear is normal and natural, until it takes over your life. As F.D.R. so wisely said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."

That's all folks, until next time.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
-Frank Herbert, Dune, "Litany Against Fear", 1965

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