Ross Douthat informs us that author Michael Crichton died on election day.
Crichton took science seriously. That’s not to say he did serious science, or that his novels were scrupulously realistic. But he made science fun to popular audiences and passed along an imaginative curiosity in the possibilities and perils of nature.
A number of years ago, before it was de rigueur, he also warned that our public officials, courts, and media were not scientifically literate. And that this was increasingly dangerous in our complex and knowledge-accelerated world. His books were often too alarmist for my taste, but he made up for that foible in the last few years. With State of Fear and a series of public lectures and testimony, he bravely took on the global warming alarmist crowd. And I think he was right.
RIP.
