Michael Crichton was a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of
Jurassic Park and the creator of ER. His most recent novel,
Pirate Latitudes, published posthumously in November 2009, is a suspenseful adventure story set in the 17th century.
Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He taught courses at Cambridge University and MIT. Crichton's interest in computer modeling went back forty years. He was published in the papers of the
Peabody Museum, as well as in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
Crichton's first bestseller,
The Andromeda Strain, was published while he was still a medical student. He later worked full time on film and writing. One of the most popular writers in the world, his books have been translated into thirty-six languages, and thirteen have been made into films.
He had a lifelong interest in computers. His feature film
Westworld was the first to employ computer-generated special effects back in 1973. Crichton's pioneering use of computer programs for film production earned him a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 1995. Crichton won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for ER.
Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 after a courageous and private battle against cancer. He is survived by his wife Sherri, his daughter Taylor and his son, John Michael.
READ-A-LIKES - If you enjoy the work of Michael Crichton, try these authors...
PHILLIP KERR - He has been called the British Michael Crichton, and with good reason. In
Esau, he spins a high altitude Adventure yarn in which heroes face off against a psycho killer in a race to recover a spy satellite that has fallen into the hidden Himalayan habitat of the fabled Yeti, or abominable snowman. It is a testament to his skill that the reader accepts this wild premise, enjoys a cleverly-plotted story, and learns a little about evolution and Paleo-anthropology in the bargain.
JOHN DARNTON - He writes Scientific Thrillers that merge lurid intrigue with big ideas, ranging from the ethics of human cloning to the physical dimensions of soul. In
Neanderthal, archeologists discover two reclusive bands of prehistoric hominids surviving in the wilds of Tadjikistan. One band is benign and vegetarian, while the other is warlike and carnivorous, opening up fundamental questions about human nature even as our heroes struggle to save the cavemen and themselves from the lethal incursions of American and Russian agents.
GREG BEAR - In titles such as
Vitals and
Darwin's Radio, Bear conveys fascinating ideas about the nature of mind, the microverse, evolution, and the future of our species and civilization with pulse-pounding immediacy. In
Blood Music, a disgruntled scientist working to imbue virus with computational capabilities is fired from his job and smuggles his experimental microbes home by injecting them into his own bloodstream. The bizarre and horrifying results are of more than academic interest to mankind, and will haunt the reader long after closing the book.
MATTHEW REILLY or JAMES ROLLINS - Both authors spin fast and furious thrill rides in which valiant heroes struggle over alien technologies and bizarre biological threats in colorful locales from Polar regions (Reilly's
Ice Station and Rollins'
Ice Hunt) to equatorial jungles (Reilly's
Temple and Rollins'
Amazonia), while fending off big cats, crocodiles, killer whales, Komodo dragons, sharks, and maniacal villains bent on world domination.
DEAN KOONTZ - any title
TESS GERRITSEN - any title
CLIVE CUSSLER - any title
WATCH-A-LIKES - If you enjoy Michael Crichton's writing, try these movie titles...
Westworld - This story of a technological paradise suddenly turned nightmare is a genuine shocker. For $1,000 a day, vacationers can indulge whims at the "theme park" called Westworld where the gunhands and dance-hall girls are all robots programmed to serve the guests' violent and lustful fantasies--until something goes wrong with their circuitry.
Congo - An expedition to return a gorilla to Africa and find the Lost City of Zinj and its diamond mines encounters a variety of dangers. -
Twister - Scientist Jo Harding and her crack team of tornado chasers are pursuing the most destructive weatherfront to sweep through mid-America's Tornado Alley in 50 years. TV weatherman Bill Harding is trying to get his tornado-hunter wife, Jo, to sign divorce papers so he can marry his girlfriend Melissa. But Mother Nature, in the form of a series of intense storms has other plans. Jo's team is planning to launch revolutionary electronic sensors into the funnel of the tornado. They hope to obtain data to create an improved weather warning system. In order to get the sensors to work, the team must intercept the twister.
Jurassic Park - A wealthy entrepreneur invites a top paleontologist, a paleobotanist, a mathematician/theorist, and his two eager grandchildren to visit his secret island theme park featuring living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA.
The Andromeda Strain - A remote village in New Mexico is contaminated by a crashed satellite. Scientists fight the clock trying to analyze the lethal organism and discover a solution.
The Great Train Robbery - A recreation of the dramatic 19th century train robbery masterminded by Edward Pierce. He was the first man in history to rob a moving train, and he and his accomplices got away with a fortune in gold.
Sphere - Far below the surface in the mid-Pacific, U.S. officials have isolated what may be the greatest discovery in human history. They've found a huge spacecraft that plunged into the depths--300 years ago. What is the spacecraft's origin? After three centuries, could there still be a living intelligence aboard?
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With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, 
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