News and Thoughts on Michael Crichton

[Kahlessa]

I’ve decided to dedicate a thread solely to news of Michael Crichton and some random thoughts and musings I have about his work. This way I don’t have to start a new thread for every little thing.

We’re all holding our breath!
Many of Crichton’s fans have been speculating on when his upcoming book will be released. (Many people inquire about his next book, but we’ve already had his ‘Next’ book.)

According to the computers at the bookstore where I work, an as-yet-untitled novel by Michael Crichton is scheduled to be released on December 28, 2008. This is, of course, tentative and subject to change. I’ll keep you posted. (By the way, I’m not sharing any inside information. This information would be available to any customer who asks when Michael Crichton has a new book coming out.)

Think you know Michael Crichton’s novels?
Here’s a fun game where you see how many of Crichton’s novels you can name:
www.sporcle.com/games/michaelcrichton.php
My time was 2 minutes and 2 seconds.

Michael Crichton top art collector
This month’s issue of Art News magazine lists Michael Crichton as one of the top 200 art collectors in the world.
The ARTnews 200 Top Collectors:
www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2520
Crichton is listed as a collector of modern art. He first appeared on the list in 2006.

Michael Crichton in Jeopardy!
On March 11, 2008, here was the Final Jeopardy clue:

Category: Science Fiction
“A recent re-issue of this Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel includes
an introduction by Michael Crichton”

Of course the answer (or question) is “What is The Lost World?” It’s the first time in years there has been a clue on that show that involved Michael Crichton. I should only be so lucky as to get a clue like that if I get on the show someday. What I couldn’t believe is that all three of the contestants missed it.

[Kahlessa]

Michael Crichton on Overconfident Doctors

On April 25, 2007, Michael posted this in response to the essay “Overconfidence Erases Doc Advantage” by Robin Hanson

“I think what this post is really telling you is that an individual's sense of clinical judgment is overrated to the point of being dangerous. A similar circumstance applies to psychologists, who are most accurate in making diagnoses when they are young, and tend to rely on checklists. Later, as experienced practitioners, they rely on clinical judgment and misdiagnose. This means that psychologists become demonstrably less skilled as they become more experienced. A sort of inversion of expertise. See Robyn Dawes, House of Cards

www.overcomingbias.com/2007/04/overconfidence_.html

[Kahlessa]

More on the new book
When Michael Crichton was on Dennis Miller's radio show on June 18, he said he thought many people still don't understand how the environment works, so he wanted to include that in a way that won't be as controversial as State of Fear. And in a March 28, 2007 interview with the website The Daily Ablution, Crichton said he was working on “an adventure story like Jurassic Park. I'm enjoying myself.”
(sorry, no working link)

As I said, according to the computers at the book store where I work, an untitled book by Michael Crichton is due to be released on Dec. 28. The book’s ISBN number is 9780060873028 and there are also large print and audio cd editions listed as well. So it looks like something’s definitely coming soon. I’m surprised by the date as Dec. 28 is on a Sunday. New releases, especially strict-on-sale books, are usually released on Tuesdays. Crichton’s last two books were released on a Tuesday. (Strict-on-sale is a restriction that prohibits bookstores from selling a book before a certain date, when if the books have arrived at the store before then.)

Dec. 28 will be the Sunday after Christmas, and should be completely nuts for retailers. Most people think that stores are busy right up until Christmas, and it’s over. But between returns and customers anxious to use gift cards, most retail places are hectic through the middle of January. In any case, I’ll be there bright and early to break into the first box myself.

Publisher’s Weekly articles on Michael Crichton
I found three articles on Michael Crichton:

The High Concept of Michael Crichton
A master of popular culture shares his ideas and ambitions
Jeff Zaleski, Publishers Weekly, November 1, 1999
THURSDAY 09 SEPTEMBER 1999
NORTHERN WESTCHESTER COUNTY
It's a Jurassic kind of day. Dark clouds are rolling across the sky and the wind is rising. Rain washes across our windshield, smearing the road into a blur. We're inching along, peering through the glass, looking for the pillars that mark Michael Crichton's lair…
www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA167538.html

The article contains this quote:
"I don't think I've worked with somebody who is as smart as Michael is. Clearly, he's a great man." -Sonny Mehta

Clearly! I second that! And Mr. Mehta sounds very smart himself.

Here’s an article on the computer game of Timeline that Crichton created:
An Interactive Timeline
By Karen Jones, Publishers Weekly, November 1, 1999
In the true spirit of "multimedia," author/director/screenwriter Michael Crichton is one of today's most successful creators of popular entertainment. This year he launched Timeline Studios, a computer games company, and is poised to re-enter the digitalized world of interactive software…
www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA167540.html

Publisher’s Weekly interview with Crichton about State of Fear:
Crichton: “My Goals Are Modest”
By Staff, PW Daily for Booksellers, December 8, 2004

PW: You've written many books with a message, but you've never written one that is going to anger so many people as will State of Fear.

Michael Crichton: Probably…
www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA486108.html

[Kahlessa]

New Book Update
The computers where I work now show Michael Crichton’s new book scheduled for release on Dec. 2, which is a Tuesday. Now that’s more like it! I can read it and write a revised “A Michael Crichton Christmas 2008”. The book is listed as Untitled Crichton Novel #4, fiction, 464 pages in length. Assuming that is the final page count (this information is subject to change as we’ve seen) here’s how the new book will rank in terms of length with Michael Crichton’s other novels:

1. State of Fear (2004) – 603
2. Untitled New Book (2008) - 464
3.Timeline (1999) – 449
4. Next (2006) – 431
5. Jurassic Park (1990) – 399
6. Disclosure (1994) – 397
7. Lost World (1995) – 393
8. Sphere (1987) – 385
9. Prey (2002) – 367
10. Rising Sun (1992) – 355
11. Airframe (1996) – 351
12. Congo (1980) – 348
13. The Andromeda Strain (1969) – 295
14. The Great Train Robbery (1975) – 266
15. The Terminal Man (1972) – 247
16. Eaters of the Dead (1976) – 193

[Kahlessa]

New Book Update
Things are looking more definite now. While we still don’t have a title, it is now possible to pre-order Michael Crichton’s new book online. However, things could still change before December. Everything is tentative for now. Here’s the online info, and as you can see, there are some discrepancies.

At Barnes and Noble:
Untitled Crichton Novel #4
By Michael Crichton
* $27.95 List price
* $20.96 Online price (Save 25%)
* $18.86 Member price
Available for Pre-Order; This item will be available on December 2.
* Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
* Pub. Date: December 02, 2008
* ISBN-13: 9780060873028
* 464pp

At Amazon:
Michael Crichton Thriller Two (Hardcover)
By Michael Crichton
Product Details
* Hardcover: 400 pages
* Publisher: Harper Collins (December 1, 2008)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0007241011
* ISBN-13: 978-0007241019

[Kahlessa]

According to Wikipedia, the title of Michael Crichton's new book is Final Day of Happiness and is about scientists working on an advanced Super-collider who inadvertently create an artificial black hole threatening all of humankind.
Final Day of Happiness - Wikipedia

There should be a formal announcement on Crichton's website soon.

[Kahlessa]

The new book sounds extremely interesting! (But, of course, what else would we expect from Michael Crichton?) Back in March, this article appeared in the New York Times:

Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More
By DENNIS OVERBYE, NY Times, March 29, 2008
More fighting in Iraq. Somalia in chaos. People in this country can’t afford their mortgages and in some places now they can’t even afford rice.

None of this nor the rest of the grimness on the front page today will matter a bit, though, if two men pursuing a lawsuit in federal court in Hawaii turn out to be right. They think a giant particle accelerator that will begin smashing protons together outside Geneva this summer might produce a black hole or something else that will spell the end of the Earth — and maybe the universe…
www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html

I emailed the story to a friend and commented:

“Does Michael Crichton know about this? LOL! Scientific hubris strikes again!”

How did I know? (Twilight Zone music plays)

[eas]

Wow Kahlessa, your predictive powers start to call for special attention with that... ;D

Well, did you post that on the message board of the official Crichton site? It would not surprise me that Michael Crichton himself would browse through the message board to gauge the interests of his fans.

Another possibility is that he also read the news and got the idea. If so, it would definitely be a startling coincidence.

However, is is generally believed that it takes him more time that just a few months to write a novel, so in theory he should have begun writing it much much earlier. But in this case it would be still an amazing coincidence!

What do you all think? Could it be that he has some novels already ready, and he just produces one when he thinks it is the right time for the topic. In this case it would be consistent with him reading the news on march and releasing the novel with some last updates, just in time for Christmas...

Regardless...I just can´t wait for December!!!!

[Kahlessa]

Sept 3, 2008 11:07:27 GMT -5 eas said:

Wow Kahlessa, your predictive powers start to call for special attention with that... ;D

Well, did you post that on the message board of the official Crichton site? It would not surprise me that Michael Crichton himself would browse through the message board to gauge the interests of his fans.

Another possibility is that he also read the news and got the idea. If so, it would definitely be a startling coincidence.

However, is is generally believed that it takes him more time that just a few months to write a novel, so in theory he should have begun writing it much much earlier. But in this case it would be still an amazing coincidence!

What do you all think? Could it be that he has some novels already ready, and he just produces one when he thinks it is the right time for the topic. In this case it would be consistent with him reading the news on march and releasing the novel with some last updates, just in time for Christmas...

Regardless...I just can´t wait for December!!!!

I didn’t post the article anywhere, but Crichton would had to have his research and writing well underway before last March. But if a lawsuit was being filed this year, I’m sure there were rumblings going on about this topic for some time. I imagine Michael Crichton keeps his ear to the ground when it comes to what’s new in science.

But I don’t think he has some novels already written and then just changes them. He might very well use parts of novels he didn’t end up finishing, but from what I understand about how he works, Michael Crichton gets totally focused on a topic, researches it extensively, and then decides how to create a novel based on the information.

[Kahlessa]

Crichton speech from May 21, 2007
On May 21, 2007, there was a conference in Chicago on "Legal and Ethical Issues raised by Michael Crichton's Next." Here’s a link to the speech Dr. Crichton made there. I just discovered this on Crichton’s website in the Next section. It isn’t listed in the speeches section. This must have been added fairly recently to his website.

"What I Have Learned From Reactions to My Books"
www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-learned.html

Next – In the News
There’s also a new part of Crichton’s website section on Next which features news stories relating to the topics in the novel. Sort of like my Michael Crichton’s Next – related news thread.
www.michaelcrichton.com/books-next-news.html

[Kahlessa]

New book update

Something new on the Wikipedia link:

It is proposed that this article be deleted because of the following concern:

Unsourced content and, as best as I can tell, an unverifiable title. There is a Michael Crichton untitled novel coming up, just no reliable source for this title and summary.

If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. You may remove this message if you improve the article or otherwise object to its deletion for any reason. To avoid confusion, it helps to explain why you object to the deletion, either in the edit summary or on the talk page. If this template is removed, it should not be replaced.

The article may be deleted if this message remains in place for five days.Prod, concern: Unsourced content and, as best as I can tell, an unverifiable title. There is a Michael Crichton untitled novel coming up, just no reliable source for this title and summary. This template was added 2008-09-06 05:55; five days from then is 2008-09-11 05:55.

If you created the article, please don't take offense. Instead, consider improving the article so that it is acceptable according to the deletion policy.
Author(s) notification template: {{subst:prodwarning|Final Day of Happiness (novel)}} ~~~~

We should be getting an announcement on Crichton’s website soon, so we’ll know one way or another. I wonder if there’s a leak at Harper Collins

Taking a look back, Next was announced on or around September 12, 2006. So hang on everyone!

[Kahlessa]

Super-Collider News
Concerning the Large Hadron Collider, trassin has started a thread on it in the science section – First Beam Day!

[Kahlessa]

New Book Update
Wikipedia has deleted the information about Crichton’s new novel. Now it simply lists:
2008 - unreleased novel - to be released on December 2

So we’re still waiting for the official announcement. It should be soon, I would think. As far as the subject matter goes, I wonder about something. In the June 3, 2007 New York Times Sunday Book Review there was a survey titled “Read Any Good Books Lately?” which featured different celebrities giving their recommendations. Michael Crichton was one of them. He recommended three books. One was fiction: Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain.

The other two were nonfiction and therefore could possibly be connected to the research Crichton was doing for his upcoming book. Here are the titles and Crichton’s comments:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
By Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“The second volume by the author of Fooled by Randomness continues his theme — our blindness to the randomness of life — in an even more provocative, wide-ranging and amusing mode. A book that is both entertaining and difficult.”

Problems of Empiricism (Philosophical Papers), Vol. 2
By Paul K. Feyerabend
From 1981, a brisk reminder that the conflicts of contemporary science are not in any way new or unique. The author is reviled in many quarters, mostly by those who have not read him. He is invariably provocative.

[Lukaran]

I wonder what the holdup is? I hope there's not a problem and publication is delayed. That's happened with some books I'm waiting for.

[Kahlessa]

Pardon My Silence
I recently had surgery on my right elbow so I can't type very much now.

More later as soon as I'm able.