A book that changed my outlook on life (State Of Fear - Michael Crichton)

Member Name: jodenton

Product:	State Of Fear - Michael Crichton
Date:	20/03/07 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Making real science interesting

Disadvantages: A slow bitty start

This was the first Michael Crichton book that I've read having been recommended many of his titles. It was a book that I was particularly interested in reading as I have a deep care for the environment and am an amateur scientist so I was looking forward to reading this book.
The book had a strange start in which I found it hard to keep track of who was who and what the point of the constant flitting around the globe was but after about the first 30-50 pages things started to settle down and once I was in the plot I literally couldn't put it down.

For me, the strength of the book is not so much the plot (although this is good but a bit James Bondish and unbelievable in places) but in the science and the well constructed arguements. The links to numerous scientific papers and the addition of graphs is not commonplace in popular literature and in my opinion is to be commended.

I would say that it was probably not an unbiased piece of work and came across as slightly against current thinking on climate change but that is fine and good considering that the pro climate change point of view certainly can't be attributed to today's media!

The last 100 pages were, in my opinion the best and have probably changed my outlook and perhaps my life forever.

Summary: A book that makes science interesting and understandable and dares to stand up against convention!