State of Fear By Michael Crichton

Some years ago I had a kid from the neighborhood coming on the property and just being a general pain in the neck. He wasn't a vandal but he would come at late hours and knock on the door until we were up and then wouldn't go home until we called the police. He once took our dog and told his mother that I had given it too him.

Investigating the situation, I found out he'd been a more serious problem to others and had been arrested several times for such things as disturbing the peace and other acts that garner negative attention.

I talked to the police, a court officer, a politician and they all pointed their fingers at someone else until I came to the young person's probation officer. I asked what we could do to help the young man change his direction. Not even trying to stifle his wave of derisive laughter he said. "That's a good one. Let me know if you find out."

Many of us have had similar experiences and find that it is very difficult to get public help or attention even when faced with a serious problem. So what happens when many, well educated people discover what they consider a very serious problem that should concern all of us and needs public involvement to solve. It seems they have to yell, "The sky is falling. The sky is falling." In Mr. Creighton's book "State of Fear" he uses the arguments on Global warming to explore the roles the media and politicians have played in promoting their own agendas in the name of public interest. He talks reasonable about the facts of global warming and tries to show us where science ends and the media and politicians begin. He gives us example of the consequences of this form of public involvement from our past and provides alternative processes, more science than opinion led, that would probably provide more positive results.

The novel has action and adventure, good characters and a steadily moving plot but the important aspect of the book is when Mr. Crichton details how science, politics and the media make for a disturbing mix with tremendous influence on what we think and how we thing about it.

I found the afterword of this novel disturbing and it compelled me to do more research into his assertions and opinions and decided that "State of Fear" is more than a good novel - It is an important book with an important message. I might disagree with Mr. Crichton on some issues but his conclusion that we need more facts and logic and less politics in our science is for me. Right On!