--- We have lots of good reading for you today. If you're a
non-wi-fi'er, hit the links, print and read them whilst sitting on the
sofa, drinking a beer or a glass of wine. If you have wi-fi, well, take
your laptop and read them whilst sitting on the sofa, drinking a beer.
They're lengthy, but well worth your time. --- I have to admit, I'm not
a big fan of Michael Crichton. Which is a trial for me, because I would
like to be. I think he comes up with interesting subject matter, tricky
plots, and is a good writer, on the whole. And he's not only got good
reviews to back him up, he also sells a shitload of books, as a quick
peek at New York Times Bestseller List will easily prove.

But it's his tone that just puts me off. His tone is like milk
that's just shot past the expiration DATE: 01/01/2004 you could drink it and you'd
probably live a long life, completely unaffected, but the milk has
separated, it's starting to smell funky and you might be risking
gastrointestinal distress by chugging some. The intelligent thing to do
is not to drink the stuff. The intelligent thing is just to go to the
store and get a new gallon. Chrichton, however, would have you drink
the milk, because he says it's good for you. That the milk is
fine; that expiration dates are abitrary, that FDA doesn't know what
the hell its talking about; that he's smarter than all the scientists
at the FDA combined and you should just take his word that the milk is
still good. And, if you choose not to take his advice, he'll shoot a
big ol' raspberry in your direction. He's arrogant about his
intelligence, in other words. He likes to show off how smart he is.
Now, I'm not going to deny the man is intelligent. He is. There's no
getting around it, but when he's arrogant about the level of his
intelligence, well, it's offputting. He's a Mensa member with attitude.
The last novel of his I read was Disclosure
and I haven't picked up a book of his since, although I've been tempted
when I read the jacket descriptions. But while his upper-level
intelligence is not under scrutiny, it's the way he shows off in his
novels that just bugs the shit out of me. In any novel of substance
(and some that haven't any) there are going to be explanations.
Explanations of situations and characters. Explanations of how things
work, etc. This is the way the author gets everyone on the same page.
Which is fine and dandy for most authors; they assume that their
audiences have a brain and that they don't have to talk down to them;
they talk to
their audience. Chrichton, however, assumes his audience is
automatically a crowd full of dolts; that everyone else is a dolt but
him, so he talks (writes?) down to his audience. Now, I don't know
about you, but I don't read novels to be lectured to. I read them for
entertainment and enjoyment. If I wanted to read a dissertation about
sexual harrassment laws, or how the Japanese are taking over, I'd read
a book about those subjects. If I happen to glean some useful
information in the meantime, well, yippy skippy, but that's not the
reason I'm reading novels in the first place. Chrichton seems to forget
this in his works of fiction, and it's offputting, for me, at least. I
realize this is a completely subjective peeve of mine. He obviously
doesn't turn everyone else off. Now before you start thinking I sound
like Otto in A Fish Called Wanda (Don't call me stupid!),
please realize that I think Chricton has a lot of worthwhile things to
say---and as such, I'm linking to two speeches he's given and posted on
his website. They're great! If he stuck to speeches, where his
arrogance isn't a liability, I'd be his biggest fan. Without further
ado, read this about the dangers of rampant speculation and this about how aliens are responsible for global warming.

They're worth your time.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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