State of Fear

From Freepedia

State of Fear is a 2004 novel by Michael Crichton published by HarperCollins on December 7, 2004. Like most of his novels it is a techno-thriller, this time concerning eco-terrorists who threaten the Earth. Unusual for a novel but common among Crichton's work, the book contains many graphs and footnotes as well as two appendices and a twenty page bibliography. Crichton also chooses to include a statement of his own views on global climate change at the end of the book, stating that the world is heating up, but that the causes, consequences and benefits or harms of this change are unknown. He also argues passionately against the politicisation of science, for the preservation of wilderness and for the continuation of research into all aspects of the Earth's environment.

The protagonist is an environmentalist lawyer, Peter Evans. Throughout the novel, Evans' environmentalist views are frequently challenged by other characters.

Critics, however, point out errors in the supposed factual basis of the book [1]; for instance Crichton's estimate of fifty million deaths from malaria as a direct result of the ban on use of DDT against malaria-carrying mosquitoes can be considered erroneous, since there is no ban on use of DDT against malaria-carrying mosquitoes [2] and the total number of deaths from malaria in the period described is less than fifty million [3].

The novel received strong criticism from scientists [4] and environmentalists [5] for alleged factual inaccuracy, but received support from climate change skeptics. A particularly scathing criticism came from former newspaper editor Howard Evans in the Autumn of 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina[6].

The novel had an initial print run of 1.5 million copies and reached the #1 bestseller position at amazon.com.

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