Michael Crichton has died

Michael Crichton died of Cancer recently, he was 66.

I loved all the books by him that I read (I think I have read most of them) I liked many of the movies based on those books (sometimes the worst adaptations were the funnest to watch).

An avid believer in the concept of Chaos Theory (that small events have far reaching impacts and things fall apart) Crichton wrote some of the best stories of good intentions gone wrong, and made them all seem plausible (even the patently absurd ones) and scary (even the weird ones).

The best laid plans often go awry and Michael was there to point out the dangers of unconsidered advancement, putting on the brakes every now and again and asking ourselves to think about the consequences of our actions shouldn't be a bad thing.

Even when we try to better ourselves and the planet we should be careful and pay attention to the ramifications of our actions. Rushing headlong into the future can be exhilarating but so can careening off a cliff, at first.

I enjoyed his writing and much of his directing and I will miss his contributions to the world.

And don't worry; Nothing can go W0rNg%@.

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Now playing: The Animals - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
via FoxyTunes

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

It just occurred to me while re-reading the opening of the novel 'The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' that in most respects the website 'Wikipedia' is the Guide brought to Earth...

Here is the original description of the Guide;

"Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one — more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words Don't Panic inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover."

Seems to be an apt description of Wikipedia itself and of its use in our lives.

I don't know why I never made that connection before.

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Now playing: The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
via FoxyTunes

Another post requiring little input from me ;)

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. You’re supposed to Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

You may notice that there is an asterisk by most of those I’ve read. I guess I’m very good at choosing to read things that I will like… (I think there should be more Heinlein and Asimov on this list!)

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick *
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov *
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card *
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson *
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice *
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke *
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven *
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein *
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer