Michael Crichton's State of Fear

Don't worry there are no spoilers here and in fact I won't even discuss the plot.

In my previous post I said I was reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear and I also mentioned that it did not seem gripping. Well I finished it off over the weekend and boy was I wrong. It is gripping in a unique way. It is more of a documentary examining & debunking the claims made by Global Warming advocates.

People who like substance along with adventures will find this book interesting. In the book Crichton says that Global Warming is more of a pop culture than a scientific fact and the issue has become more political.

Crichton provides a list of references he considered and stresses on the fact that there is no scientific / statistical proof that global warming is happening. He points out that 1st half of 20th century was hotter than 2nd half of 20th century which is contrary to what global warming advocates say.

All the global warming hype is created by media based on computer models. These models have continuously failed to predict the fate of the climate. Infact, in an example he gives in the novel one model was off by over 350%. Contrast that to the fact that when NASA sent an aircraft to Mars they were off by millionth of a percent. For a model to be acceptable according to Crichton it should be able to predict the climate of atleast 10 to 20 years which none has been able to do.

There are numerous examples in the novel which re-inforce Crichton's view. Infact, after reading the novel my views have been greatly affected. Time Magazine's cover story is on Global Warming and now I am sceptical about that too.

What more today's editorial on Times of India (Pune edition) was about oil and how if US & Venezuela kiss & make up we could have Oil for $50 a barrel. Well the editorial ended with the a statement that this can be a stop gap arrangement before we find alternative sources which do not contribute to Global Warming. These are exactly the kind of statements which are made in popular media which propogates the Global Warming myth.