Like most of Crichton’s other early novels (e.g., The Terminal Man, The Andromeda Strain, and The Great Train Robbery), it’s quite good - better than you might guess if you’ve only ever read the most recent Crichton. (You may know it as The 13th Warrior the novel was reissued with that name, regrettably, after a rather poor film adaptation about ten years ago). Now I’ve read almost everything Crichton wrote, but when it came to picking a book to read in memoriam, I chose Eaters of the Dead, which I hadn’t read since some time in college. Presented as a lost manuscript written by an Islamic envoy kidnapped by Vikings in 932, it was a retelling of the Beowulf story, which he originally wrote on a bet that he could make that myth relevant to a modern audience.

(And I’m not thinking of Timeline, which is half-historical, half-techno-thriller.)įrom The Guardian obit: He returned to books with two historical novels, The Great Train Robbery (1975), based on the 1855 theft of gold from a London to Folkestone train, and, the following year, Eaters of the Dead, one of his best and most overlooked books. He also wrote a couple of terrific historical novels. If you like exotic and adventure travel, give this book a try.

He wrote a good deal of nonfiction, for example, including books on the medical industry, the artist Jasper Johns, and an excellent memoir, Travels. Despite an obvious sympathy for technology, Crichton’s novels are usually cautionary tales, warning readers about the dangers as well as (perhaps even more than) the benefits of new technologies.īut though he’s better known for these techno-thrillers, they aren’t the only kinds of books he wrote. Most readers have come to associate Crichton with techno-thrillers and scientific mysteries built around the latest “bleeding-edge” technology of the day in which they were written - e.g., the mind/computer connection ( The Terminal Man), cloning ( Jurassic Park), virtual reality ( Disclosure), time travel ( Timeline), nanotechnology ( Prey), global warming ( State of Fear), and so on. His death was private and unexpected (he had completed a new novel, scheduled for release next month, now postponed).

By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Michael Crichton died last week after a protracted struggle with cancer (read his obituary at The Guardian).

Michael crichton beowulf