State of Fear - Book Review

Introduction

I am a fan of Michael Crichton's work from my college days. That was when one of my senior in college said that I should read Michael Crichton's books. I asked him who was that. He said, the guy who wrote Jurassic Park and gave me his book. WOW! That was awesome and I read that in just 3 days. Then I started to read his works. The latest book of his I read was "State of Fear". It is an awesome novel and it is a good mix of science, skepticism, action, detective, sex & violence and information. No wonder anyone who starts reading this book gets lost inside it and couldn't be found by friends and family until he/she finishes it!

About The Book

The book is a 600+ page paperback edition and come with Author's Message, an Appendix and Bibliography of extensive references about the sources of data and quotations used in the book. The book also has lot of graphs and foot notes to enhance the readers insight on the details given. You don't need to worry about yout lack of knowledge in "climate science", because if a climate n00b like me can understant it, then you too can! The novel is organized not as chapters but as Place/Date/Time chronological logs of events. That was really cool. The book is published by HarperCollins. I bought the Indian Subcontinet version, which is cheap indeed!

Plot Overview

A rich philanthropist funds an environmental organization. There are murders and other doubtful purchases of exotic weapons and machines in various places. An NSIA agent and his assistant with the help of the philanthropist's lawyers try to unravel the mystery. Ultimately they find that the fear-mongering tactics used by the environmental organization to create the "state of fear" among people to milk their cash! (Hint: You can get the full plot from Wikipedia or many other sites. But if you read such plots, you are losing the chance to read one of the best novels of Crichton.)

The Moral

I myself, being a hardcore anti-corporate and anti-pollution guy, don't exactly believe in what media say about man-made global warming, but I fully accept that humans are contributing to ongoing global warming. I have some reservations in both sides and my opinions is mixed on that. But where I agree with Michael Crichton is, when he opposes the fear-mongering tactics used by these eco-friendly gangs to milk the cash from people as well as corporates and to lobby governments to accept their unruly demands without a second thought. For example, you can see Greenpeace guys standing in railway stations and IT parks in India handing out tracts and forcing you to sign-up for a monthly donation through credit card. People who are brainwashed by their scaremongering tactics opt in to donate. But they seldom care about that blind old man selling peanut burfee or that poor old man without leg begging in trains.

From PeTA to Greenpeace, these organizations are founded and run by wealthy nations which have a higher share in polluting the environment. But these organizations try to steal the money of people all over the world and try to impose crippling laws in developing nations that can slow-down or stop or reverse their progress. People are fed with fear and distracted with dubious facts and are made to believe that they have done some thing terribly bad. At this point they will show their membership form and the gullible person will sign. I have been told absurd stories like Kit-Kat is manufactured using Orangutan finger bone, Indian cities will drown in another 20 years (this they told me in 2004) and so on. When I confronted them with some facts, they will say I have been brainwashed by corporate media!

This is what Michael Crichton explores in his novel. Most of these organizations are themselves funded by corporates. They demand people to submit to their views without asking question, much like the religious leaders force their followers to submit without doubting. Moreover, like fake religions which demand money or favors for atonement of sins, these organizations seldom talk about population control, reducing car usage etc but they always ask you to donate. One day, I was walking out of an IT park. There was a bank stall offering car loans and a car company stall displaying their new model car and giving test-drive. The Greenpeace guys were there giving out tracts. I called them to join me to tell the bank people and the car company people to stop selling cars and automobile loans so that we can cut back carbon emission. But the Greenpeace guys were asking me to leave. As I insisted and more people joined me in that request, they just left the place and started giving tracts in some other corner! This is their real face. They are not here for nature. They are here for business.

Conclusion

If you want to read a good story and also know how these organizations cheat people, this is a very good book. I am not asking you to deny global warming or increase pollution. I am just asking you to stop believing blindly and start asking questions. In the long run, we can expect the unaltered truth to surface.