The Pew Center has a nice article debunking State of Fear, Michael Crichton’s novel about climate change, as well as dispelling some of the myths surrounding climate change in general.
Press accounts suggest that Michael Crichton spent three years researching his latestnovel, State of Fear, in which environmental extremists engineer natural disasters to raise concern for global warming. Although Crichton attempts to use real-world data and studies within the novel to highlight some of the realities and uncertainties in climate science, the novel contains a number of strawman arguments, misinterpretations of the scientific literature, and even a few misleading statements drawn from the so-called “skeptics.” Despite his research and the book’s many footnotes, Crichton has a less-than-commanding understanding of climate change science. The book is much more of a vehicle for his own opinions on the issue rather than an objective commentary on the state of the science and policy debate. Discussion of key questions raised by Crichton in State of Fear follow.