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Fear of Politically Correct Science Michael Crichton's latest novel depicts a cadre of environmentalists preparing a legal case to sue the US on behalf of a Pacific island which will be swamped when "global warming" causes the sea levels to rise. They've put together a think tank of lawyers and climatologists to prepare the case for court. But the more they study the data, and present the data to simulated juries, the more they realize their case is very, very weak. Their only hope to continue to obtain funding is to cause spectacular global climate disasters during well-publicized environmental conferences and hope people demand "something be done about it." The hero of the book discovers their plots and tries to prevent or thwart them to save innocent life. Although global warming is the main example, the real topic is the "state of fear" we are in due to the media's easy acceptance of pseudo-science. Think of recent examples: Alar on apples, brain cancer from cell phones or power lines, silicon breast implants, coffee, eggs, and of course, global cooling and warming. This is not to say these problems are not worth investigating, rather Crichton's point is these things become scary by media infusion before the evidence has been fully assimilated. And the universities and laboratories doing the research have financial and political biases to arrive at predetermined conclusions. He makes a strong case for double-blind testing, as is done for pharmaceutical research, to be the only way to remove prejudice from testing. I don't believe this book will ever be made into a movie. It attacks and ridicules Hollywood (stars and others) as "limosine liberals" who fly around the world in gas-guzzling jets and justify their luxurious mansions while pining for a return to nature a la natives in thatched huts. I thought the action story was good, the data was presented effectively and the bibliography of references was impressive. I have the feeling Michael Crichton felt he had to overstate his case to combat the onslaught of media bias that presents these crises in only one way ... doom and gloom, putting us all in a "state of fear".