Michael Crichton has died at the age of 66 after battling cancer.
The author was best known for penning Jurassic Park and sequel The Lost World, which were both famously adapted for the big screen. He also created US medical drama ER and served as the show's executive producer.
He died unexpectedly in Los Angeles yesterday, having fought "a courageous and private battle against cancer".
"While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us, and entertained us all while doing so, his family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes," read a statement posted on the writer's website.
"Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of Jurassic Park," said Steven Spielberg, who directed the movie version of the novel.
"He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth."
Other Crichton books adapted for the big screen include Congo and Disclosure.
RIP :(
He wrote some brillant stuff
Tributes today poured in for best-selling American author Michael Crichton who has died after a secret battle with cancer.
The 6ft 9in creator of Jurassic Park and popular television series ER died on Tuesday in Los Angeles, aged 66.
Steven Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park and Crichton's friend of 40 years, said: 'Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
'He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth.
'Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place.'
His family paid tribute to a man whose novels brought scientific research into the mainstream.
'Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand,' they said in a statement.
'While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us - and entertained us all while doing so - his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes.'
Crichton was said to earn more than £12.6million a year, making him one of the most successful novelists of all time.
His techno-thrillers explored the more terrifying aspects of science, such as the rampant microbe of The Andromeda Strain or the resurrected dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
Many of them, including Coma, Rising Sun and Disclosure, were also made into films.
Crichton won praise for giving his readers relentless action and suspense at the same time as enormous amounts of information.
John Wells, executive producer of ER called him 'an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful'.
He added: 'No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest.
'Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology, archaeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation.'
One of four siblings, Crichton was born in Chicago and grew up in Long Island. During medical school, he wrote nearly a dozen books under pseudonyms before deciding to pursue a literary career. He married five times and had one child.
Michael Crichton was no prose stylist but he was a mightily efficient producer of high-concept, predictive thrillers.
He had a great knack for identifying an exciting futuristic subject, usually involving technology: viruses from space, say, in The Andromeda Strain; revived dinosaurs (Jurassic Park); stroppy androids (Westworld); malign medics (Coma); uncontrollable nanotechnology (Prey)...
Crichton also created ER which was a springboard for the career of George Clooney who played Dr Doug Ross
Who wouldn't want to read a story dealing with such frightening, fascinating threats?
Having found these themes, Crichton animated them with a standard issue, indeed prefab, plot.
Sympathetic heroes are put in peril by the aberrant phenomenon, which they discover to be both more terrifying and more advanced than anybody had suspected, so that only after the most hair-raising adventures and narrow escapes do they win.
Readers could happily let their imaginations roam in Crichton's fantasy worlds because he always seemed to be addressing an important and novel topic. So it wasn't just escapism after all, they could tell themselves - if they needed justification for wasting their time.
Towards the end of his career, Crichton became rather preachy, taking himself a little too seriously. Some believed him, too. It seems that no less an authority than Prince Charles was impressed by Crichton's warning in Prey about the threat of the world succumbing to microbot "grey goo" - but HRH can hardly have equally liked Crichton's subsequent assault on the science of global warming in State Of Fear, which was stuffed with graphs and came with an appendix about false science - and a lengthy annotated bibliography.
On the one hand, his thriller about genetic engineering, Next, featured such captivating inventions as a loyal monkey-boy and a brilliantly clever African Grey parrot - but, on the other, it ended with a stiff author's note proposing key reforms in the field: "1. Stop patenting genes...".
Crichton was at his best when remembering to thrill, rather than letting himself lecture.
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