George Will’s Column on Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’

Published December 23, 2004

Dear Editor:

Thank you for running George Will’s column on Michael Crichton’s new novel, “State of Fear” (“Book shows doomsayers the error of their ways,” December 23). The column was a breath of fresh air, since the Sun-Times has been running “news” stories stoking the global warming scare on a nearly daily basis for the past two weeks.

I’ve only read about 30 pages, but it’s already clear to me that Crichton’s new novel is going to be a great read and a devastating blow to the climate alarmists. Unlike “The Day After Tomorrow,” the movie that tried to convince us that global warming is real, “State of Fear” carefully documents its protagonist’s position that human activity does not threaten to destabilize the global climate. It’s a novel with graphs, an appendix, and a bibliography!

Thanks to Michael Crichton, I’m finally able to finish my Christmas shopping. This year, it’s books for everyone!

Joseph L. Bast
President, The Heartland Institute
Chicago, Illinois


Joseph L. Bast ([email protected]) is president of The Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank based in Chicago. He is also the publisher of Environment & Climate News.