State of Fear

A few days ago I started the novel State of Fear. Initially I was skeptical because a book on global warming really didn't sound that interesting to me. I do think that global warming is an issue that needs to be relavent in everyone's mind, but reading a 700 plus page book about it wasn't appealing. I was surprised however because the novel pulled me in within the first couple of chapters. I find science very interesting, but reading about complex scientific ideas can get tedious, however the beginning presented readers with a mystery instead of boring you to death with a bunch of scientific explanations or theories. So much is happening at the beginning and it's hard to see how it all ties together, but I'm sure I'll eventually start to fit the pieces together. I really like when books have a bunch of seemingly random events that eventually all fit together and you see that each one was important to the story. I love that aha moment that occurs when you finally understand where the author is heading. I can tell State of Fear is going to be one of those books. Switching gears a little bit, I'm interested to see where Crichton stands on global warming and how he presents his views through a fictional novel. I do believe strongly that protecting the environment should be a priority for the global community as a whole. I think it's terrible that people don't think it's something to worry about because we will be long gone before anything significant happens. I'm not well-informed on all of the aspects of global warming, so I hope to become more informed through this book and through watching An Inconvienent Truth. I think before I really decide where I stand it's important that I become more informed so that I'm not making an ignorant decision. From what I do know, I do think that we are seeing a definite shift in the Earth's climate. Whether that is because of human influences or just general trends that occur over time, I haven't decided what I believe. I hope that all of this provides me with enough information to make an informed decision on a topic I think is very important to society right now.