Michael Crichton died yesterday, and last night I pored through his website looking for something appropriate for a memorial posting. I finally decided on this -- a famous speech he delivered to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, way back in 2003. It's subject: "Environmentalism as Religion". Not only is it an excellent treatment of a topical subject, one with which I generally agree, but it reveals the kinds of thought processes that informed this excellent, impressively intelligent, and exceptionally sensible writer.
UPDATE:
Here is a wonderful article on Crichton's attitude toward science and technology that illustrates why I consider him to be an eminently sensible commentator.
