I find it very confusing and somewhat frustrating trying to read a fictitious book with so many real theories and scientific research studies incorporated within it. It’s unusual to find a piece of literature closely mimicking a novel in structure like this, but still having a lot of truth built into it. He states in his bibliography where he is finding the issues in which he chooses to manipulate throughout the text in whatever way he can, in hopes of proving his point and allowing readers to form their own ideas based on what is presented. Knowing that the scientific journal articles have been translated to assist as references, I feel like Crichton has puzzled me more than I initially had been before reading, because now I’m not sure what has been validated and what has been constructed.
“Juries aren’t comfortable reading graphs. And all this talk about tenths of a degree Celsius goes right over their heads. It’s technical detail; it’s the quibbles of experts; and it’s incredibly boring for normal people” (118). This particular passage makes a good point that really promotes whether or not an individual chooses to support global warming. When he or she is well-versed in science and capable of understanding data records and crazy scientific terms, it may be easier to be swayed to believe global warming exists. On the contrary, if a person is absolutely unfamiliar with these nitty-gritty aspects, a more visual and concrete representation is going to be necessary for these “normal people” who have no idea where to begin grasping the complexity of the data. I feel this is something that needs to be kept in mind, because it’s a lot of time automatically assumed everyone is able to comprehend these procedures.
In regards to science studies, Crichton mentions the fact that every scientist has an idea of how the experiment is going to turn out, or an expectation, therefore often leading to unconscious scientific biases. This idea essentially contradicts all the previous arguments for global warming by saying that it’s almost impossible to determine anything when data is being constantly adjusted as well as small errors due to deviations in equipment. Judgment is concluded to be the end indicator of all records. At this point, I’m unsure of what I conceive to be justifiable.
My thoughts on the literary aspect of the novel is that it is painfully simple. The characters aren’t too multi-faceted and I almost have to laugh at the all too commonplace, cheesy conversations and events among the characters such as: “I was wondering if your schedule was really tight, or whether there was time for you and me to have lunch.” / “Oh,” Evans said, without missing a beat, “my schedule isn’t that tight.” / “Good,” she said (122). *Barf*
I'm in agreement with you in saying that it gets frustrating to read something where fact and fiction are blended to the point of being almost indistinguishable. At least, that's the way Crichton is treating it. It's definitely an effective strategy if he does have a political agenda in writing this (the fact that he claims not to in the end is almost laughable...) It makes me wonder how many people read this and took most or all of it as fact or common knowledge, when really it's a load of bias and sensationalism. I also like your commentary on the characters and their (lack of) development. I've had to force myself through the terrible dialogue and descriptions. Makes me hope most people didn't take this book at face value if only because of the quality of the writing...
ReplyDelete