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If you’ve ever read Michael Crichton’s books, one thing you’ll notice is how technical they are. The settings, characters and mechanics of situations are highly detailed, with specifics that are rooted in actual science, it almost reads like a medical paper at times.He does manage to keep it readable without getting into the weeds too much, but you do find yourself saying, “Wow - this guy knows his stuff. Dude sounds really smart.”And that assumption would be quite correct.Crichton, a towering 6′9 man, attended Harvard for both undergrad and Medical School (graduating with high honors):Yes. Medical School.He might be one of the only people in history to graduate Harvard Med School, only to immediately quit and begin writing.Could you imagine that conversation?“Hey dad - I know I just did medical school and all, but I think I’m going to write books instead.”<dad throws the phone at the wall>It is unusual to see someone climb an academic mountain, aligning all of the stars to ensure a prosperous life, only to step into the clouded uncertainty of writing.What I found particularly impressive about Crichton’s backstory is that he began writing books while he was in Med School. How one finds the time and energy to write books against the rigorous backdrop of medical training only highlights Chrichton’s passion.Imagine - studying for 12 hours straight, and then saying, “OK - now - I think I’m going to get a few hours of writing in.”He actually used a pen name (John Lange) at the time because he didn’t want his writing to impact his medical career. Which it didn’, because he never practiced medicine in the end.So…per the earlier reference of that difficult Dad conversation - it wasn’t as difficult a conversation as you might have guessed.Why?Before Crichton finished his medical training, he had already written several books, one was a hugely successful book, The Andromeda Strain, which he sold the rights to for $250K (or 1.6M in today’s dollars) at age 27.As he continued down the uncertain path of writing, foregoing the millions in earnings as a Harvard educated doctor, his passion carried him and the pursuit proved quite fortuitous, earning hundreds of millions of dollars.He has a huge list of books that are worth reading. And even if his name is completely foreign to you, the vast majority of you are already familiar with his work in some form.His books that later became the films:Congo, West World (Movie and show), Sphere, Rising Sun, The 13th Warrior, ER(the TV show), Twister.And last, and certainly not least, we can all thank him for:

King Leopold II of Belgium.Belgium’s colonization of the Congo is to often over looked. King Leopold was the founder of the International African Association, a charity organization that was suppose to improve the lives of Africans.From 1885 to 1908 King Leopold took over the Congo, Belgium farmed Ivory and Rubber turning this region into a big money making industry.The King enslaved an entire nation, buy forcing the people to work. His policies where harsh and cruel.. The entire population was enslaved. The people where forced to harvest rubber as a form of paying Tax. The quotas for the rubber was huge.. Slaves who did not meet their quota where dismembered, killed or beaten. Beatings could be anything from 25 to 100 lashes with a whip made from hippopotamus hide, these beatings often resulting in deaths.. The Belgium’s enlisted African soldiers to enforce the rules, these soldiers where also given a quota. They had to full their baskets with hands, to show that their rules where being enforced.. Because the slaves had a poor diet and where beaten and tortured millions died of disease and starvation.. Villages where burnt down, if the rubber they harvested was off poor quality, or they could not make the quota.. In order to create complete fear, woman and children where tortured.One African soldier reported that his European commander had ordered him to make an example of the town. “He ordered us to cut off the heads of the men and hang them on the village palisades, also their sexual members,” the soldier said, “and to hang the women and children on the palisade in the form of a cross.”. The Belgium’s recruited a tribe called the Zappo Zaps, this tribe was rather brutal, they would eat the bodies of anyone they murdered.The papers reported this after a massacre, “Some of the victims were eaten by cannibals. [ . . . ] The bodies of all who were slain were mutilated, their heads having been cut off. [ . . . ] From three bodies, the flesh has been carved and eaten.”This is the sad and brutal state the people lived in under the Belgium. A dark page of history forgotten by so many.Romania’s Nicolae and Elena CeausescuIn 1981, Ceausescu began an austerity program designed to enable Romania to liquidate its entire national debt ($10 billion). To achieve this, many basic goods, including gas, heat and food were rationed, which drastically reduced the standard of living in Romania. The secret police, Securitate, had become so ubiquitous as to make Romania essentially a police state. Free speech was limited and opinions that did not favor the Communist Party were forbidden. Even by Soviet bloc standards, the Securitate was exceptionally brutal.Basic human rights was ignored, people where thrown into prison, forced to work in horrible conditions. Romania came into the spot light during the 1989 Revolution, which saw the end of the Ceausescu regime. The world watched as the people stood up and fought the regime, and for the first time the free world could see for themselves the hardship the Romanian people had to endure.However it was the Orphanages that came under the spotlight. The children where often abused, over crowded, neglected, unhygienic, food and clothing shortages, no heat during the winter months, lack of medical attention. Children where just left to lie in cribs, some never learned to walk or crawl. Babies just left to cry, children given no emotional connection, no hugs, no love. No mental stimulation, just nothing. What was to become of these children? How many died? Where are they today?Romanian orphanage under Ceausescu regime. There is evil in this world. No child should have been treated this way.

Why should you do anything? The book is an indication of the sweep of history. Ideas, perceptions, definitions, academic understandings, working social theories…these all change over time. I think the DSM listed “same sex attraction” as a mental illness of some form until 1987. You might want to check that exact year.I would save the book as a part of the past, as a part of your understanding of how the world is now, and how it once was. Use it to understand how knowledge has been presented. Find those things in the book that are still considered true and accurate. Read what it says about the various forms of cancer. See if it discusses “nervous breakdowns,” or for that matter peptic ulcers. 1960 is not really that long ago. But, medical understanding and knowledge has changed and advanced tremendously since then.You will occasionally hear various groups say things like “racism is worse today than it has ever been in this nation.” If you believe that, I invite you to spend a few hours reading any US newspaper from the first part of the twentieth century. Very soon, as your skin thickens, you will begin to understand how far the nation, and for that matter the world, has advanced, and how inaccurate statements of this nature are.You are the owner of a flawed and very interesting treasure.