It is bad enough that the powers that be in the government have done their level best to reverse the good work done by environmental agencies and groups throughout the country, but Crichton adds insult to injury by forwarding a faulty premise of nervous researchers vying for grant dollars. The research has already been done folks. And the numbers issued by government agencies are now showing that the current administration's policies are undoing years of work. People are going to read this work of FICTION and interpret it as FACT. Simply put: State of Fear is pure hogwash. For a better perspective on what is happening with the environment, read Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's new book, Collapse.