HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR YOU

http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Vintage-Departures-Michael-Crichton/dp/0804171270/

As amazing as any of his fiction novels is this autobiography by Michael Crichton.

It is brutally frank about his failings.  

Yet is done with wit and humor and self-effacing observations on his growth as a human being.

A Harvard medical-school graduate, inveterate traveler and author of, among other books,  

The Great Train Robbery  and WestWorld (the film versions of which he directed), 

Crichton seeks in immediate experience of new places and cultures

to "redefine" himself and uncover the nature of reality. 

His curiosity and self-deprecating humor animate recitals of adventures

tracking animals in Malay jungles, climbing Kilimanjaro

(after reading of his climb to that mountain's summit, you will never be tempted to do it yourself!)

musing atop a mysterious Mayan pyramid in the Yucatan, 

trekking across a landslide in Pakistan, 

scuba diving in the Caribbean and New Guinea and amid sharks in Tahiti with his sister.

You will marvel at his unconscious self-destructive pattern of traveling in unwise circumstances.

You meet his sister (whom his father once beat so badly that the timid mother nearly called the police), 

his big hearted brother, his mother, and his aloof, troubled journalist father.

 The first quarter of the book

chronicles his gradual disillusionment with medical school and his decision not to practice medicine. 

You will never think of the medical profession in quite the same way after reading this section.

Which is not too surprising to a student of history: 

For most of human history, doctors have done more harm than good. 

Their treatments consisted of inducing vomiting or diarrhea and, most common of all, bleeding their patients.

Crichton's accounts of visits to remote places in Asia and Africa present a perspective on his personal life. 

Shuffled among these chapters are accounts of psychic experiences 

that include channeling, exorcism, and spoon-bending and end with a defense of "paranormal experience." 

 Crichton had an interesting life, which he writes about in a crisp and disarmingly frank manner. 

His inner "travels" offer something for almost everyone.

 Crichton explains the reasons that prompted him to write this book:

"If you are a writer, the assimilation of important experiences almost obliges you to write about them. 

Writing is how you make the experience your own, how you explore what it means to you, 

how you come to possess it, and ultimately release it."

Crichton explores our need for direct experience. 

His premise is that modern man has lost his innate sense of himself and existence, 

relying on opinions, concepts and information structures, second hand knowledge, 

in order to make sense of the world, which, in the end, is a false perception. 

You can geet a HARDCOVER for just a penny

at Amazon! 

Go on, take a chance.