WASHINGTON (AFP) - Michael Crichton, author of "Jurassic Park," and his newest book cast doubt the danger of global warming, an issue dividing scientists and politicians around the world.

 

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Just one month after being published, Crichton's suspense-packed, 600-page "State of Fear" has already climbed to the top of US best-seller lists.

However, the book has also thrust itself into a scientific and political debate, unusual for a work of fiction.

And its notoriety should only grow as world climate specialists gather in England in early February to hash out the latest studies on global warming, which are expected to offer further evidence that the Earth is overheating.

Crichton is the author of more than a dozen best-sellers, which have sold over 100 million copies in 30 languages worldwide. He is also the creator of the international hit television hospital drama series "E.R."

Into "State of Fear," he has packed all the classic ingredients of the thriller genre: action, suspense, sex and greed.

But he adds a twist by choosing as his villain an organization ostensibly dedicated to environmental protection.

To convince people of the threat of global warming and to attract more money, the organization itself turns terrorist, plotting man-made "natural" catastrophes like a tsunami or the breakoff of a giant iceberg in the Antarctic.

The book's hero is lawyer Peter Evans, who starts out on the side of the environmentalists until being convinced they are extremists, and who then helps to block their schemes.

What also makes "State of Fear" different, for a thriller, are the factual footnotes and graphic illustrations, which Crichton offers the reader to show that the threat of global warming is exaggerated. Crichton further defends his views in a separate appendix.

"Nobody knows how much of the present warming trend might be a natural phenomenon. Nobody knows how much of the present warming trend might be man-made. Nobody knows how much warming will occur in the next century", he writes.

Although Crichton insists he has no political agenda, the book closely parallels the views of the administration of US President George W. Bush (news - web sites), which also has dismissed scientific reports of global warming and has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol (news - web sites) against climate change.

Some Bush administration supporters have latched onto Crichton's book as support for this position. Republican Senator James Inhofe has declared that "State of Fear" gives "the true story" of global warming.

Influential conservative columnist George Will likewise said that the book's "millions of readers" will from now on greet reports of natural catastrophes with sharp skepticism.

Speaking on January 28 to a full house at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think-tank, Crichton said he was "very disturbed" by what he learned during three years of researching his book.

He said he regretted "how science is being manipulated by political motivations," how scientific studies are accepted without proof, and how the media prefers alarmism to fact.

Unsurprisingly, scientists have leaped to their defense to denounce Crichton's views. Some of those consulted by Crichton during his research have accused the author of distorting their work to create "science fiction."

"Like the recent movie 'The Day after Tomorrow,' the novel addresses real scientific issues and controversies, but is similarly selective (and occasionally mistaken) about the basic science," said Gavin Schmidt of the Goddard Institute and the website RealClimate.com, which reports and reviews research on global warming.

Right or wrong on the science, Crichton can be certain of the outcome of his plunge into the global warming debate: an increase in his fame and, with the book already in fourth place in the New York Times best-seller list, a fattening of his bank account.