How incredibly sad. There aren't a lot of authors who can attract a wide audience and keep them interested in reading, and keep the content at least somewhat based in science. I realize he was a fiction writer, but imagining what science might be capable of is the basis for scientific discovery.
Yeah, I was pretty bummed. My first Crichton book was The Andromada Strain in high school. Ian read Jurassic Park at age 7 and begged to see the movie (I was concerned about the graphic violence, but ended up taking him anyway). The last one I read was Timeline, and I have yet to see the movie version (I'm all into that Medieval stuff).
(and my subscription here seems to have expired)
Crichton is a terrible loss to the writing community. While he often played fast and loose with the science in his novels, he succesfully reached out to a wide audience with thought provoking stories and an ability to reflect and comment on our society in a manner not seen since the time of the great sci-fi authors of the 50's and '60's such as Asimov, Van Vogt and others.
He will be missed.