State of Fear

　　「彼得，每一個獨立主權的國家如果要控制人民的行為，使他們安分守己、溫馴聽話，使他們開車靠右、乖乖繳稅，最好的方式就是恐懼。……儘管某個特定的恐懼原因改變了，我們依然離不開恐懼的糾纏。恐懼滲透到我們社會的每一個角落、生活的每一個層面。我們自以為住在不同的國家──法國、德國、日本、美國──其實我們都生活在同一個國家：恐懼國。」

　　對艾文斯而言，好像每一件事都是慢動作的倒帶。海嘯的大浪像燒開的沸水，冒著泡泡，越過沙灘，奔向叢林，把所有的綠完全包在泡泡底下。

　　水繼續滾開，沸騰的海浪衝向他們，然後突然慢下來，急速退去。下面人車已不見蹤影，許多樹被連根拔起，隨著退潮而進入海洋。

　　浪退回海洋，越退越遠，露出更多的沙灘，終於不見。海洋又是一片平靜，好像不曾發生這件事。

　　「這是第一個，」凱納說：「下一個會更大。」

　　《恐懼之邦》綜合了奇情詭譎的情節、先進的科技以及卓越的調查研究，充滿讓人坐立難安的懸疑以及引發爭論的想法：在現代這個世界，知識是如何地被操控而不為人知。本書是克萊頓探討範圍最廣的懸疑小說，它使你透不過氣來，同時卻使你深思。

　　STATE OF FEAR is a superb blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought provoking commentary on how information is manipulated in the modern world. From the streets of Paris, to the glaciers of Antarctica to the exotic and dangerous Solomon Islands, STATE OF FEAR takes the reader on a rollercoaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear.

作者簡介

　　Michael Crichton, who died in Los Angeles on November 4, 2008, was a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER. His most recent novel, Next, about genetics and law, was published in December 2006.

　　Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, researching public policy with Jacob Bronowski. He taught courses in anthropology at Cambridge University and writing at MIT. Crichton's 2004 bestseller, State of Fear, acknowledged the world was growing warmer, but challenged extreme anthropogenic warming scenarios. He predicted future warming at 0.8 degrees C. (His conclusions have been widely misstated.)

　　Crichton's interest in computer modeling went back forty years. His multiple-discriminant analysis of Egyptian crania, carried out on an IBM 7090 computer at Harvard, was published in the Papers of the Peabody Museum in 1966. His technical publications included a study of host factors in pituitary chromophobe adenoma, in Metabolism, and an essay on medical obfuscation in the New England Journal of Medicine.

　　Crichton's first bestseller, The Andromeda Strain, was published while he was still a medical student. He later worked full time on film and writing. One of the most popular writers in the world, his books have been translated into thirty-six languages, and thirteen have been made into films.

　　He had a lifelong interest in computers. His feature film Westworld was the first to employ computer-generated special effects back in 1973. Crichton's pioneering use of computer programs for film production earned him a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 1995.

　　Crichton won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award for ER. In 2002, a newly discovered ankylosaur was named for him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini. He had a daughter, Taylor, and lived in Los Angeles. Crichton remarried in 2005.