John Michael Crichton or Michael Crichton pronEng?kra?t?n (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American (United States) author, producer (film producer), director (film director), screenwriter, and medical school graduate, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller (techno-thriller) genres. His books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted into films. In 1994, Crichton became the only creative artist ever to have works simultaneously charting at #1 in television, film, and book sales (with ER (ER (TV series)), Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park (film)), and Disclosure (Disclosure (novel)), respectively).

His literary works were usually based on the action (Action genre) genre and heavily feature technology. His novels epitomised the techno-thriller genre of literature, often exploring technology and failures of human interaction with it, especially resulting in catastrophes with biotechnology (biological technology). Many of his future history novels have medical (Medicine) or scientific (Science) underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and science background. Among others, he was the author of Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Congo (Congo (novel)), Travels (Travels (book)), Sphere (Sphere (novel)), Rising Sun (Rising Sun (novel)), Disclosure (Disclosure (novel)), The Lost World (The Lost World (Crichton novel)), Airframe (Airframe (novel)), Timeline (Timeline (novel)), Prey (Prey (novel)), State of Fear, Next (Next (novel)) (the final book published before his death), Pirate Latitudes (to be published November 24, 2009), and a final unfinished techno-thriller (Michael Crichtons untitled posthumous novel) to be released in the fall of 2010.