I’m one day behind in making my way through the New York Times.  In Sunday’s section on books there was a review of Michael Crichton’s new book “Next”.  I’ve no idea if the book is any good or not, but I got a kick out of the first paragraph the reviewer (Dave Itzkoff) wrote:

Through the moment may lack the inherent gravitas of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s encounter with Abraham Lincoln, or even Elvis Presley’s private audience with Richard Nixon, surely history should reserve a special place for the day in 2005 when Michael Crichton was invited to the White House to meet with George W. Bush.  Imagine: the modern era’s leading purveyor of alarmist fiction, seated side by side with Michael Crichton.  Oh, to be a concealed recording system in that Oval Office!  Did Crichton confess to his host that he’d been inspired to write “Rising Sun” by a certain Poppy in chief with a propensity for puking on Japanese dignitaries?  Did our president tell Crichton he found the dinosaurs of “Jurassic Park” every bit as frightening as our ancestors did at the dawn of time, 6,000 years ago?

Incidentally, that Nixon/Presley meeting is one that continues to fascinate.  According to

a recent AP article, the whole meeting may have been arranged by Presley just to get a police badge to add to his collection (makes sense to me).  Incidentally, the photo below remains the #1 requested article in the National Archives - even though the meeting took place on December 21, 1970.