It was kind of buried in all the election news but Michael Crichton died today. He lost his battle with cancer. I didn't even know he was sick.
Jurassic Park is a great book (and a pretty fun movie) and he created ER the TV show which I still sometimes watch and has been good for a long time.
Here is the story
http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/11/67369/