His works, such as Prey, State of Fear, and Congo, had gripped readers for decades, and one of the future writers he would later have a profound impact on was Richard Preston. The BeginningsĪnybody who has seen the Jurassic Park movies and enjoyed them can thank the work of science fiction/thriller writer Michael Crichton. Having hacked his way through this jungle, leading the way for others to follow, Preston then decided to jump into the world of fiction. Preston had discovered the power of using non-fiction writing in this way from John McPhee, another writer for The New Yorker, while Preston was in school working towards his doctorate, noting that non-fiction primarily appeared to be an unexplored field of writing. It was written in a style that kept the reader glued to their chair, unable to put the book down, needing to know how the threat of Ebola could be contained.

While a nonfiction narrative, it was much more than that. It even spawned Wolfgang Peterson’s 1995 film Outbreak.īut for Preston, this wasn’t the end. Preston’s impact on Ebola research was so significant during this time that American Scientist would later say in 1999 that his The Hot Zone was one of the most game-changing books written within the field of science within the past hundred years. Preston was just a shy bookworm who had just written something of interest that would change the world. A flurry of research began regarding this virus, despite the author's lack of formal medical or microbiological training.

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