A MULTIMEDIA RENAISSANCE MAN

I HAVE BEEN READING BOOKS BY MIchael Crichton [SHOW BUSINESS, Sept. 25] since encountering the first paperback edition of The Andromeda Strain in high school. I have never read Crichton for his characters, and his occasional lack of interest in them is not necessarily a shortcoming. I read Crichton because he is my most reliable guide to areas of cutting-edge technology, foreign culture and intrigue in corporations and courts of law. To acquire this degree of diversity while writing to entertain and inform the general public is a magnificent achievement. DAVID J. SCHOW Los Angeles

MICHAEL CRICHTON BRINGS EVERYTHING together: science fiction, detail, cutting-edge technology and tremendous imagination. Time did an excellent job of presenting the literary qualities that make his books so enjoyable. But I am disappointed that Sphere was not mentioned. It packs in all that I enjoy, and in my opinion it is his best work. MATTHEW SKILLING Macon, Georgia aol: Vince12

A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW, THE name Michael Crichton will be a trivia answer, and his books will be out of print, worth nothing but regret for the trees felled to make them. Meanwhile, America's true pre-eminent novelist of ideas and scientific conundrums, Don DeLillo, will be taught in university courses, read in classic paperback reprints and celebrated for his genius. Why is the future always smarter than the present? DAN POPE West Hartford, Connecticut

THE NOVEL WAS A BLOCKBUSTER: A SMALL group of adventurers, their leader a renowned scientist, travel to a remote, isolated South American location. Shortly after their arrival, they encounter, to their amazement, living dinosaurs. The explorers are separated, and after several harrowing incidents just barely manage to escape, leaving the prehistoric beasts behind. Jurassic Park? No. It is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 science-fiction classic The Lost World--coincidentally the title of Crichton's Jurassic Park sequel. While Crichton is a master of weaving the latest technology into his tales, he has no problem reaching into the past for inspiration. STEVEN T. DOYLE Zionsville, Indiana Via E-mail

CHANGES IN WELFARE

IN YOUR ARTICLE ON PROPOSED REFORMS in the welfare system [CONGRESS, Sept. 25] you referred to me and my "family cap" amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill. I would like to clarify what this amendment does and does not do. Simply put, my amendment gives states the option of imposing a "family cap" on benefits for children born into welfare families or to teenage mothers. My amendment does not, as some have implied, endorse additional payments to welfare families or adolescent mothers, nor does it impose another federal mandate on states. It only gives states the option of determining who deserves welfare benefits. PETE V. DOMENICI U.S. Senator, New Mexico Washington

MOTHERS TO THE WORKPLACE

THANK YOU FOR MARGARET CARLSON'S column on the conservatives' drive to send welfare mothers into the workplace, no matter how lowly the job [PUBLIC EYE, Sept. 25]. Finally a report that illustrates the Republicans' true motives for reforming welfare: punishment for women who parent alone. Women are often on welfare because they have chosen to leave bad relationships. Many Republicans see this as an assault on their "family values" system, in which a nuclear family seems to be more important than a woman's life. In the welfare debate as a whole, the concentration of politicians on "women as mothers" while ignoring "men as fathers" further punishes women. Since they are the most easily identified parent and often the more committed, it leaves men with little incentive to acknowledge paternity or pay their fair share and may even push them farther from their children. Why don't we cap the number of children a man can have? KATHERINE WOODS-ELIOT Portland, Oregon Via E-mail

IT IS APPALLING THAT CHILDBEARING and child rearing will soon be considered a privilege reserved only for the middle and upper classes. JOEL REYNA JR. Oakland, California

NEARING A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT

I HOPE THE LATEST NATO CAMPAIGN in Bosnia is a genuine effort toward peace by the West [THE BALKANS, Sept. 25]. If it is only part of President Clinton's agenda for domestic policy, then he is walking on a razor's edge. TOMMI SLUNGA Rovaniemi, Finland Via E-mail

YOU REFERRED TO U.S. STATE DEPARTment official Richard Holbrooke's "diplomatic coup" in negotiating the Serbs' promise to withdraw their heavy weapons from around Sarajevo. I'm sorry, but it's hardly a "diplomatic coup" when you bomb the hell out of people and they finally do what you tell them to do. I'm absolutely not taking sides, but semantics can be dangerous. Remember back when the Vietnamese people were being "pacified"? DARRELL HORN Winnipeg, Manitoba

BOTH SIDES IN THE BOSNIAN CONFLICT are fighting desperately for what they believe to be "their" homeland, and for freedom from perceived domination by the other side. Sadly, clashes of this nature seem to be increasingly common. The Serbs are especially apprehensive because they know the Muslims of the Balkans, along with those of the wider world, possess the most effective weapon of all in such conflicts--the demographic weapon. Look for the name Kosovo in the news in the future. LLOYD JUDD Oxley, Australia

ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I WROTE A LETTER TO the White House suggesting that the U.S. should follow a policy essentially parallel to the one the West adheres to now: an ultimatum to the Serbs followed by massive air strikes if there was noncompliance. I did not even exclude Belgrade from the list of possible bombing targets. Of course, this letter was not answered; there must be thousands who assail the White House with well-meaning albeit foolish recommendations. But I cannot help thinking that had the U.S. followed such a policy a year ago, thousands of innocent lives might have been saved and the war might be over by now. WALTER GRUNWALD Denver

IN DESCRIBING THE TERRITORIAL ISSUES still to be resolved in the Balkans, you stated that they "could be reduced to Sarajevo, eastern Slovenia and Gorazde." While I am aware that most Americans can't tell Slovenia from Slavonia or Slovakia, I am surprised nobody found that assertion strange. Fortunately, eastern Slovenia (or for that matter the rest of it) is in no way an "outstanding territorial issue" that needs to be resolved in the Balkan conflict. SANDI KODRIC Ljubljana, Slovenia Via E-mail

AT LONG LAST, SOME LEADERSHIP ON Bosnia. The nato air strikes should have been carried out at least two years ago. Instead there was a policy that was nothing short of pathetic. Let us hope the Serbs get the message and peace can finally be obtained. If not, NATO should continue the attacks. BILL ZEID Campbell, California Via America Online

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LOSSES

IN DISCUSSING SECURITY THREATS TO the collections at the Library of Congress [JUSTICE, Sept. 25], you erred in stating that the library's losses from damage and mutilation amount to nearly $1.8 million "just since 1991." In fact, Library of Congress staff members, partly as a result of a stepped-up security effort begun in 1992, have discovered $1.8 million worth of mutilations, all or some of which could have occurred before the stacks were closed in 1992. Our discoveries of extensive damage were reported in open hearings before Congress in June 1993. In citing investigations involving other agencies, TIME failed to mention that the library's own inspector general's office either is taking the lead or is actively involved in all but one, the General Accounting Office's inquiry. In citing union charges that the library is "out of control," TIME omitted the fact that library union leaders have opposed or delayed most of our major security measures taken since 1992. SUZANNE THORIN, Chief of Staff Library of Congress Washington

TAKING ANOTHER MEDICAL ROUTE

I WAS OVERJOYED TO SEE A REPORT ON homeopathy [HEALTH, Sept. 25], but after reading it I was dismayed. You made it seem that homeopathy treats specific illnesses with specific remedies, missing the point that its beauty lies in its treatment of the person as a whole from a mental, emotional and physical standpoint. This individualization of the treatment to the person, not the specific illness, is what separates homeopathy from conventional medicine as well as most other alternative therapies. If, in years to come, homeopathy is awarded its rightful place in medicine, the world will be much healthier and happier. HOWARD FINE Westport, Connecticut

BEGINNING WITH A REFERENCE TO ME AS a "leading proselytizer of homeopathy" rather than an advocate or educator, your article showed bias. Despite what skeptics say, homeopathic medicine does not defy the laws of nature; it extends our understanding of them. Just as quantum physics did not disprove Newtonian physics but added to it by providing more precise comprehension of very small and very large systems, quantum physics (especially chaos and complexity theories, fractals and the biophysics of water) will help us better understand the very small doses used in homeopathic medicine.

Some skeptics refer to the placebo effect of homeopathic medicine. If this is valid, how does homeopathy work with infants, children and animals? Medical science should be thought of not as a noun but as a verb. It is an ever changing, ever evolving system of knowledge and improving health. To dismiss homeopathy simply because it does not fit within the old and incomplete understanding of pharmacology is not scientific. DANA ULLMAN Homeopathic Educational Services Berkeley, California

IN RESEARCH AT UCLA FUNDED BY THE Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, we have found that essentially everyone who seeks homeopathic care does so only after a repeated lack of success with mainstream "scientific" medicine. After four months of treatment, a clear majority of these individuals report significant improvement, and they attribute it largely to homeopathy. Given the relatively dismal record of mainstream medicine in dealing with so many chronic conditions, the dismissive tone of your story seems somewhat premature. MICHAEL S. GOLDSTEIN, Professor DEBORAH GLIK, Associate Professor School of Public Health University of California Los Angeles

ADVOCATES OF HOMEOPATHY POINT WITH pride to the thousands of pharmacies, hundreds of thousands of patients and support from celebrities as "proof" that homeopathy works. Many homeopaths in America are devotees of dowsing, astrology and other New Age quackery. An old proverb says, "If thousands of people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." Public opinion and testimonials from famous people are not the ways of science, but homeopaths have nothing better to back up their spurious claims.

I for one was happy to sign the petition asking the FDA to require that homeopathic preparations meet the same standards of safety and efficacy required of other drugs because homeopathic remedies are not yet proved. And "not yet proved" should not be construed as permission to offer "medical" products to the unsuspecting public. MAHLON W. WAGNER Liverpool, New York Via E-mail

LUCKILY, THE PUBLIC IS APPARENTLY NOT listening to the "experts" you cite. I find more and more people are turning to natural alternatives like homeopathy either because standard medicine could not help them or because they seek a safer alternative from the start. TIMOTHY W. FIOR, M.D. Bloomingdale, Illinois

PATERNO-ISM

THE PIECE ABOUT PENN STATE FOOTBALL coach Joe Paterno was a refreshing footnote to the sordid state of college football [SPORT, Sept. 25]. Unfortunately, Paterno is not a role model for other administrators and alumni when selecting coaches with the "total person" concept. BARD K. MANSAGER Salinas, California Via E-mail

SOME YEARS AGO, A FRIEND WHO WAS AN outstanding high school lineman received a full scholarship to play football at Penn State. Because he played less at Penn State than he expected to, I asked him if he would rather have gone to a smaller school and played regularly. He said, "No, it was worth it just to be around Joe Paterno." STEWART G. SPEERS West Chester, Pennsylvania

MIAMI BEACH WOOS GAY TOURISTS

YOUR ARTICLE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF the gay travel market to Miami Beach's economy was interesting [TOURISM, Sept. 25] but a bit careless. The statement that gays "typically have far more disposable income than do straights" and the quote from the pollster who says that gays "clearly spend disproportionately more on travel than any other group" can only serve to fan the flame of a newer, supposedly more positive stereotype of gay and lesbian people. But still a stereotype. JEFFREY MOSTADE Cleveland, Ohio Via E-mail

THAT WAS AN INFORMATIVE ARTICLE ON the city of Miami Beach promoting itself as "the gay and lesbian destination of the '90s!" I can understand that these people want a place to go where they won't be hassled by others. I hope city officials will also understand that my family can now cross off Miami Beach from our list of vacation choices. DICK ALABACK Tulsa, Oklahoma

THANK YOU FOR PORTRAYING THE GAY population for what it is: a simple demographic variation in the spectrum of human diversity. It's unfortunate that the hate-obsessed and perpetually offended continue to waste their time trying to stigmatize homosexuality, which seems as ubiquitous--and natural--as heterosexuality. The rest of us will continue to celebrate the magnificent diversity of humankind and, like Miami Beach, enjoy the economic benefits of reality-based capitalism. JAKE STIGERS Cedar Rapids, Iowa

SADLY MISSED

TO PARAPHRASE SIR ARTHUR CONAN Doyle, it was with a heavy heart that I read of the sudden death of British actor Jeremy Brett [CHRONICLES, Sept. 25]. He was the best Sherlock Holmes ever. He will be sadly missed by Sherlockians everywhere in the world. JUNE M. WORTH Philadelphia

WHEN JEREMY BRETT DIED, SO DID SHERlock Holmes for me. Thank God for videotapes of his performances. BEN CRIPS Cheyenne, Wyoming

WOMEN UNITED

THE WOMEN GATHERED AT BEIJING [WOMEN'S RIGHTS, Sept. 18] were all for one in the sense that they met together at one place to talk about various issues concerning women and find solutions to their problems. At the same time, they had different points of view and troubles to share. But the position of women in any part of the world cannot change until they want it to. Each and every woman who is being discriminated against has to stop adjusting to her present state by adopting a fatalistic attitude toward it. All those who are placed in similar situations have to act as one. RITU TOMAR New Delhi