Dan Brown's new book, "Origins," is out. A new novel about the adventures of Robert Langdon. This book was placed on pre-order and upon arrival immediately fell into my greedy hands, and in two evenings was read. The novel is insanely entertaining and very interesting. I'll try to put my thoughts together and tell you everything in order.
Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the best selling novels of all time as well as the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars. Brown’s novels are published in 52 languages around the world with 200 million copies in print.
The first good thing about this book is that it is set in one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. I have to hand it to Brown, he describes this wonderful city beautifully. You learn about the great Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia - the Temple of the Holy Family, Casa Mila, Park Guell and many other amazing places. At the same time, the author does not stop at descriptions and tells about the history of these sights. If you have not been to Barcelona, you will definitely want to visit there, and if you have been, you will feel the smell of Paella, the taste of Sangria and a light sea breeze.
The Sagrada Familia, the Temple of the Holy Family, occupies an entire block in the center of Barcelona. Despite the colossal size of the cathedral, it seems to float freely above the ground and the airy line of spires soars effortlessly into the Catalan sky. The intricate, porous and variegated towers make the temple look like a whimsical sand castle built by a mischievous giant. The tallest of the eighteen towers, when completed, will rise to a height of one hundred and seventy meters - taller than the Washington Monument. The Sagrada Familia will then become the tallest temple in the world, surpassing St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican by more than thirty meters.
Brown is amazing at capturing the atmosphere of great cities, their architecture and appeal. When I was in Rome, I kept thinking of the novel Angels and Demons; now, in all likelihood, Barcelona will evoke associations with The Origin.
The second plus of the book is a lot of interesting scientific facts, mathematical, physical and otherwise. I don't know how reliable these facts are, but the descriptions are very convincing and fascinating. For example, the history of Francisco Franco, his rise to power, dictatorship and strict patriarchal views. Darwin's theory of evolution, Miller and Uri's experiments, and attempts at an act of creation. Descriptions of various scientific and historical facts are woven into an interesting plot and written in accessible language.
- Imagine that you are walking down a very long corridor with no beginning or end in sight. Behind you you hear a ball bouncing right at you. It keeps getting closer, and closer, then skips past, jumps farther, and finally, disappears from view. The question is not whether the ball is bouncing. Obviously, it jumps, you have seen it with your own eyes. The question is, why does it bounce? And how did it start bouncing? Did somebody throw it? Or is it some kind of special ball that likes to bounce? Or are the laws of physics in the hallway such that the ball has to bounce all the time? So it is with evolution: we can't look far enough back in time to figure out how the process began.
Reflections on how life appeared on earth. The creation of man, was it a divine or physical process, or maybe alien? Who then created this universe, if life came from the primary broth, who created its ingredients? Is there a great divine origin, or is everything in this world simply a physical pattern? You will have more questions as you read it than answers.
The plot of the book is also a definite plus as it is intriguing, exciting and interesting.
A former student and friend of Robert Langdon, a billionaire, a futurist and a computer genius, Edmond Kirsch made a discovery that could turn the world upside down and knock the ground out from under all existing religions. He found the answer to the eternal questions: "Where do we come from?" and "What awaits us?" He invites Robert to a presentation of his discovery at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Before he can make his announcement, he is murdered and Professor Langdon must decipher the coded message to get to the secret and make it public.
The book reads in one breath, but has one significant drawback. The action of the novel unfolds as if on Brown's particular schedule. Langdon necessarily with a beautiful companion runs away, they are caught up, he deciphers codes and messages. From novel to novel, this scheme makes up the plot, and so there is involuntary deja vu with Angels and Demons or Inferno, well, or any novel about Langdon.
I could write about this novel indefinitely more, as this disadvantage does not spoil the book or detract from the mysteries. Undoubtedly for fans of Langdon the book will go well, as it is even better than "Inferno". And in general, for fans of this genre, which I include myself to, the book is ideal.
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