Origin

Title: Origin

Author: Dan Brown

Publisher: Corgi Books, 2018 (First published 2017)

ISBN: 9780552174169

Pages: 542

I generally don’t read fiction. And even when I do it occasionally, don’t pause to review it. But the Lockdown in force in the country for the last 25 days to curb the spread of the Corona virus disease has exhausted my collection of books taken from libraries which remain closed. This leaves me with no other option than to delve into my daughter’s book shelf which has some fine popular titles of fiction. Dan Brown is my favourite author for easy reading and I have read all of his works yet. Hence this book turned out to be a pleasant, thrilling and informative read. In this latest volume featuring Robert Langdon as the protagonist, Brown narrates the story of a genius computer scientist who found the answers to the two fundamental questions human societies always struggled to solve – where do we come from and where are we going – and the forces that try to stop him from revealing his findings to the wider world. The man gets shot on stage while beginning the live presentation of his story and Langdon, who was also his former teacher, then tries to unlock the information encrypted with a 47-character secret password, facing great risks to his personal safety and assisted by Ambra Vidal, the fiancé to the crown prince of Spain. As usual, the novel ends with the victory of the hero.

Earlier Brown novels that leaned on art and architecture had chosen Italy as the setting with its large number of magnificent cathedrals and intriguing castles at the author’s disposal – in a literary sense. This book’s storyline unfolds in Spain, in the cities of Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid. Readers note with a sense of revelation the amazing legacy of Spain in art and architecture. Brown’s novels, especially this one, are excellent primer to art. In addition to the human characters, the Guggenheim Art Museum in Bilbao, the Casa Mila and the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona also find crucial significance in the narrative. Judging from the experience in The Da Vinci Code, readers are advised to exercise caution even though the author declares in the epigraph that all art, architecture, locations, science and religious organisations described in this book are real. In the Code, he falsely argues that the person who sits next to Jesus in the Passover meal table was Mary Magdalene because the figure looks feminine to the modern eye. That character was indeed the apostle John and it was an artistic device of the Middle Ages to portray male figures with a touch of effeminacy. Anyway, this book’s description appears to be in accordance with established conventions. Readers should make a Google search of the art pieces and museums to fully appreciate the descriptive flow and to get themselves introduced to the wonderful world of art.

Brown assigns religion the role of a gentle benefactor to the human race. Through a padre in the story, he suggests that religion should stop rejecting the discoveries of science and stop denouncing provable facts. It should become a spiritual partner of science using its vast experience to help humanity build a moral framework and ensure that the coming technologies will unify, illuminate and raise humanity up. At the same time, he does not overlook the violent side of organized religion as another character admits that historically, the most dangerous men on earth were men of God, especially when their gods became threatened. They think that there is righteousness in whatever they do. It also hints at the opposition to the liberal Pope Francis in the Catholic Church. Some of them want a return to the strict conservative ethos and fear that a Pope who was permitting the followers to pick and choose from a buffet table of God’s laws, deciding which rules was palatable to them and which were not is a recipe to disaster.

Another important impression the readers get from the book is the increasing power and ubiquity of computers that have reached the threshold of the capability to make decisions on the fate and destiny of human beings. A very smart artificial intelligence (AI) software designed by Edmond Kirsch – our scientist in the novel – hosted on a powerful quantum supercomputer plays an unimaginably intricate and strategic game in the story. This powerful computer, named Winston, can understand speech, think logically, talk and even appreciate art. Admittedly this is still a few years in the future, but its appearance in the real world is more of a question of when than if.

Brown also hits out at irresponsible journalism of the paparazzi variety. It strives to incite controversy by broadcasting ideas that are patently absurd, all the while avoiding legal repercussions by turning every ludicrous statement into a leading question. As in the case of all of Brown’s works, this book also is a page-turner. He knows how to rivet the readers’ attention along with the flow of the impressively written story.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star