Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Secret of Secrets
Author: Dan Brown
Narration by: Paul Michael
Dan Brown (Author, famous American writer of thrillers who wrote “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” among others.)
Dan Brown’s fictional Robert Langdon is made famous by Tom Hanks in the “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons” movies. The author’s “…Secret of Secrets” will add to Brown’s fame. Brown is a polished writer who has created another imaginative story that blends myth with belief that is as entertaining as Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Like Sherlock Holmes, Robert Langdon is a polymath who has knowledge of science and life that beggars one’s imagination.
To remind listeners of Brown’s earlier works, his hero is Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious iconology and symbology. Langdon’s extraordinary ability is like Sherlock Holmes’ in that he can integrate knowledge with abstruse details of Brown’s created characters and circumstances. Langdon is a friend of Katherine Solomon, a scientist who has written a book that allegedly explains how human consciousness exists after physical death. Solomon argues consciousness is a fundamental force in the universe that challenges belief in materialism and religious doctrine. Consciousness beyond death challenges belief in ethics, free will, and the fundamental nature of reality. Consciences of every deceased person lives in a cosmic space containing the many minds of all humans that have died. There is no God. This cosmic consciousness influences the direction of all human life by being accessible to living human beings.
If Solomon’s idea gained purchase in society, Brown’s story infers it would challenge the foundations of society. It would challenge religious beliefs and create political and social instability. The idea of consciousness as an eternal force of nature is viewed as a threat to the ways of the world. An organization run by an obscure and secretive group led by Everett Finch views Solomon’s thesis as a threat to society and the world in which his power and influence would be diminished. The book Solomon has written is to be erased from the world of knowledge. Finch’s plan is for Ms. Solomon to be murdered, and her research and book destroyed.
The setting of the story is in Prague, Czechoslovakia because of its reputation as a mystical area of the world with its history, and ancient architecture. Ms Solomon is there to participate in a lecture in Prague, a beautiful city that is associated with mythical beliefs like the Jewish belief in Golems that were originally identified as protectors and then evolved into murderers without conscience or purpose.
Brigita Gessner is a neuroscientist in Prague who is experimenting with the principle of consciousness as the underlying biological theory of eternal consciousness that is similar to Solomon’s belief. Gessner is being targeted for elimination by a Golem as an agent manipulated by Finch’s organization.
Golems were once identified as protectors that became murderers who lost their way without understanding their original purpose.
“The Secret of Secrets” is an entertaining adventure that makes one wish they had the genius of its main character, Robert Langdon.
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