Origin by Dan Brown:

About the author:

Dan Brown needs no introduction as he is a very famous fiction writer of our time. I have personally enjoyed all of his work so much that you can consider me a diehard fan. After Agatha Christie, he is the only fiction writer that I have followed so religiously. I have read all of his novels and I think the attention to detail and authenticated information that you will find in his books is unmatched with any other writer.

The Book:

I along with millions of fans have waited for this book for almost a year and a half. I waited for liberty books in Pakistan to open the pre-orders for it. I pre-ordered mines months before the book came out. I waited eagerly for it and started to read it as soon as I got my hands on it. But ironically, it took me ages to finish it and even more to write about it. Life was busy, work and family don’t leave you much of the day to pursue your hobbies and interests. Anyways, the deed is done, the book is finished and here are my two pennies.

The first impression:

When I started the book I had anticipated the book to be dealing with symbology, religion, and doomsday to be the part of the plot. This to some extent is true. But the buildup pre-launch of the book created a thrill which overshadowed the content. The social media was alive with the book cover, the theme that “where did we come from and where are we going” created a mystic enigma about the book, which I feel sorry to say that the book couldn’t carry.

 The storyline:

The story is about an atheist scientist who is a genius in AI and computers. He discovered and proved with the help of the AI machine and software he designed that Darwin’s theory is indeed correct. And we are in the age of transition and now evolution will make us humans into a hybrid between man and machines.

I won’t say that this a new concept as similar talk about new species which is non-living has been going around. I also agree that the concept of ultimately the machines taking over humans has been there for decades. But Dan Brown brings a middle ground evolution of humans as a hybrid with having machines or their components embedded in them.

The book revolves around historic places in Spain and a murdered friend who was on the verge of defining new religion to science and a bright future for humanity. The plot and the mystery were written amazingly. There are no loopholes or haphazardly written chapters. You will not find till the end who actually killed Langdon’s friend and why.

As always the information about historical landmarks is spot on. All the facts are given in the book are correct; don’t bother to even counter check. The storyline also incorporates computers and Artificial intelligence. It’s a crossover between religious concept and a sci-fi.

My two cents:

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Dan Brown and books like the Da Vinci code. I totally enjoy the books written based on symbology and religious traditions. I also enjoyed the book thoroughly. But having said that, I would also say that I would not put the book in the league of the Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and the lost symbol. But it is definitely at the same level as the inferno.

The powerful lines in the book:

• The most self-righteous in life become the most fearful in death.
• The dark Religions are departed and sweet science reigns.
• Fear of being judged by an omniscient deity always helps inspire benevolent behavior.
• If the laws of physics are so powerful that they can create life….. Who created the laws?
• Those who can remember the past are condemned to repeat it. 

Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown

Today I would review all of the Robert Langdon books by Dan Brown. But First I should comment how big a fan I am of Dan Brown. I have never followed a writer to this extent that I did Dan Brown. The reason because his books inspire me to learn more, to find out about facts that I would otherwise be unaware of.

You would hardly find a fiction writer who will give you such credible information about facts and theories already proved in the world. Usually, the writers we come across now days are the one who writes about nonreal topics and fantasy.

So I was saying that I have never felt this way about any fiction writer since Agatha Christie. And that is saying something. I have this freakish thing that I usually end up guessing who the culprit is in murder mysteries movies, books, and series almost halfway through it. Agatha Christie is the only writer who I can’t figure out. So I ended up reading more than 20 books and Dan Brown follows that.

Although I have his other books as well, I didn’t feel like reading it. His book The Da Vinci code inspired me so much that I started reading more about symbology, The Grail, and the secret societies. So here are my views about each and every book of this series that I have read.

The Da Vinci code:

I read this book because it was considered controversial. I heard it got banned in Pakistan, so it caught my interest. Like all banned things it was readily available. So I got hold of a copy which was paperback one. I started reading it and it was so amazing that I couldn’t put it down. It introduced so much to me, things that I have heard before but never gave them a second thought.

There are so many good facts and turns in the story that if I start commenting on it this post will become very long. So I would just tell you the points that inspired me the most. First will be the point where Langdon explains about Mona Lisa, how it is a combination of both male and female halves and the smile is about this secret. And the name is derived from AMON LISA. I have always read and wondered about Mona Lisa but this opened a new path to understanding its importance.

Second is the phrase “So dark the Con of Man”. This is such a powerful statement. I mean you can literally relate it to every aspect of the society. Be it politics, religion or education or any other building block of the society.

I am sure most of you have read it or seen the movie so the explaining the whole story is not as fascinating for me as explaining to you what makes them important to me. Not to mention the historical facts about different amazing buildings that the character come across in the story.

Angels and Demons:

Once again it is an amazing story line which is exciting and thrilling. It keeps you at the edge of your seat. It is actually a nail-biting thrill following every point and event in the story. I must comment that how Dan Brown just incorporates the actual facts and secret societies with his own fictional story line is just amazing. Just blows your mind about how brilliant he is. It tells you so much about the Illuminati, a secret society which is not so secret and the controversy is much talked or rather hushed about still when power houses of the world are discussed.

The most fascinating thing about this book is the brand or rather the symbols of water, fire, earth, air, and the Illuminati. Again as his trademark, Dan Brown gave a lot of historic facts about the Illuminati, the church and the historic buildings and statues in Rome as the story proceeds.

The Lost Symbol:

Another amazing book, that I actually enjoyed the most among his work. Lots of symbols again and lots of facts. Since the plot is based in America so the age-old and popular powerful secret society of free masons are discussed. We still blame this as a reason for a lot of current political situations within the world. So it is more interesting. Again different discoveries and inventions of science are involved like Angels and Demons.

The story is very exciting as well. But I have always enjoyed Dan’s work because of the historic facts and information he gives rather than the story. So excuse me if I don’t talk much about the stories and characters in details like.

Now let’s come down to the phrases that left an impact on me; the first is “As above, so below.” This is such an amazing phrase. It can be related to how you should be or how God intended you to be. It can also be related to how we hear that God when created us actually extended some of his qualities in us.

The other sentence that was in the book that actually I liked more is “Powerful truth has its own gravity and eventually pulls people back to it.” I believe in this with all my heart. I believed in this even before reading the book. I actually wrote something similar in a post on my other blog which was something like “A mere whisper of truth is stronger and long lasting than the lie even if it shouted out”. So this sentence kind of reinforces my belief so I liked it more because I felt I am not the only one who thinks that.

Inferno:

Inferno is the book I pre-ordered from Libertybooks.com and is the only Dan Brown book that I have in Hardback cover. The cover and jacked it amazing in design, I must say. The story is amazing and the historic facts and their explanation gripped my attention. I couldn’t put the book down until the end.

I explained Dante’s work and his concept of different levels of hell. These are exactly as he painted in many religions. The book is amazing and after reading that I felt that whatever Dan writes becomes the current issue like when he wrote the Da Vinci code and the Lost symbol, all you could see on the internet was discussions relating to those topics and about the time Inferno was launched, all forums were discussing how human population has out grown earth’s resources. So either he picks his topics with reference to the trends or he is the trend setter himself that has to be decided as yet.

The phrases that made an impact on me in Inferno are:

“The truth can be glimpsed only through the eyes of death”

 Which is true because when you are faced with death, than worldly gains and things just vanish and only the most important truths of your life remain? That shows what actually was important in your life.

“Seek and ye shall find”

Well, this reminds of what God asks us to do in the Quran, again and again, that is Seek.

In short, all the books are amazing and full of adventure and thought to provoke facts. But I only wrote what inspired me. The plots and characters are very well written. They are amazingly researched and you won’t find any weak spots or loopholes in the story. The movies made are equally amazing partially because Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors and no one could have played Robert Langdon better than him.

I hope you enjoyed, please subscribe or follow if you did. Also, do comment.

The book thief.

Overview:

Today I would review the book by the name of “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. This book was actually recommended to me by my good friend Shumyla and I can’t thank her enough for that. I usually don’t check best seller lists and pick my reads at random by anything that fancies me or gets my attention. Much like the movies I pick which are usually the ones not getting top reviews. Yea I guess I am a weird this way.

How I found the book:

Anyways the moment I got hold of the book, Couldn’t put it down till I finished it. It is not a complex story. It is just a simple story set against the background of World War II in Germany. It’s about a little girl and her loss and gain in relations. It is about how wars take away from the innocent and harmless.
It is about the way war haunts your life and your loved ones. The story is narrated by death which I think is a very interesting and different way to express. Because death has a major role in such situations and most of the books and movies kind of overlook it. Another aspect that I felt after reading this book was that death is not the worst that can happen to a human being. Humans are the worst thing that can happen to human beings.
Political, monetary, and superficial gains of one egotistical human being can ruin a whole nation or nations in the case of this war. Anyways, let’s not get detracted from the review. So as I was saying that the story was very effectively narrated by death about the life of a girl named “ Liesel Meminger” who is the daughter of a communist which was very dangerous at that time in Germany. Her mother had to let her go because she couldn’t afford to feed her and her brother. On the way to the foster parent’s home she lost and found the first time and crossed path with death. She lost her brother and found her passion for books which was witnessed by death.
The girl didn’t know how to read but loved the printed word, so her foster father taught her how to read. She never thought that she would be able to find family again but she found family and friends. In the poverty stricken and war torn Germany she found happiness and belongingness. She found loved ones and trusted ones.
The most beautiful message that this story gives you is that although death took all of her loved ones one by one but life kept on bringing new things and people in her life. This is how life is and how it goes on.
Another aspect of the book that I really liked was the simplicity of the narration of the story. The way it was dealt with is very personalized. It shows how that time affected the common people, the people who didn’t hate Jews In fact who had Jew friends but could not support them openly. How such oppression harms the freedom of not only the Jews but the people who didn’t hate them at all but could not support them.
There is a reference to a book called “Mei Kampf” which was written by Hitler himself about how and why he did what he did. I will review it some other time. But at that time it was considered like a holy book in Germany at that time. People were forced to read it and keep it in their homes whether they want it or not.
Since I am a book lover myself (I don’t steal, though!) so I can understand how books helped Liesel get through some very hard times of her life. Helped her cope up with things when she couldn’t understand them or control them. I also can relate to her love for the printed word. I can’t explain the love but it is there for any printed word I see. She was poor so she stole the books when she got the chance to.

Recommendations:

All in all, I think it is a highly recommended book and you should read it if you get a chance to. It is definitely going into the keep section of my collection. It is a simple yet grasping story; once you start you can’t put it down till you finish it. It is available both online and in stores. It topped the international best-selling lists.
If you like my review, please do comment. Look out for the next one. Till then.