Origin - book review

Usually Dan Brown’s book fall into the below set of process – when you are reading it you will feel the thrill of a roller coaster ride with adrenaline rush, as it reaches climax you would feel the excitement of a kid opening birthday present, after the initial few minutes of completing the book the mind would be reeling with all those information trying to process and after few hours you would be left wondering was the climax worth all those events that transpired in the course of the book. Also his novels will double up as travelogue for the respective city/country of the premise and would definitely send in flocks of tourists, curious to visit those places so beautifully crafted into his stories. In fact, locations have almost played the role of a key character in his books. Origin is no less different. And the guts of the guy to portray the king of Spain as gay!!! If you need any reference in stirring a hornets nest, Dan Brown should be on your speed dial.

Like all his novels, there is this extremely brilliant guy whose revelation was going to shake the foundations of the church and just when he manages to reveal it, he gets killed. Right from DVC, this has been the recurring theme. And to top it all, Robert Langdon would be invited to meet the guy right on the day of their demise. Is Langdon the Emadharman reincarnate, a meeting with whom would be your last in mortal form – could well be the next theme. And right on cue, the beautiful damsel, related to the deceased would accompany Langdon without second thought in all his cross country quests. The climatic reveal on what would’ve been the prime reason for the quest would leave you disappointed like, “ithukada ivlo akka poru” and the twist on who murdered the brilliant guy would turn out to be someone very close to Langdon. Since the same is followed in every novel, it has almost become the much expected surprise. But one should appreciate Brown for the fantastic running quests in his novels – be it chasing the bloodline of Jesus, the full blown war between Science and the church, despite its mokka ending the fantasy of free masons and the ultimate reveal or the ever increasing population, he has a knack of blending the theme with its surroundings in presenting a racy thriller.

As compared to his recent novels, it’s definitely his best attempt since “Da Vinci Code” to rile up controversies. If “Lost symbol” felt like an apology on book form to the church, he is back to where he found his fame. In this novel, there are two key questions for which are repeated umpteen number of times throughout the book – where we came from and where we are going. As simple as they sound, nothing could be more profound than knowing answers for these queries for it has been the eternal search. This novel stands out on two aspects that are different from his previous ones- the number of puzzles are pretty less and there is a surprise new addition that helps him in his quest – an AI tool called Winston. The reason that the scientist who claims to have answers to those eternal queries, however megalomaniacal he may want it to appear, are nothing more than a mix of some of the most popular theories floating around as to how the life forms first appeared. The religions may attribute it to the hand of god, but scientists have more or less convinced on the reason how the primitive life forms appeared on earth. The conclusion offered in the book is something of an extension which is sugar coated. But it’s the second answer that is more interesting and engaging and to a large extent might be true as well- the answer to where we are going. More appropriate phrase would be where would be human race be in 50 years from now. The answer is out in the open, if you are reading this post in any of your laptop, desktop, mobile, tablets or whichever form of reader. The AI tool, Winston, offers another significantly open clue. Considering the enormity of the role played by these gadgets, the answer is for anyone to guess.

As I finished reading the book, the first thought was “WOW”. As I began to think around the solutions provided and the story in general it was slowly losing its sheen and the only thought that remained was, in what way this revelation would’ve caused that big an uproar in religious crowds, for there are far more atheist viewpoints that are in circulation which are far more damaging in content.  Considering that the guy who gets killed reaches out only to representatives from Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions, the result sounds more like a case of comfort than all-encompassing solution. All said and done, the concept of an AI so smart that it takes its own decisions based on “thought process” of its creator is something which is scary and scintillating at the same time. In such a world, there may not be a need for god makes sense. But wouldn’t the humans be the creators of those AI and be the God for them? That is a whole different argument in itself. Overall, if you want a super racy book for your weekend reading, this book is right up there.