Origin

Origin is Dan Brown’s latest novel, and this one is far different from The Da Vinci Code. In this book, he novelizes the concepts of Ray Kurzweil, a futurist who wrote The Singularity is Near, but Brown took it further in thinking about the implications for our societal institutions, especially the religious institutions. Kurweil predicted that the literal fusion of human beings and computers was close at hand as we humans lean on computers to do some functions that they can do so much more efficiently than we can. I thought I had reviewed Kurzweil’s book in this blog, but it’s not here. Oh, well.

Rather than looking into the past, discovering the secret behind ancient art works, in this novel, Brown looks to the future. He starts by introducing his new antagonist, Edmond Kirsch, a brilliant man who has made billions of dollars through his technical knowledge. Kirsch was an avowed atheist who attacked the myths of religion with undying and unyielding vigor. Kirsch claimed that he had discovered the answers to the most important questions about human existence: Where did we come from? Where are we going? Kirsch was friends with Brown’s best protagonist, Robert Langdon, who had been Kirsch’s professor and mentor at Harvard. Kirsch invited Langdon to a gathering at the museum in Bilbao, Spain, where he planned to reveal his discoveries to the world. Only days before his presentation, Kirsch chose to meet with the three most important and powerful religious leaders in the world to tell them about his findings which, once revealed would threaten the existence of their institutions.

I don’t want to be plot spoiler, so you’ll have to read the book. I found the first 1/3 of the book to be excellent for introducing characters and setting up the plot. The middle 1/3 was a bit draggy, but the final 1/3 was a hold-onto-your-pants, can’t-put-it-down, roller coaster ride. This one gets a five star rating, and you’ll just have to read it to learn more. I see some other reviewers were disappointed with the novel, but I don't get that unless Brown was effectively challenging their own religious beliefs. I loved it.