Book Review: Inferno - By Dan Brown

"The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral crisis"
                           Martin Luther King Jr.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I wonder, if I am the only Christian in the world who enjoyed these 2 movies: The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. I love the character of Robert Landgon in this series, and I also like the esoteric, mysterious atmosphere emanating from these stories.

Age 48, the American novelist Dan Brown, seems to be very good at doing 2 things: 1) Breaking sales record when he publishes a novel, and 2) Offending religious people.

It is true, whenever Dan Brown releases a book, or if a movie is made based on his novel. Money and controversy follow suit. I still remember, in 2006, when Ron Howard's movie, The Da Vinci Code was released. University campus Christian groups were going nuts, hosting talks such as "The Da Vinci Decoded" and such. It was an exhiliarting experience, to watch the reactions from Christian groups about this Hollywood movie. As a Christian, while I doubt the credibility of the idea behind The Da Vinci Code, but I was also well aware that, it is a fictional story built for entertainment, and I really have to give Dan Brown credit, for conjuring such a thrilling story out of his imagination. Having said all this, I have never read a novel by Dan Brown. Not until I heard Mr. Brown was working on a 4th Robert Landgon novel, titled Inferno, inspired by my one of my favorite literature masterpiece, the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. So when this book became available for pre-order, immediately I ordered a copy. Since I have never read a book written by Dan Brown before, I had no idea what to expect. But the book finally arrived a day after its publication date. And with great eager, I opened the pages and started reading, and finished it in 3 days. Today, I will talk a little bit about this book, and share some of my thoughts about it.

Synopsis:

Professor Robert Langdon, a professor in religious iconology and symbology at Harvard University, woke up in a hospital. Suffering from a head wound and amnesia, and after discovering he was in Florence, Italy, Langdon could not recollect the events of his life in the past 2 days. As Langdon wsa lying in the hospital bed and in misery, an assassin broke into the hospital and tried to kill him. Landgon escaped with the aid of his doctor, Sienne Brooks. As the duo made their way to temporary safety, Langdon realized the only way forward, was to investigate this bizarre incident.

Little did the duo realize, their investigation will gradually uncover a global conspiracy that will forever change the fate of the entire humanity, a conspiracy engineered by a brilliant mastermind. Clues to solve this conspiracy is only hinted in Italian poet, Dante Alighieri's masterpiece, Inferno. Once again, Langdon has to decipher ancient symbols, solve cryptic mysteries, find historical artifacts, and venturing into ancient secret passage ways while being pursued by members from a secret organisation. Should Langdon and Sienne fail, earth will become a living semblance of Dante's vision of hell, Inferno coming to live!

What I think about the book:

This is the first time I read a book written by Dan Brown. There are certain things I really like about Dan Brown's style of writing, but there are also things I don't like. To begin with, this book is a real page turner! While Inferno will not earn any literature awards, but it is extremely fun, and an entertaining ride. I like how Dan Brown selected a series of historical events and artifacts, then conjure hidden realities behind them to create riddles. He has got a special talent for being an excellent storyteller.

I also like the setting of the book, set in Florence, Italy. Several key elements to mysteries in the story are concerned with locations, and arts from the Renaissance era. However, the main theme of the story is drawn by projecting a futuristic concept of transhumanism, and the present problem of global overpopulation, into a mix bag of mysteries hidden behind renaissance arts. By combining these elements, Dan Brown created a very good blend of the past, the present, and the future, while maintain the constant, esoteric feel throughout the entire story.

But this does not mean the Inferno is without flaws, actually, this novel has lots of flaws. What I didn't like, was that sometimes, Dan Brown would step away from the story, and started to play the role of a tour guide, going into too much details about the history of a geographic location, or providing too much historical background for a piece of renaissance artwork. While such information might be educational (provided Dan Brown's knowledge is correct), but most of the time, I find Dan Brown's "tour guide" style can be very distracting from the story progression. The result is, while Inferno is a fun, breathless entertainment, but it is also clunky, very clunky.

Reflection:

You are probably dying to ask this question: "Did Dan Brown attack religion again in this book?"

To be honest, after I read the book, I don't think Dan Brown is attacking religion this time. Instead, in this round, Dan Brown seems to be questioning the Catholic church's stance on contraception and birth control. I've always found this topic very interesting, because this is a good question: Given that Africa is already struggling with the widespread of sexually transmitted diseases and poverty, if condom distribution in Africa can prevent the spreading of HIV AIDS, while reducing the chances of unwanted pregenancies, should the Catholic church condemn condom distribution in Africa? I don't hold a particular stance to the answers of question, but I think it is an important question to think about.

However, after I read this book, the topic that re-surfaced in my mind, is "transhumanism". I, for one, have been pondering on the question of transhumanism in the last 2 years. With the rapid improvement in the technology of genetic engineering, and biomedical engineering. The day won't be far when we, as a human race will have the capability to fundamentally alter who we are through technology. In fact, transhumanist technologies are already in development (for example, see this article about scientists creating a cybernetic ear that can give you superhuman hearing). Should such a day arrives, when we can choose to use technologies from genetic engineering or biomedical engineering to make our children, or ourselves smarter, stronger, healthier and live longer. Should we do it? Because such technology will only be available to the rich, so would such a technology produce a new form of discrimination? One that's not based on the color of your skin, nor your gender, but a discrimination based on what sort of genetic upgrades are in you, or what sort of biomedical upgrade you possess. What sort of shifts in the socio-economical paradigm would such a technology bring to the world? Is transhumanist technology the next step of natural human evolution? Or will it cause great harms to the equality of all men, and jeopardize the very meaning of humanity?

Such a question, remains to be discussed. While we are holding great public debates such as social health reform, greenhouse effects, homosexual marriages and the like in the early 21th century, sometimes I wonder, in 20 years time, perhaps we will be arguing if we should commence the next stage of human evolution by augmenting our bodies with genetic and biomedical technologies. If this comes to reality, it will be the most imporant collective decision we have yet to make in the human history, because it will forever change the definition, and the value of "humanity". It will be a time when we will possess in our hands, the power of God at the moment of creation. As Christians, we cannot remain on the neutral ground if we are required to make a decision when the time comes. By then, what should the Christian perspective be, and which side should we stand, should this day finally arrives?