Origin by Dan Brown - A Book Review

Dan Brown has always been a master of details. He has a style of narrating monuments with its history. Yes he narrates monuments! His details are so detailed that you can practically feel those intricate patterns on the tip of your finger. He propels you to feel the art around you while driving you through the vast expanse of his fast paced thrillers.

One such book of his that comes to my mind is Origin. I know many of you find his book anti religion or hostile to other religions but in my perspective Bruh! It’s just fiction, take it like that. Period.

Coming back to the book, It is another one of the Robert Langdon series, where he just glides in and saves the day in more of a naïve-but-the-action-hero kind of attitude in a totally intellectual way. I know! Hard to get those characteristics in a man. Right? Jokes apart, this book begins at Langdon travelling to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, where his former student and billionaire futurist Edmond Kirsch is set to reveal a groundbreaking, earth shattering, exclusive scientific discovery. His discovery is based on the answers to the two fundamental questions on life- Where do we come from? Where are we going? But here’s the twist, he dies. He dies before his grand reveal.

Amidst the chaos that follows leads him to team up with the museum’s director and the fiancée of Spain’s Prince Julián, Ambra Vidal. Together they embark upon the journey of unravelling Kirsch’s discovery, which is hidden somewhere behind a complex password. This further leads them to moving around and exploring various locations including Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, classic Dan Brown style! All the while being chased by assassins and other forces that are hell bent in suppressing Kirsch’s discovery. Other places that are explored in detail in this book where Langdon has to discover something or the other are Casa Milà (La Pedrera), Barcelona, Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid), Monastery of Montserrat, Catedral de Sevilla (Seville Cathedral), etc. which are narrated beautifully in the book while divulging their significance connected well through symbols by Langdon.

Further in the book, with the help of Kirsch’s AI assistant, Winston, Langdon and Ambra decode the clues left by Kirsch and discover that life on Earth did not originate through divine intervention but by the natural laws of Chemistry and Physics. Whatttt? Science is God? Moreover, he also discovers that in the future Artificial Intelligence will surpass biological intelligence and lead to a new form of existence. A new beginning of a new era!

In the end, we can see the revelation being broadcast worldwide which sparks a new global debate about the future of science and religion. Cool, Right?

In conclusion, I can say, Origin portrays the perfect intersection of science, technology and religion which leads us to question the place of humanity in this universe. It also forces us to think about the impact of technological advancement on life and also the devastating role AI could play if not handled with utmost care. I personally find this book entertaining with sensibility and inevitability lurking in the background.

You can find this book here. Enjoy Reading!