Inferno (Robert Langdon)Audio CD

This Dan Brown sixth thriller will be a best seller. Brown, as is well known, is the author of one of the most widely read novels of our time The Da Vinci Code. His worldwide sales have exceeded eighty million copies. In an interview on the comedy Stephen Colbert program, Brown responded to Colbert's remark that his sales were exceeded by the Bible with humor, smilingly saying, "But the Bible has been on sale much longer."

Brown's novels are more than unraveling puzzles and decoding symbols. Besides being a riveting and suspenseful tale of a chase where people are trying to stop Robert Langdon from discovering a secret that in some way involves misdeeds by the Roman Catholic church, which appears to perform acts that harm people and society, Brown's books inform readers about history, classical books, cities, famous people, symbols they see frequently but do not know their significance, like the pyramid and eye on dollar bills in the Da Vinci tale or the mask with the large beak that we frequently see in carnivals, which is explained in this book.

In this novel, Professor Langdon of Harvard University, an expert on art and symbols, wakes in a hospital in Florence, Italy, learning that he had been shot in the head but is unable to recall what happened during the past two days since he was walking across the campus in Massachusetts. He has a vision of a strikingly beautiful woman with silver hair, a woman in her sixties, who is telling him "seek and find." One of his doctors at the hospital is Sienna Brooks, a beautiful woman, in her early thirties. She tells Langdon that he was found carrying no identification repeatedly muttering "Ve...sorry." Langdon learns that Brooks is a genius with a 206 IQ and that people keep trying to kill him. He doesn't know that Brooks is hiding from something or someone. He realizes that the only way to save himself is by finding out what happened during the two days, what he was trying to do and, if it makes sense, do it. Circumstances make it necessary for Brooks to accompany him on his search and they race to escape from what seems to be everyone trying to kill them. All of this happened in the opening of this thriller.

Following Langdon during the quest, readers learn much about the classic The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, which is not a comedy as we understand the term today, but a book written for mass audiences about Hell, a landscape rich in symbolism and iconography, a book that so scared people who read it that the attendance at churches tripled with the fearful after the book's release. We read also about Sandro Botticelli's painting La Mappa in which he depicted the map of Dante's hell, a painting that like The Divine Comedy has a prominent part in the novel. Among much else, we are told about the city of Florence, the city from which Dante was expelled, whose walls were built in 1326 a city that contains paintings with codes hidden in them; Michelangelo and some of his paintings, including a painting of the evil biblical Haman being crucified, like Jesus, and not hung as the Bible states, a painting placed in the Vatican; and other famous painters and artists, as well as Lorenzo de' Medici, the patron of many greats from Da Vinci to Galileo to Botticelli, who commissioned Botticelli to paint a provocative painting to hang over his cousin's marital bed as a wedding gift.

The villains in this tale raise a host of thought provoking questions that will interest readers. The villains seem to have good intentions and seem to base what they are doing on moral grounds. Readers will find themselves thinking about what distorted the righteous basis and honest concerns. But, most of all, like Langdon, they will enjoy unraveling hidden symbols and will enjoy the drama, the chase, and the results.

The favorite author of the new generation readers has once again struck with his powerful pen, a mesmerizing and wonderful fiction, worth reading many times.

Robert Langdon, the American professor, highly talented and expert in mythological symbols of the old world is called upon by the World Health Organization (WHO) to break the secret code of the famous painting of Dante’s Map of Hell also referred as La Mappa dell’Inferno, to unveil a dangerous plot by a renowned genetic engineering scientist Bertrand Zobrist, to destroy human race. The plot opens in Florence, Italy and winds up in Istanbul, Turkey passing through a series of twists and turns in tracing the final destination of the secret place and date where the scientist proposes to release the dangerous virus to the world, in a Sunken Palace somewhere in the middle of the world. In this journey, the reader is taken through a beautiful journey in gaining exquisite knowledge of Dante Alleghieri’s famous work “The Divine Comedy” composed in early 1300s, wherein he describes his great journey through the various stages of the so-called Hell in Christian religion. This great composition is the most widely read and respected in the world. Dante’s interpretation of his Hell and the Great Plague of Europe in the 1300s (also referred as Black Death) were contemplated to arrive at a disturbing fact that the World is over-populated as of now and needs to downsize the existing population by some means as fast as possible to help the human race to continue for some more centuries. This called for Bertrand’s wild and brilliant idea of creation of highly virulent air-borne vector virus that if enters the human body renders him/her infertile forever. This according to the scientist is the only immediate solution to curb the ever increasing human population that shall lead to widespread calamities, famines, starvation deaths and disasters in the near future. His great leadership on the Transhumanist movement whose fundamental tenets is that we as humans have a moral obligation to participate in our own evolutionary process and use our technologies to create healthier, stronger and intelligent human beings without waiting for the long periods of natural evolutionary process. However, Robert Langdon with the help of WHO and Sienna Brooks, lover of Bertrand Zobrist and a highly intelligent doctor do find the place and date of the release of virus. But will they be able to save the world? One must read this wonderful work of Dan Brown to catch the excitement!

Pros: Some of the greatest places of interest in art and architecture across Italy, Venice and Turkey have been widely described with a lot of information on the history and significance of each and every great monument built that stands as a mark of human intelligence in the ancient period. The author’s outstanding talent in his research abilities and zeal to pursue world history through art and architecture is absolutely unmatched as of today. The reader will remain hypnotized and carried right into the middle of the scenes as long he/she is reading the book. The description of Piazza Del Duomo, the statue of David, Vasari’s paintings, cylinder seals, Death masks, the Medici, Palazzo Vecchio’s Hall of Five Hundred, Boboli gardens, Buontalenti Grotto, the Vasari Corridor, Uffizi Gallery, Mappa Mundi, the church of Dante, the Baptistry of San Giovanni, Gates of Paradise, The Rod of Asclepius, the grandeur of Vatican city, the Doge’s Palace, St.Mark’s Basilica, the Transhumanist Philosophy, the cupola of San Simeone Piccolo, story of St. Lucia’s bones, the origin of the word ‘quarantine’, the Grand Canal of Venice, the Venetian Gothic Architecture, the Byzantine architecture, the history of Horses of St.Mark’s, the Pala d’Oro, the Bosporus Waterway of Istanbul, the mosque of Hagia Sophia (considered as the eighth world wonder), Istanbul’s 300 yr old Spice Bazaar, the tomb of Henricus Dandalo, the Sunken Palace and finally the Dante Symphony by Franz Liszt are some of my interesting topics for study in this book.

Cons: The fact that the great American professor was mentally manipulated through a series of illusions by the World Health Organization to help them decode the secret lying behind in Dante’s painting to save the world was not acceptable to me. Though Bertrand’s vision and cause is worth a standing ovation, the means he chose to achieve the goal seemed to be wrong.

My favourite quote in the book : “The decisions of our past are the architects of our present”

My rating is 5 out of 5

Dan Brown's newest novel, "Inferno," sends symbolist Robert Langdon on another mad dash adventure stretching from the Mediterranean to the Bosporus. I've given it a 5-star rating, because, as usual, Brown delivers on all fronts: interesting subject matter that is painstakingly researched, compelling characterizations, action squared, a plot that moves easily from one scene to the next and drags you along no matter how late it is, inclusion of interesting historical facts, lush settings, and a denouement that leaves you thinking not only about the novel, but about real life. And, of course, top notch proofing and editing.

In other action thrillers, I sometimes feel as though I'm reading a movie script. The action is the focus, rather than the plot and/or characters. Not so with Brown. Here's an author who can handle the never-ending action, the constant danger, the exhausting, breakneck chase, the result of which will not only determine the life and death of the main characters, but perhaps the survival of human life on earth as we know it. The reader WANTS to go on this ride. Wants to feel the unrelenting adrenaline rush, the heart stopping suspense. You want it; you get it; you love it.

For those Robert Langdon fans, this time the action races through the the famed houses of worship of Italy and Turkey, chasing clues from Dante's 14th Century epic poem, "The Divine Comedy," and specifically, the portion titled "Inferno." However, this time there is no religious conspiracy, no sacred quest. This time the subject matter involves the predicament we all find ourselves in: burgeoning world population vs. decreasing resources.

In my youth, there was a movement known by the acronym "ZPG." Over the past couple years, whenever the overpopulation issue is mentioned, I've asked if anyone remembers what this stood for. Anyone under the age of about 45 or so does not. (Zero Population Growth) So this novel hit on an issue that has been of concern to me now for over 4 decades. But, that's another conversation.

The book is nearly 500 pages long (462 to be exact). Long read. This has been a busy month for me, but I still managed to read every day -- in fact, I needed to read every day, as this book is full of the most fascinating twists and turns. Not only twists in the plots, but actually twists in who the individual characters are. Brown masterfully doles out bits and pieces of the solution to his puzzle all along the way, but still manages to surprise you when a character turns out to be the exact opposite of what you believed him or her to be. I'll admit to having one huge, and upon rereading, obvious clue go right over my head. When that part of the revelation came, I had to go back and do a -head/desk- over my oversight! :-) Tricky. And I loved it.

So, I didn't read it all in one day or even in one week. Brown's novels are works to be savored. There is so much fascinating history, interesting concepts and wonderful mysteries that I have to stop every so often just to properly absorb what I've read. I need to taste the delightful flavor of each morsel of the literary puzzle. No. I take my time with Brown's novels. I drag out every Lucius paragraph, longing for the ultimate conclusion all while hoping it will never end.

So, don't I have any complaints? Now, if you usually read my reviews, there usually something.

For instance, starting on page 300, when Langdon and others are in the boat in Venice and come to the realization that the "plucker of bones of the blind" in Zobrist's poem referred to Saint Lucia, and their boatman began relating the legend of Saint Lucia, why didn't they ask him the identity of the doge who cut the heads off horses (another reference in the poem)?

My other disappointment is in the extremely short timeline. If one starts with Langdon awaking in a hospital with memory loss, there are less than 2 days (actually less than 36) hours, I believe, in which this madcap race through the best known tourists sites of Italy to the Haga Sophia and beyond in Istanbul. It includes chases, conversations, motorbikes, boats, and just like Steve Martin and John Candy -- planes, trains and automobiles! Langdon has an injury and short term memory loss. There are two well organized forces chasing him. Yet, in all those hours, which are painstakingly chronicled, the only mention of eating or sleeping comes at the bottom of page 375. Langdon does get to splash some water on his face and change clothes back about chapter 7, but this is after what has already been a long (and for Langdon) forgotten night in a country he cannot remember either traveling to or why he might have done so.

While I certainly don't expect a break in the action for the bathroom, I do expect to see scene that includes a hastily eaten meal, a quick shower -- something to indicate there was time to brush the teeth, revive the system with food, clean up. Pretty basic physical requirements for someone who will be in close, very close, contact with others throughout this adventure. I needed to see something to allow me to believe that an injured man suffering from retrograde amnesia would have the the physical and emotional stamina to do what he does, at the speed of light, for a prolonged time. I was also surprised that only one character in the novel -- and there are several who either know him or know of him -- notices that Langdon does not look his usual dapper self. I found the timeline exciting -- but maybe not so believable as one that allowed even one more day and at least one meal!

However, Brown's descriptions of the places visited in the novel are rich and full. One of my favorite sections comes on page 300, the third paragraph in Chapter 84:

"This was a world divided, a city of opposing forces -- religious, secular; ancient, modern; Eastern, Western. Straddling the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, this timeless city was quite literally the bridge from the Old World . . . to a world that was even older.

Istanbul."

You run this race thinking you know what's at stake and what will happen if the 'good guys' don't win. You don't. Believe me, the revelations never stop coming. And, best of all, it will make you think.

While many reviewers seemed to have a very negative view of the book, and certainly with some reason - to be discussed, this is perhaps the best of the four "Robert Langdon" books written by Brown. It managed to earn that praise based on the following factors:

*The last 150 pages of twists, turns, thrills and shocks *The topical and real socio-economic factors discussed *The plausible science

Based on a transhumanist's fascination with the Divine Comedy of Dante, the book - especially the first 300 pages - follows the relatively well-worn theme of the genre. In fact, I would make the argument that the first 250 pages are almost a bit of a slog through the book. I actually put it down and went to bed - which is a first for a Dan Brown book. There are the typical chases, character development,integration of the sights and sounds of Florence, and some (but less) symbology that permeated the original series.

Stylistically, it follows Dan Brown's approach of short chapters, multiple fonts, a lot of running around,"hyper-activity", and relatively long soliloquies when there is actual meaningful dialogue. If you didn't like the style before, there's no reason you will like this book any better. In fact, I would argue that this book contains fewer "ah-ha" moments in the first 300 pages than any other of the series. Even the antagonist - a figure seemingly inspired by an Ian Flemming book - seems somewhat contrived and rote.

While the socio-economic elements are thought provoking, the methodology that is used to convey them is sometimes a little preachy, and similar to Brown's other books, the author appears to be conveying many of his own beliefs and ethics into the discussion. The science is generally glossed over (at least the medical piece), but is interesting and plausible enough to keep the reader engaged - unlike some of his other works.

Endeavoring to avoid spoiling the plot at all, I will state that the last 150 pages are masterful thriller. There are more curve balls thrown than you will find at an MLB game, and continuing the analogy, the crafty veteran pulled out the game when you really thought he had nothing left in the tank. The entire last 2-3 hours of reading was classic thriller - and the book was near impossible to put down. The "moral" of the story is topical and will get you thinking about real world issues - unlike the Da Vinci Code or the Lost Symbol, and if read with open eyes, the reader will come across with having been educated, entertained and challenged in their beliefs.

The book is entertaining enough for the first 300 pages, and definitely worth the price of admission to get to the last 150. It was those last 150 pages and the deeper messages that came through that leveraged this book from a 4 to a 5 star review.