Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Origin by Dan Brown

My second book for October was Origin by Dan Brown. I finished the book on the flight home at the end of our fall New England trip. This is the fifth installment of the Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno.

Origin is set in Spain. The action takes place in a number of places that we visited during our 2010 trip to that country, including Le Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace) and Cathedral de Almudena. I really enjoy books that intersect with our love of exploring the world.

A large part of the beginning of the book is set in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. While we have been to the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Venice and Las Vegas, we haven't made it to the one in Bilbao. Based on the descriptions in the book, this is definitely on my list as a stop either before or after the Camino...

One of the things that has always intrigued me about Dan Brown's books is that there is an element of science fiction. In this case, artificial intelligence and quantum computers play a major role in the plot. Like the Ancillary Mercy book I recently finished, it raises some interesting questions about artificial intelligence.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a fast moving, easy read. Angels and Demons has always been my favorite Dan Brown book with The Da Vince Code coming in second. It would actually rate this book better the Da Vince Code. I give it a "B+".

As a footnote, I kept picturing Robert Langdon as Tom Hanks as I read the book...

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