I have to be perfectly honest. I have not begun reading the book yet. However, due to a lighter work load this week I had allotted the majority of my time tomorrow to hashing out the required sections. I'll try and make some insightful thoughts based on my knowledge of books of this nature.
While I have never read a book by Michael Critchon, I know that he has a way of writing similar to other popular authors of our time. Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, and the like. Any time I read a book by one of these authors I feel myself drawn into the story completely, to a point where the lines of fiction and reality begin to blur. This is almost an uncomfortable place to be. Every part of me wants to believe that this story is completely true, something you would read about in an autobiography or something. I remember desperately wanting to reject reality and take the story of Christianity presented in Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code as the true way to interpret the religion I was raised in. Alas...
I think the reason that I find myself susceptible to believing everything I read is because of the way facts are presented in these stories. The authors have clearly done their research, and many of them have some first hand experience in whatever they tend to write about. My scientific mind can't find any flaws in the arguments used or the rhetoric thrown about, so why not believe it? Of course, the inability to find flaws is due to my lack of expertise in any of the subject matter I find in such a novel.
It will be interesting to see how I handle this book. If even the theatrical adaptation to Critchon's Jurrasic Park had me convinced this sort of science was definitely attainable, I can only imagine how convincing a brick of a novel like State of Fear will be. I'll definitely have to keep reminding myself "it's just a story" and hope to keep an open mind about all of it.
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This is sort of similar to my post, and I definitely agree. I've read all three of Dan Brown's popular novels (mostly just because they are really entertaining), and every time I find myself wanting to believe the fiction he creates and finding his arguments entirely convincing. Our willingness to believe does most likely have a lot to do with the fact that we don't know much about the science behind it, but maybe that's the beauty of the way these authors write. They pick topics that the average reader (certainly the average American reader) knows very little about but is eager to have an opinion on. It's like the black box; I don't really want to know why global warming is the way it is, I just want someone to tell me what to do about it. I'm a little more inclined to be skeptical when reading State of Fear, but that's probably because my liberal self would like my fiction to back up Al Gore, whereas my completely non-religious self was totally thrilled with the idea that Christianity was hiding a dirty little secret.
ReplyDeleteThe Roman Church got all bent out of shape over Dan Brown--even setting up seminars and providing fact-checking sheets. I think half the world now think the Jesuits kill people James Bond style.
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