State of uncertainty

There seems to be an obsession gripping the literary world, an obsession- to question every established human belief, to disprove what has been thought to be true for ages, to create doubts, to make newer stronger propositions, to make you think all that you believe in is just a big damn lie. First there was Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code; Now there is Michael Crichton's State of fear. Crichton the master of technical thrillers is back at doing what he does best and State of fear is stupendously, excitingly, superbly, awesome but more importantly, it is very different from the rest of his works. Crichton usually comes across as a detached, dispassionate writer but in State of fear, he embarks on a personal crusade, taking digs at environmentalists, celebrities who ignorantly endorse and support such causes, and the layman who believes all that the Media portrays and lives in a perennial state of fear.Obviously, a book always reflects the author's thoughts and opinions, but you can truly feel the strength and passion of Crichton's feelings in the State of fear.

State of fear attempts to invalidate one of the most discussed and the most publicised of environmental issues- Global warming. You cannot help but be in awe of Crichton's extraordinary range of technical expertise- He seems to have a phenomenal knowledge of all that he writes about, be it quantum physics, nanotechnology, biology, engineering or environmental and weather phenomenon. He conveys without a doubt that when it comes to the phenomenon of Global Warming, he is an absolute non believer. He does a scientific and methodical presentation of various studies, research papers and statistics to establish the overreaction towards this environmental phenomenon. There is heavy sarcasm in all the conversations that expose the misinformation that the media spreads and ignorance the layman lives with. He ruthlessly exposes our tendency to believe all that we see and read giving little thought to it and how eagerly we embrace a paranoia- where we fear what we know so little about.

It may seem that Crichton has taken a pro-industry stand as far as environmental issues are concerned. But in fact, he has taken a clear headed, dispassionate and neutral stand. You can feel his angst at how environmentalists have succumbed to using media hype, eco-terrorism, and passively fuelled misinformation on the non-issues just to get the real issues noticed. He suggests a more organised, unbiased system to really bring about change in the way environmental issues are handled. He also gives a beautiful explanation of how man doesn't seem to realise the futility of attempting to control things he has so little knowledge of.
State of fear is a highly intellectual read, encompassing diverse areas such as statistics, science, weather and climate patterns, geological phenomenon and very interestingly psychology which is what the book title is about. There is a very interesting and mind boggling postulation of how human beings are compulsively made to live in a constant state of fear of something or the other.

I have ranted on and on in a dry lecture like fashion, but that is an outcome of not having Crichton's storytelling skills and his extraordinary ability to make classroom stuff interesting and exciting...makes me wish he had been my professor in engineering college!

Okay...so what about the story, the plot, the characters- Unlike his other books, the purpose of State of fear seems to be to express his two cents of thought on environmental issues. The story, characters, sequences become incidental and merely are instruments in getting the thoughts across. However Crichton has retained his cliched and tiring style of having dominant, strong willed female characters and confused, unsure and weaker male characters. Crichton seems to have this feminist overtures seen across all his novels be it Timeline, Congo, Disclosure, or now State of fear. Agreed all men cannot be heroes, but that doesn't mean all are not!

There are of course some glaring portions in the book, one of them being his conflicting notions of the third world countries- he recognises them as being on the path to development, and advocates their need to do so unhampered by environmental sanctions and restrictions; And then in the climax he paints such a poor picture of them- as being backward and undeveloped. Also Crichton's argument for America not signing the Kyoto protocol does not go well with me. Why measure how good something is as long as it is good? The consequences of reducing emissions might not be significant, but then its the cumulative effect of small changes like these that could probably make a difference.

Reading this novel leaves you in a state of uncertainty, where you do not know what to believe and what not to. I am in a state of fear- that everything I believe in is nothing but a lie.....

Speaking of codes and ciphers....

The waves of the ocean stood still, a flock of birds froze in mid-flight, a group of trees which had till then possessed by the winds stood motionless, all of eternity seemed to stop for an instant.....YES!! I finally managed to do it...before you come to your own perverse conclusions....I finally managed to read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci code! And it by all means deserves all the acclaim and the accolades it has received worldwide...an absolutely riveting read.

The elements Dan Brown uses are time tested and fail proof-Handsome intelligent man, beautiful intelligent female,together in a crisis situation, wanted by the law, hunted by the bad guys- making a non-stop racy storyline till the climax. But what makes the Da Vinci code so remarkable is not the means employed to tell the story but in fact the story itself. A book that attempts to question the very cornerstones on which the faith of Christianity is based on; A book that provides convincing, seemingly concrete arguments and evidence on how the church undermined the divinity of the feminine and established male domination ; A book that makes you sit up and wonder 'Wow! Is this all true?'.

The beauty of fiction based on reality is that it makes the reader tread the uncertain space between what is real and what is made up. A good author makes you think how much of it is really true; A great author fills you with a want to find out the truth for yourself. Dan Brown definitely belongs to the latter category. The Da Vinci code is extremely well researched and the puzzles, ciphers and clues well thought up. Dan also makes references to the chief villain using an epithet, and employs circumstances and situations that distract you to assume his identity. I was gullible enough to reach a conclusion as to who he was, and was pleasantly surprised by the twist in the end.

The Da Vinci Code's tremendous success, considering the fact that a vast majority of the readers follow the very faith that the book questions is a heartening indicator of the open mindedness of Christians worldwide. If it had raised any doubts about the beliefs of Hinduism or Islam, it is not hard to imagine what the repercussions would have been. Given the bloodshed and violence that supposedly went into the establishment of Christianity, it seems to have created far more temperate believers than other religions. After all religion is not about what others believe in, it is about what you believe in. To finish off, the crux of the Da Vinci code is to spread realisation about the sanctity and divinity of the female. Forget all codes and ciphers...isn't She the greatest mystery of all time?