Blasphemy

By: Douglas Preston

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

In Douglas Preston's Blasphemy, the world's biggest supercollider, locked in an Arizona mountain, was built to reveal the secrets of the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself.

The Torus is the most expensive machine ever created by humankind, run by the world's most powerful supercomputer. It is the brainchild of Nobel Laureate William North Hazelius. Will the Torus divulge the mysteries of the creation of the universe? Or will it, as some predict, suck the earth into a mini black hole? Or is the Torus a Satanic attempt, as a powerful televangelist decries, to challenge God Almighty on the very throne of Heaven?

Twelve scientists under the leadership of Hazelius are sent to the remote mountain to turn it on, and what they discover must be hidden from the world at all costs. Wyman Ford, ex-monk and CIA operative, is tapped to wrest their secret, a secret that will either destroy the world…or save it.

The countdown begins…

©2007 Splendide Mendax, Inc. (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Listeners are in exceedingly capable hands - Sowers never lets us down. He weaves together the complex subplots of what happens when science and religion collide.” —AudioFile

“When a talented reader narrates a spellbinding story by a consistently powerful author, great things happen in the audio world. Scott Sowers nails the suspense of Preston's latest novel; listeners will be grabbed from the very first line of this 'ripped from the headlines' story of science and religion clashing, with tragic results...Preston never fails to deliver a first-rate thriller, and with Sowers providing the outstanding narrative, listeners are in for a non-stop - and thought-provoking audio experience.” —Library Journal, starred review

A Fun Tale

Although this stretched the belivability factor it was a fun listen even with the wacko's. Keep finding yourself saying "yeah how can that be?", but it is worth it, if your looking to be entertained.

Slow Start, Didn't Like Reader... But got better

I really should have listened to the sample before I started this book. The reader had very little in the way of expression for most of his character voices and thus they sounded so much the same that in any scene with several people in it, it was hard to know which one was talking. (and there were many scenes with lots of people together).

The story started slow.... and I was tempted to start a different book several times. But somewhere before half way through, it began to get more interesting and I stuck with it.

From the point where it picked up and through the few last chapters moved fast and it was hard to put my ipod down to go to bed. I found these chapters exciting and felt they were worth the wait.... But the ending was predictable. I was let down to discover I guess the correct villain at like chapter 3. I just expected something more witty & innovative. But it might not have been the entirely the story's fault. I really believe I would have enjoyed this book a lot more with a different reader.

All in all, I would say it is an alright book to listen to, so long as you can deal with the reader and don't mind a slow build up to the exciting apex... then to be let down by the ending you knew it would have from the beginning.

Mikki

Who is the editor?

Just missing the pronunciation of basic terms in the book was incredibly annoying. These are common words

Malware doesn't start out like a place you go shopping.

Characters

I appreciated the work of the narrator given all the characters. The characters were interesting and developed adequately.

Really good book

It was a bit slow to start but the plot / character set up was no more than what turned out to be needed. It is well worth sticking with and I lost several hours sleep because I couldn't put it down. I liked it so much that my next audio book is going to be another in Preston's Wyman Ford series.

Very sad

I love so many other of Douglas Preston’s books, so was saddened to realize this whole story followed along with a totally anti-Christian theme. It seemed evident that the characters in the book who were pastors were not “Christian” at all!

There is no reason for christians to be upset

Well, I agree, this book might be a hard one to swallow if you believe in god or if you are a christian in particular. Crazed christians are presented for what they are, our taliban. And really, what is the difference between crazed christians and taliban? None, except that they are a couple of hundreds of years appart. What christians did to us, atheists, is exactly the same what taliban does today. And christians would still be doing the same to us if we did not tame them. We tamed them with the power of reason and that's why we, the atheists, must repeat again and again that it is unreasonable to believe nonsense untill one day, so called believers are a minorty safely isolated in various psychiatric institutions.

The book shows exactly what can happen when our polititians, or society for that matter, waits too long to call the crazed christian mob for what they are. We are lulled into political correctness and we do not repeat often enough and we do not say loud enough that what christians believe is a bunch of nonsense and dangerous nonsense at that. "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit attrocities" as Voltaire wisely observed.

And there is no reason for christians to be upset. The book only shows what they are.

English is not my native language, but I hope I conveyed my opinion clearly.

Fun

I found this book enjoyable and outright funny at times. The author does rely on some character stereotypes in the story, but remember the reason most stereotypes exist is because there is a bit of truth in them. I found the locations and characters particularly interesting in this book because I live and work 10 minutes from Pat Robertson's compound and my best friend taught English on the Navajo reservation in Ganado, AZ for 3 years.

A quick note: If you are the type that accepts a fundamental or literal interpretation of the lore and writings of any religion you won't enjoy this book, so don't bother with it. I've never been able to understand why "born again" types would fiddle with science fiction anyway- there's a lot of cookie-cutter fantasy out there tailored to that point of view that won't upset you with facts, logic, or reality.

Also important to mention that anyone calling this writer's point of view godless or atheist is dead wrong. I've always thought, for instance, that the mechanics of evolution were perhaps the best evidence in all of my scientific training that there might be a higher power involved in the running of the universe. If you understand that statement and why I find those that fight science on religious grounds to be so humor-inspiring, then you probably have the right mindset to enjoy this book.

Oh, and don't forget- Satan put fossils in the rocks to confuse us and test our faith. What fun!

Great listen

I'm a huge fan of Douglas Preston and this book did not disappoint what so ever.

Typical Preston

This book is pretty much typical of Preston. His characters, with only a couple of exceptions, are generally flat. Preston is not a great writer. He does, however, tell a pretty darn good story, and that is also the case here. I expect many of the negative reviews seen here actually stem from Preston's straight-forward approach to the nature of human faith and religious belief. It is certainly a book which pulls no punches in this regard. It would be admittedly difficult for most religious persons to look at this book from "the outside" and give it a fair review.

It should be noted however, that although Christianity in particular is the religion Preston chooses to oppose rationality and science in this work, the actual point of the book is much broader and more disturbing. It is actually a very sobering look at human gullibility, stupidity, mob-mentality, "The God Gene", etc.

Definitely a worthy read for anyone who looks a the world around us and wonders where it all went wrong.