The Secret of Secrets: A Novel-Dan Brown, author; Paul Michael, narrator
Before you begin, suspend disbelief, but let belief re-emerge, whenever necessary. Underlying this story is a government program called Threshold. A group of scientists and agents of the American government, under the aegis of the CIA, answerable to a very few, have been actively engaged in secret experiments for years. They have planted a device inside the brains of uninformed subjects, who happen to be suffering from epilepsy, hoping to control their seizures, and in that way, they hope to learn more about the mind and how to control it. That skill will eventually lead to superiority in the area of mind control, which will one day ensure our national security dominance. It is a science that is being studied and is rapidly being developed by many governments. This group does not want Dr. Katherine Solomon’s book on the science of thought to see the light of day. She has written about the idea that the mind can exist outside the body, that it is a separate entity that can act on its own, connect with other minds and even inanimate objects.
Katherine Solomon, is a Noetic Scientist. She has been asked to present a speech in Prague on the science of thought. The woman who asked her is Dr. Brigita Gessner. Katherine needs an escort, so she asks her long-time friend Robert Langdon to attend her lecture. While in Prague, they suddenly discover that after so many years of friendship, they have found romance and love with each other. On the morning after Katherine’s presentation, however, their brief romantic sojourn ends when chaos erupts.
The novel leads the reader in multiple directions, sometimes on confusing wild goose chases with the different characters and sometimes directly into unexpected moments that seem suspiciously like something out of the realm of the supernatural. The heavy-handed ÚZSI, the Foreign Intelligence service for the Czech Republic, the American Embassy staff, the secret government agency and its employees, and a Golem, a creature of Jewish lore, all seem to be involved in the mystery of why Katherine and Robert are accused of heinous crimes. Why has her manuscript been destroyed? What was in the book that seemed threatening or dangerous to anyone? Was it the Czech government or the American government at the bottom of the deceptions? Was it someone else altogether? Someone or some organization was obviously hell-bent on keeping their efforts secret to prevent any effort that might expose information revealing their organization or their goals. Was Robert being framed? Was Katherine secretly involved in some conspiracy? Even her editor was involved when his server was wiped out, her book disappeared from his computer, and then he was brutally kidnapped.
The novel exposes government corruption and secret organizations conducting clandestine experiments on unknowing victims. It illustrates how our memories and stored information guide us in different directions, but it doesn’t tell us where our mind actually resides, and that is the question scientists want answered. There is a woman suffering from “DID” Dissociative Identity Disorder, a clandestine organization with a secret lab, there are corrupt Czech police, scientists involved in the discussion of Neuroscience, the study of the nervous system vs Noetic science, the study of consciousness and even a Golem, involved in the turmoil that follows. Brown leads the reader in multiple directions, sometimes on confusing wild goose chases with the different characters. Katherine and Robert are simply at a loss to explain or understand why her manuscript has been destroyed and their lives are in danger. Soon, even Heide Nagel, the Ambassador at the American Embassy in Prague is accused of treason.
Although there are times when the story simply leaves the realm of the real world and seems to enter the world of fantasy, just today I read about people who receive organ transplants and gain access to the minds of their donors, without realizing it is even happening. Did the donor’s thoughts reside in the organ donated? How does one account for the person who wakes up from a coma speaking a language he has never been taught? Who can explain intuition or ESP? We are simply woefully unaware when it comes to the science of the mind. Is it moral to continue the secret experiments or should they be stopped?
The book is close to 700 pages and could have stood a bit of editing. There are unnecessary explanations and love scenes that seemed extraneous. Why was there a shout out to Starbucks? Still, Brown writes page-turning novels, even when they seem to enter the stratosphere. This is no exception. Are we actually in a mind control race with other countries which we must dominate? Is it possible for different minds to connect with each or for the mind to control matter? Will the virtual world, in the end, be controlled by our minds or the minds of the machine we create?
A major overall theme in this book is the quote near the end. Do you agree or disagree with Henry Kissinger who said, “A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security”?