Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

** This review contains spoilers **

Great book with classic Dan Brown puzzles and probing into possibly the single most important topic that human kind faces: religion and science.

It is rare to see someone who at sees science and religion as compatible, and orthogonal, seeing as we constantly hear of the raging debate of religion vs science. However, that was me before reading this book. After re-reading this book at an older age, I have come to see the possibility of science being not an addition to the lives of people, religious or not, but as a kind of religion in itself. I know understand why people believe science and religion are not just orthogonal, but at odds with each other.

The way that Dan Brown deals with physics in this book may be a bit far fetched, but it is grounded in real science. Leonardo Vetra’s motivations for “proving God” are slightly off, since showing that creation is possible doesn’t really justify the fact of a creator. It seemed to me he went a hell of a lot too far out of his way to perform an experiment that, despite being interesting, didn’t really prove his point.

Casting this minor scientific qualm aside, the number of twists and intrigued in this book makes it a gripping read, and it is very satisfying to slowly see the pieces of the puzzle fall into place as our narrator, Langdon, as innocent as us, falls upon them himself.

Now for the bit with spoilers.

I think that the fact that the cunning Camerlegno was always involved was sometimes obscured a bit too much, to the extent that in the chapters which involved the first person narrative from his perspective, such as entering the Sistine Chapel, did not seem realistic afterwards when we find out about his involvement. I would also have liked to see some additional explanation as to how the Hassassin was originally hired. Surely the Camerlegno did not move in these circles?

Another thing: Islam is not a language, as was suggested in one sentence. For a book that was otherwise so clearly well-researched, this error stuck out like a sore thumb.

In conclusion…

Overall, a really good book, which clearly elucidates the conflict between religion and science, even within one person’s mind (the Camerlegno), with enough historical and factual intrigue, twists and turns to keep you reading all the way through.