Angels and Demons

Laying around in my aunt's basement on its way to goodwill, it was the perfect start to my summer reading list, my aunt even recommended it. A month beforehand, my girlfriend had suggested a Dan Brown book, but I said that I wouldn't be reading anything written by him because of his "semi-historical" stories; I said it would be a waste of my time. I didn't know how wrong I was until I started reading.

Flying through the air in what sounded like a futuristic plane, challenging concepts, and "discovering" the past, I quickly forgot that I was reading a fiction, a "semi-historical" book; the history had very little to do with the detective work I followed, uncovering one piece of the puzzle at a time. Angels and Demons guided me through a crusade against the Roman Catholic Church that never ended, following in the footsteps of prospective Illuminati of Renaissance Italy.

The sharp debate between science and religion heralded as a major battle, surviving time, and threatening to end Rome, held the center of attention in the story.

Can God and science live together? There were those that felt that the two could not possibly mix, there were some that felt God destroyed the advances science has made: He was only created as a way to control the masses and to force many to follow a doctrine without challenging it. And then there were some who felt science challenged God, His creation, His meaning: as science gets more precise and explains more mysteries, God ends up playing a smaller role, until eventually, even God is explained, leaving no higher power and the Church only a pile of rocks with people of the past. Then, there was Leonardo Vetra. A priest and one of the most advanced scientists in his time, he was the perfect balance. He explained God through science, saw His beauty in the miracles of slim odds that created and shaped our universe. He was a great way for the Church to head towards, he would be the guide for where the Pope will go in regards to science and religion.

With your own detective work, mastered from watching CSI or Columbo (win if you know that show, it's one of my favorite), you work with an American Scholar, an old guy that teaches at Harvard. Don't let my description fool you, he's pretty good, incredibly smart, and he even surprised me with what he was able to do physically. Your investigation brings you through some of the most secret places, areas of the Vatican that very few know about, let alone see. And you discover it all: secret passage ways, secret messages, and a trail around the city of Rome that you can go travel now, after you read this book. It involves grisly murders and omg moments where I was literally cheering for that old American. The best part: an ending that goes from an OMG to a "I just shit my pants". It's insane. It's good. Really good.

So in case you haven't read anything I said, I liked it. It was a great read, even for me. I was surprised and I was proven wrong. I definitely recommend this book.

Make sure to vote on the next book you think I should read, comment on your thoughts about science and religion, and check out my new page which will be full of reviews on all the books I've read....eventually.