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    Blasphemy: A Novel
    Blasphemy: A Novel
    Blasphemy: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Blasphemy: A Novel

    Written by Douglas Preston

    Narrated by Scott Sowers

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJan 8, 2008
    ISBN9781427202758
    Blasphemy: A Novel
    Author

    Douglas Preston

    DOUGLAS PRESTON has published forty books of both nonfiction and fiction, of which over thirty have been New York Times bestsellers, a half-dozen reaching the #1 position. He is the co-author, with Lincoln Child, of the Pendergast series of thrillers. He also writes nonfiction pieces for the New Yorker Magazine. He worked as an editor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University. He is president emeritus of the Authors Guild and serves on the Advisory Board of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.

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    Reviews for Blasphemy

    3.5/5

    431 ratings33 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The US government has poured several billions of dollars into building a supercollider out in the Arizona desert, and they're now running out of patience because the scientists trying to use it can't get it to work. Or so they say. Something fishy seems to be going on out there, so the feds send in Wyman Ford (a former FBI agent with a history with one of the scientists) to see if he can suss out what's really going on. As it turns out, what's really going on is that the scientists think they may have contacted God when they turned the machine on... Meanwhile, the Navajo people living nearby aren't happy with how their deal to let the government use the land to build this thing hasn't turned out in their favor (and why are they shocked, one has to wonder). Also, a nearby evangelical preacher teams up with a Washington televangelist (who has teamed up with a DC lobbyist, who in turn is using the televangelist to try to exploit the Navajo nation) in an attempt to destroy the newfangled machine that's trying to disprove God exists. It all ends up in a hot mess, as you may well imagine.Kind of like the book itself. I mean, there's a *lot* going on here, and in general I like a book that gives me various sub plots that eventually all tie in together, but this one felt too disjointed and the eventual tying together seemed oversimplistic. Also, it felt like Preston couldn't decide which genre he wanting to be writing in: is this an FBI thriller? a social commentary on the corrupt nature of Christianity/religion itself (this, by the way, was the best part of the thing, in my opinion)? straight-up sci-fi? or a mystery? If you're gonna blend genres, fine, but find a way to hide the seams, or at least smooth them out enough that your readers aren't constantly tripping over them. Now, having groused about all that, I did kind of enjoy it. It's a good-enough story that at least kept me interested enough to want to know what happens, and honestly I was happily surprised at the end with how it all shook out.
    • 4/5
      Blasphemy: A Novel (wyman Ford Series Book 2) is a book that is Sci/Fi thriller. The story is based upon Christian zealots who believe in their hearts that they are doing the right thing in the eyes of their savior. The problem is that many people lost their lives in their battle to save the world from a Demigod. This book is not for the timid. Four stars were awarded to the book in this review because the book had a beginning, middle and end as well as kept its feeling throughout. A lot of research went into the writing of this book.
    • 3/5
      This book is a bit slow to get going, but once it does it will keep you wondering how it's going to play out, and it will keep you wondering right to the end. I've read some of Preston & Child's Pendergast books and didn't think this one was as good, but it's still pretty good.
    • 4/5
      In an attempt to learn the secret of the Big Bang, the moment of creation itself, scientists have built the largest supercollider in the world. Hidden in a mountain in Red Mesa, Arizona, the supercollider accelerates particles to very high energies that could either reveal the mysteries of creation or suck the earth into a mini black hole. Torus is run by the world’s most powerful supercomputer, a creation of physicist Gregory North Hazelius. The supercomputer, known as Isabella, is ostensibly seeking new forms of energy, but her creator secretly hopes to be able to talk with God.But there are problems with delays, cost overruns, power issues, computer hitches. When Isabella is fully powered, she “behaves” strangely . . . and then something tries to communicate with the scientists. Worried about secrets being kept by the scientists, Washington sends former CIA-turned private investigator Wyman Ford to find out what is going on in Arizona. As the word about Isabella and the supercollider experiments spread, there are folks ready to stir up trouble, inciting the masses with fearful prognostications and fanaticism. And, as emotions intensify, what will happen when the inevitable occurs and the scientists clash with the religious right? With its techno-thriller plot filled with unexpected revelations, readers will find this book difficult to set aside. True-to-life characters keep the narrative on track, offering much food for thought as the story plays out. In this fictional tale, it’s not about which faction is “right;” it’s about readers suspending disbelief and accepting the fictional premise and, as the narrative unfolds, seeing where the journey takes them. Good writing makes readers consider, makes them speculate, makes them think. Readers are apt to find themselves glad they took the journey. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      Well, the title of the book is spot on.

      I've been making my way through most of the Preston and Child novels, enjoying each in turn, so I thought it was time to hunt down some of their individual efforts. My local library happened to have Blasphemy on the shelves, which came home with me for a few days.

      This is a very well written book. Not only is it intriguing, it weaves in several themes, allegories, allusions and straight up social commentaries. At the same time it is a fast paced thriller. I really enjoyed it.

      Of course the title is likely to make some people a little nervous about reading the book. It should be made clear that The Flying Spaghetti Monster is not mentioned, nor is his noodliness likely to be happy with the religious comments - beer and pirates are not mentioned once. No doubt some will be offended, especially if they swear blind that Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have horns and pitch forks. Everyone else will enjoy this interesting and fast paced novel.
    • 4/5
      The world's most powerful particle accelerator, Isabella, buried deep in an Arizona mountain is the most expensive machine ever built. The purpose of the machine is to explore what happened at the moment of creation, but there is a fear that it may suck the earth into a miniature black hole.

      Against a backdrop of rising concern about the money spent, the team of 12 scientists led by Gregory North Hazelius is under increasing pressure to demonstrate the value of the project. In addition there are rising Christian fundamentalist views that the plan is a satanic attempt to disprove the book of Genesis, as well as concerns about the project by the Navajo people (on whose reservation the site is located). There seem to be problems in getting Isabella on line and Wyman Ford is implanted within the team to report back to government about what is really happening.

      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The setting is interesting. The characters are unique. There is a good plot and plenty of twists. If you like Preston and Child's other novels, you will like this one as well. It kept my interest through the entire story right until the end. Thought provoking theories are presented. It's very much worth a read.
    • 3/5
      generally like his work as it is always a good mix of science and thriller. This one jumps around a bit but is still a good read throwing a little bit a religion into the mix. Big Bang? Creation? Indian legends? Its all explored in this one!
    • 3/5
      Fairly average thriller with some interesting science and characters I cared about such as Wyman Ford. I liked the Navajo reservation and Red Mesa setting - some of the characters were rather typical stereotypes and not that interesting. There were some good page turning parts, but about half way through the book I decided I knew what the mystery was, and I turned out to be right. That didn't spoil the book for me, but it made me examine the character's behavior a little more closely.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting way to exploit the battle oposing religion and science. A very good read but not as good as Thunderhead. However, Douglas is still one of the beast suspense-writting author and I will continue to follow his work.
    • 4/5
      Sci-fi meets religion is often a good basis for a gripping novel and whilst there were a few facets of Blasphemy that were far too convenient to give it the air of realism I really wanted, it was nevertheless a good read. That was until the end.To say I was let down (and no I won't spoil the ending) would be an understatement and the great story which had built prior was all a little ruined with the finale.Douglas Preston seems very well researched and speaking as a tech found his computer/net references quite well informed (for example he mentions Usenet which is something the average PC user probably doesn't even know about)Good, but could have been so much more....
    • 5/5
      This was only the second book by Preston that I have read. I was blown away to say the least. The phrase 'couldn't put it down' was in full effect. 
    • 3/5
      Not one of my favorite Douglas Preston books. The God conversations at the end lost me.
    • 3/5
      In this book, the battle of science vs religion takes a new twist in the form of Isabella, a machine designed as a supercollider particle accelerator to probe the energy levels of the Big Bang and investigate ideas as a new power source.What they get in its stead, is a machine that takes on the voice of God describing a new religion based on science.The result is a group led by an obsessed pastor, Russell Eddy, who has identified Isabella as a machine that must be destroyed together with Isabella's creator, Gregory North Hazelius, whom Eddy refers to as the Antichrist.An interesting premise.
    • 3/5
      Blasphemy is the second book featuring Wynam Ford (now a private detective). In this book, Ford infiltrates a government-run facility which has built the world’s largest particle accelerator for a mere $40 billion. (Please suspend your disbelief.) I like the way Preston has worked together several subplots which all culminate at the end of the book for a complex climax. I am also a fan of Preston’s easy writing style—it’s good for a quick read. I am not a fan of Preston’s portrayal of Born Again Christians—I think it’s a bit over-the-top, though I guess it’s a reasonable depiction of a very small percentage of rapture-ready Christians. Also, Preston is clearly not a physicist, but I guess not everyone can be perfect. :) Overall, I think Blasphemy was good for a quick sci-fi/techno read, but shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It’s a beach-book.
    • 3/5
      Ok, so this wasn't Preston's best book. And some of the technical stuff was over my head. And the characters were one dimensional. And the ending was disappointing. That being said, I still couldn't put it down. I'm a fan of both Preston and Child and have read everything they've written as a team or as individuals. Their books are my Guilty Pleasures. I ripped through Blasphemy in about two evenings. Just a cracking good read, as they say. That's all I expect from either of them, and they always deliver!!!
    • 5/5
      Blasphemy uses the succesful Chrichton-esque blueprint with great effect. It's clear that Preston has conducted his research with a story that follows a team of brilliant scientists working in an underground research facilty, utilising a supercollider to recreate the Big Bang (albeit on a smaller scale). When no results appear a spy is send in to their midst, creating a taut thriller around the group dynamics and relationships. As the story progress Preston continues to add new plot lines, upping the ante with each element, until they skillfully fuse at the finale. Although the story slightly outstays its welcome, the topics are expertly blended and after the book has finished you'll be considering some of content for some time. True to Chrichton, when cutting edge science creates wonder and terror, it sure is good to read.
    • 3/5
      A pot-boiler that pits scientists trying to make a supercollider work against the fundamentalist Christian right. A pretty easy read although a little short on tension and excitement (or maybe I'm just a little too jaded). I found the scientist characters too 'mad' and dysfunctional; I found the fundamentalists affirming my stereotypical view of those characters, which I found pleasing, but I did not always think rang true. The denouement had a role reversal I did not see coming.A comfortable read, but too many loose ends and not quite enough energy.
    • 1/5
      I really can't say very many good things about this book (actually there's nothing that comes to mind about it at all). In one word I descibe it as "eh". Yeah that's right I didn't even use a real word but it gets the sentement across. The characters were boring and uber-typical the story was ....... not that interesting. It seems to me like the author tried to use all the scientific mumbo-jumbo to make up for the lack of feeling and imagination within his book. The christian reaction to the "God" was something I could see if someone lite a big enough fire under their assses and they all went a lil nuts but that's my opinion. This book could've been decent if not good but the lack of true substance made me really struggle to get through it. I would not recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Pretty good book. Douglas Preston is a really good thriller/science fiction writer that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. I never thought I would like science fiction, but this is more technological sci-fi, rather than aliens and space travel. The reason I only gave it 3 stars was because it was on the jumpy side and I sometimes had trouble following the story and sometimes it was a little over my head with the details.
    • 4/5
      A techno-thriller in the Michael Creighton vein, Blasphemy combines science (a particle accelerator designed to be larger than CERN) with political asshattery and religious nutjobbery. Built with a price tag of $40 billion, the purpose of the accelerator is to research particles that haven't existed since the big bang. However, software glitches prevent it from going on-line, and the DOE sends a former CIA agent and scientist to investigate. Meanwhile, the Navajo tribal counsel fires their lobbyist, content that the project is complete and nothing will interfere with the stream of government rent checks for using their land. The lobbyist warns that the project is still under heavy pressure from groups who think it is a sink hole and wish to stop funding it all together, but he cannot get them to keep him on retainer. A discredited televangelist on the verge of cancellation declares that the project is trying to disprove Genesis and is a direct affront to god, and all of the nutjobs start coming out of the woodwork, sending email to Washington in unprecedented numbers. Then a local preacher on the Navajo reservation falls under the spell, goes to accelerator to voice concerns and get information, and is dismissed by the lead scientist as a "germ" and ejected from the premises. When the televangelist refers to the information he gathered on his increasingly popular broadcast, the preacher takes it upon himself to declare a holy war against the accelerator (and the scientist, who he dubs the Antichrist). His email campaign goes viral, and soon a veritable army assembles outside the gates of the compound. Meanwhile, when the accelerator is powered to near 100%, it begins to talk to the scientists. First dismissed as a hack that needed rooting out, it claims that it is god. After an extended conversation, the mostly Atheistic group of scientists actually start to believe that maybe it is.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the scariest books I've ever read. Seriously. It's up there with "The Stand". What starts out as a pretty standard techno-thriller rapidly warps into one of the most chilling horror adventures I've ever read. What makes it so terrifying is how utterly plausible it is -- Preston's keen grasp of mob psychology (particularly fundamentalist religious mobs) makes the last third of this book horrifying beyond all description. It's a true masterwork -- genius, absolutely gripping from start to finish. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I really try to like religious based fiction (read as much of the Left Behind series as I could manage ~8 of them or so)... but they all seem to go down the same path, dividing the world into two, equally insane, factions - those who believe and those who do not.I think, in reality, people are not so diametrically opposed, or at least not in such great numbers. Of course, there are freaks in every group, but not so many that you can paint the whole group with that brush.Anyway... it's an ok book. Not particularly suspenseful, not particularly engaging, but enough so that I could finish reading it.
    • 3/5
      As a fan of Douglas Preston, I had high expectations for Blasphemy. The Navajo Nation setting and focus on science immediately drew my interest. Although the story dealt with an interesting premise, I quickly figured out the motives of each character and raced through the book to see if I'd made the right guess. I did. Although I enjoyed the book, it read more as a classic mystery rather than an intriguing thriller. Although I found the religious issues interesting, I thought the role of the stereotypical government officials, tv evangelist, fundamentalist preacher and his followers was predictable. I'm a huge fan of Preston, but I hope his next novel will dig deeper and provide more surprises.
    • 5/5
      Scientists build a supercollider in the remote area of Red Mesa, New Mexico. Things start happening and it appears that in the process of trying to overcome computer and system glitches with the supercollider, they have met God. Or have they?Christians and scientists both are portrayed as a bit wacko.It is a good read, though. It did fall apart a little at the end for me, but all in all, entertaining.
    • 3/5
      Some books I call "popcorn reading" because they are fun and quick to consume, while providing a minimum of nutritional value - which isn't to say that popcorn reading lacks worth, just that it's really not brain food, and there's nothing really wrong with that. Reading should be enjoyable. One of my favourite types of "popcorn" is chick lit. And some popcorn actually provides food for thought, like Mitch Albom's books, but absorption doesn't require much effort and the thoughts come easily. The thriller category also has a preponderance of popcorn. And with Blasphemy, you get the jumbo sized popcorn with a candy bar. Think movie. This was an ultimate popcorn experience. At Red Mesa, Arizona, tunnelled deep inside the mountains, mad(?) genius Gregory North Hazelius heads up the government-funded Isabella Project. Isabella, the most super supercomputer ever built, is at the heart of a mammoth, enormously powerful particle accelerator built to smash together subatomic particles, unleashing energies last created during the Big Bang. We dive immediately into intimations of danger - what if Isabella creates a black hole? The first run - Isabella is not responding as anticipated - Hazelius insists on continuing - and then, as Isabella and the particles scream in the tunnels - contact with another being. What is this being - the work of a hacker or maybe God? Add to the plot: Wyman Ford, ex-CIA, sent by the US government to find out what is really going on; Navajos protesting the mega project in their backyard; Reverend Don T. Spates, a slimy fundamentalist preacher experiencing sagging revenues; and Pastor Russ Eddy, one of the scariest religious fanatics I've ever met in print. There's blasphemy of all kinds in this book as well as fanatics of all persuasions who converge at Red Mesa. Can science be perverting our humanity or are the scientists showing the way to God? It all comes to a, well, roaring conclusion. Most enjoyable, easily consumed, and yes, thought-provoking.
    • 3/5
      I'm putting this at somewhere between 3 & 4 rating.Remember -- it's just a book and it's fiction!I picked up this book because I liked the character of Wyman Ford (former CIA operative and former monk) from Tyrannosaur Canyon, although I certainly wasn't prepared for what came next. Ford is called upon to look into what's going on with the Isabella Project, a particle accelerator worth $40 billion from the government and hidden underground in the Arizona desert at Red Mesa. There have been delays and problems with the Navajos. The ostensible point of Isabella is to prove the Big Bang theory. But when Ford arrives, he realizes that something's being kept hidden among the scientists -- it seems that someone's hacked into the computer and causing it to seemingly speak to the scientists on its own. But those are not the worst of the problems facing the scientists -- it seems that an overzealous fundamentalist evangelical preacher whose ratings are dipping on TV needs something to perk up his broadcasts, and decides to take on the Isabella project. After all, as he notes, the government gave the project $40 billion to prove the truth of the Big Bang Theory, but you'd never see the government giving Christians $40 billion to prove the truth of God. Thus begins a story that will hold you until the end. I do have to say that I absolutely loved Preston's handling of the whole fundamentalist-Christian-rabble-rousing, following-the-herd-blindly thing, and to people who say that he's got it all wrong, just turn on your television set or read the newspaper, or look at society today. While Preston's portrayal may be a bit over the top, there's no denying that with access to the internet or television, information, even false information, may be disseminated to those who receive it as gospel. All I have to do is to look through my email and find stuff my friends send me that I know isn't true, and yet they believe it wholeheartedly. I had a good time listening to Blasphemy, and while it may be a bit larger than life, it kept me entertained for hours.
    • 1/5
      Blasphemy was reviewed in the Mercury-News, which has a terrible "book section" (one page of two reviews from the wire services, and bestseller lists). It sounded good, though, so I put it on hold at the library--one of the few books that's had a substantial wait attached. The characters lacked depth, as did the chapters, which tended to hover around the 10-15 page mark. The only current hot topic this lacked was an evangelical in a homosexual sex scandal.
    • 3/5
      Worth getting into. Provocative.BTW, I'm spoiled by the Harry Potter books read by Jim Dale, so, after listening to several chapters of Blasphemy by some other voice I switched to the written book. This is recommended, because there are some passages you'll want to skim over quickly.
    • 3/5
      a fun romp which just started to touch on issues of the Cosmos and religion - I was very unsatisfied with the last few chapters and felt Preston just wanted to wrap up the tale without giving a little more subsctance - though-provoking nonetheless
    • 4/5
      An interesting mix of science and religion combined into a thriller. While I enjoyed the overall story and the interplay between religious dogma and scientific learning, I did have a few problems with the story. First, I would have actually preferred for the story to have developed a bit slower. The author introduced a group of twelve scientists, but most of them had only a few lines of dialogue and we learned practically nothing about them. Similarly, I would have liked to have learned more about what the scientists thought that their experiments would show them, how they would analyze that information, and what it would mean to science. On the other end of the spectrum, I think that the author did himself a dis-service by making the televangelist such a characiture instead of a living, breathing, genuinely good person. I suspect (I hope?) that at least some televangelists are of this latter type and not just in it for their own benefit. I agreed with many of the points that I think that the author was trying to make, but I think that those points would have been stronger if the televangelist -- the character representing "the other side" -- had been a stronger character.Blasphemy was an good read, but I don't think that it will appeal to religious conservatives or to those who are generally disinterested in modern, cutting-edge theoretical science (even if that is not what the book is really about...