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Aug 23, 2011

Lowed rated it:

While tidying up my desk and figuring out how to make a review of this book, a friend approached me and tells me what she knew after making a little research on God:

THERE IS NO GOD...
THERE IS NO HEAVEN...
NO HELL...
NOT EVEN A PURGATORY...
DANTE ALIGHIERI WAS A FAILED POLITICIAN WITH A VERY IMAGINATIVE BUT DEMENTED MIND.
ALL THAT HAPPENS HERE DOES NOT REALLY HAPPENED FOR A REASON.
WHEN YOU DIE, THERE WILL BE NOTHING. AS IN NADA, ZERO, NULL, ZIP!
Y More...

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Mar 19, 2009

John rated it:

I picked this up in the airport and found it to be interesting. Initial though was that it was tapping into some real sensitive religious areas; however, they seemed to wrap it up pretty well. The overall premise of the book does make you think about stuff like the creation of the universe and God / god. When reading this one, keep in mind it is FICTION and you may be able to just enjoy the book. Ok – (STORY SPOILER) so the story is about making the world’s largest particle collider and when More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2008

Rai rated it:

Excellent 'mysteries of the universe' thriller

As an avid reader of thrillers, especially ones with a measure of the supernatural (these are also the types of books I like to write), Blasphemy is a book that I absolutely had to have based on the story description. It plumbs the depth of some of the most fascinating topics - the big bang, supercolliders, science & religion, the mysteries of the universe...what's not to love?! Blasphemy goes from zero to 60 in a heartbeat, the story gra More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2008

Jennifer (JC-S) rated it:

For the story alone, I may have given this just two stars. But it got me thinking about herd behaviour and I liked the fact that all of the participants failed equally (so call me quirky). Any way as a consequence, I thought the novel deserved 3 stars. Read on:

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 t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Nancy rated it:

I'm putting this at somewhere between 3 & 4 rating.

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 Nav More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 22, 2011

Doreen rated it:

Really 3.5 stars.
I listened to this book.

Blasphemy is about a group of scientists trying to understand the Big Bang theory and as an outcome, unearth new forms of energy. To accomplish these tasks, they are using a superconducting supercollider particle accelerator which cost the US taxpayers $40 billion. Enter a greedy, conniving lobbyist, a televangelist, and an over zealous pastor and you've got yourself a great story where science and religion do battle! More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2009

Jan rated it:

I wasn't sure if I should give this one a 3 or 4 stars. I decided on 4 because the concept of the book gave me something to think about, but it was kind of boring in some of the parts about the crazy preacher and the parts set in Washington. Over all it was not a bad read.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Ann rated it:

I have read books by this author and books by this author with a partner. This was not one of his better books. It as predictable and I thought rather shallow. The precept is that when a superconducter "atom smasher" comes online at full power, it accesses GOD. Then God, speaking through the atom smasher tells the gathered scientists that God wants them to seek out the truth of the universe using science. HE says that religions created by man are no longer required. Of course some More...

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Nov 12, 2011

Paula rated it:

Blasfémia, conta-nos a história de Ásia Bibi. Aliás, a história é contada pela própria Ásia, a paquistanesa cristã que foi condenada à pena de morte por ter bebido um copo de água. Copo este, que pertencia a mulheres muçulmanas, “contaminando” desta forma toda a água daquele poço.
Este é um relato sofrido, de alguém inocente que há dois anos espera a ordem de enforcamento. É essencialmente um pedido de socorro além grades. Não para se salvar a si própria, porque a sua esperança vai morrendo More...

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Oct 30, 2011

Mazel is currently reading it

Au coeur de l'Arizona, en plein territoire Navajo, est implanté le projet Isabella, un accélérateur de particules en mesure de reproduire une énergie comparable au Big Bang, et donc expliquer la naissance de l'univers.
Mais ce projet, mené par le professeur Hazélius, scientifique de génie, prix Nobel et Médaille Fields, bien que soutenu par le gouvernement, n'a pas que des adeptes. Au nombre des opposants, les indiens Navajos, un groupe d'écologistes, un virulent télévangéliste et un pasteu More...

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Jun 28, 2011

Johnny rated it:

As a fan of the collaborative efforts of Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, I have been somewhat hesitant to pick up the individual works. Blasphemy is my first such attempt to read one of the solo efforts and it has seemed quite worthwhile. At first, I thought the novel was going to be a poor man’s Angels & Demons. After all, both novels deal with the relationship between faith and science and both novels contain references to experiments where super-colliders would simulate the early stages of More...

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May 12, 2011

Christina rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Mar 06, 2011

Wizzard rated it:

I give it four stars because I really enjoyed reading the book. The ending was in some ways too neat and predictable. In some ways the book might have been better without a "Main Character" But I enjoyed the philosophical questions it brought about.

The book looks fairly deeply into the relationship between modern (quantum) science and religion. It claims that the two cannot safely occupy the same space so something has to give.

I like the questions of what h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2011

Karl rated it:

Without doubt, this is one of the top five science fiction novels I have ever read. Preston has masterfully set his novel atop the intersecting fault lines of science, religion, and politics and he fully exploits the potential.

Preston has positively mastered the art of pacing his novel. At first, I kept turning the pages in curiosity at where everything was leading, but by the end I'd lost all control on my fingers and the pages just fly by. Not only is the pacing near perfect, the sub More...

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Nov 25, 2010

Perry rated it:

I've heard Douglas Preston described as "the next Michael Crichton". Seeing as Crichton was one of my favorite authors, this is high praise and I had to check him out.

His books are similar in that they're set in modern times and do have a "just barely into the future" science aspect. However, the science is less prominent in this book and the final explanation of the main mystery is more pedestrian. I would also add that Preston seems to do much better with cha More...

2 comments like

Jan 30, 2010

Ty rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 16, 2009

Mary rated it:

Of all of the Preston books I've read so far, this one is my favorite. I love both science and religion, and the clash between them fascinates me. In most of the book, there is not the kind of gruesome ghastly murders in some of the recent Preston books I've read. However, it does get pretty gruesome and ghastly at the end. Like all the Preston and Preston and Child books, it hold the reader's attention from the very first. There are NO boring first chapters or first half the book. The rea More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2009

Jim rated it:

This book is a great summer read. Once it got going, I was hooked. It is a little hard to review without giving away too much, but will try.

Douglas Preston is a great storyteller who has written several books, both by himself and with Lincoln Child.

It takes place in Northeast Arizona on Navajo lands. The US govt has funded and built a 43 mile long circular underground super collider. Obviously this is a fictitious installation. The largest real super collider, the More...

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Feb 10, 2012

Paul rated it:

David Preston takes on a rather interesting examination of the distinguishing between religion & science in "Blasphemy" a book that almost seems like it could be taken from the headlines of today. In Arizona, an equivalent of Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, Isabella is testing the ability to look for the origins of the Big Bang. While scientists like project leader Gregory North Hazelius think this will do just that there rare others out there who think this could be nothing more More...

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Jul 27, 2009

Tracy rated it:

I tried, I really did. I got into the 8th of 11 discs and just couldn't take it anymore.

I'm giving two stars instead of one only because the main story regarding the computer was interesting. At least it was until the big "Why this is happening" bit. Actually, it wasn't nearly as big as it should have been because it was buried under so many side stories and layers.

Too many times the phrase "That's not possible" was uttered/shouted/whined by suppose More...

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Feb 17, 2009

DWGibb rated it:

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" pretty well sums up the premise of this book. It's a quasi science-versus-religion pot boiler that really sucks you in. Nobody gets a clean slate in this one, not the Christians, Scientists, nor the Federal Government. The only group that comes out relatively unscathed are the Navajos.

Once you suspend your initial disbelief, the book is a real page turner. Lots of action, violence and weird characters all pitted against e More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Jeff rated it:

The writer explores a lot of things that have been floating around my head for awhile, complexity as a emergent property of a universe based on supremely simple rules, the entanglement of of all things, the information theory of existence.

Above all, Douglas P provides always provides a very readable and enjoyable book. In this one it's obvious he using the plot to convey a lot of his own ideas, which is fine. Books like this are the start of a inquiry in which we should explore the concepts he More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Barbara rated it:

This book hits the ground running, then picks up speed. In the Arizona desert, a group of scientists is working round the clock, trying (unsuccessfully) to bring online the most powerful computer and particle accelerator ever created. The practical use of their invention would be a new power source, reducing dependence on fossil fuels; their driving, and purely scientific, objective is to reproduce the level of energy believed to have effected the "Big Bang".

Their work affec More...

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Aug 08, 2011

Scott rated it:

Well, I was interested at first, and throughout most of the book I was wondering how he was going to get out off of the outlandish path he's decided to go down with it, and I have to say I was immensely disappointed at the last quarter of the book. Preston/Child is an unstoppable writing team that should stay Preston/Child. Whenever I read their individual offerings, I'm left with a feeling that half of the book is missing. I agree with another reviewer that the movie "The Relic" wa More...

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Jan 19, 2009

L rated it:

It would appear that Preston is not overly fond of the right-wing, nut-case, slimy-televangelist approach to religion. Given the title, I don't believe I'm revealing anything to tell you that this is a fascinating mix of science (a supercollider out on a remote section of the Navajo Reservation, strange scientist characters & conflicts between them), politics at multiple levels(the DC version, on-the-ground between the scientists & locals, super-star televangelist & a like-minded pastor out in t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 26, 2010

Mike rated it:

Douglas Preston has been talked about as the heir to the late Michael Crichton in the thriller genre, and the talk could be right. While not quite as tightly packed as Crichton's best books, Preston nonetheless writes great page turners with all kinds of science, history, sociology, you name it, thrown in for highly entertaining reads. This is the second book to feature former CIA operative/monk now private investigator Wyman Ford (the first being Tyrannosaur Canyon). And while he goes into Ford More...

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Dec 28, 2010

Fabian rated it:

I had contemplated of granting this book a reputable 5 stars rating. Yet my standard in reviewing books restrain myself in highly praising a book without numerous similarly themed comparison.

THE STORY: An experiment that desired to understand the moment of creation, The 'Big Bang' that propelled the universe into existence billions of years ago - was recreated in an expensive underground laboratory. The entire technological wizardry was codenamed 'Isabella', spearheaded by a Nobel priz More...

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Aug 23, 2009

Sharon rated it:

I've read many of Douglas Preston's collaborations with Lincoln Child and enjoyed them very much. "Blasphemy" is quite a bit different from those supernatural thrillers, but enjoyable in its own right.

In this book, CIA agent and former monk Wyman Ford agrees to go undercover to a scientific project known as Isabella. Scientist Gregory Hazelius has designed a device that replicates the "big bang," and is looking at the implications thereof. Of course, means that More...

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Dec 19, 2010

Esmeralda rated it:

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 Agai More...

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Aug 17, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

I am adding this book to my list at this time, even though I read it several years ago and had forgotten how good it was until I reviewed the 'Fever Dream' by Preston and Child. This book is about a particle accelerator in the American desert that is trying to recreate the Big Bang Theory in miniature and an extremist religous group that tries to stop the scientific experiments conducted therein. At the time this book was published two or three years ago, the CERN European Particle Accelerator More...

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