ASSOCIATES (vol. 4, no. 3, March 1998) - associates.ucr.edu
_The Bible Code_
Michael Drosnin
Simon & Schuster Publishing Company
1997
ISBN: 0-684-81079-4
US $25.00
Reviewed by
Bob Farnsworth
Senior Library Technical Assistant
University of North Florida
bfarnsw@unf.edu
As you would probably suspect, this review may be a bit
different than our usual because it deals with a book and a topic that
can cause some controversy. However, this review only is submitted to
continue the hope of presenting current books you will hear patrons
and colleagues discussing. The validity of its background and
premise is still being debated.
_The Bible Code_ is a book about what the author, Michael Drosnin
(a reporter formerly with the Washington Post and the Wall Street
Journal) feels is "the first full account of a code in the Bible
that reveals events that took place thousands of years after the
Bible was written."
The book opens as the author is warning Israel's Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin that "an Israeli mathematician has discovered a hidden
code in the Bible..." This code has indicated that Rabin will be
assassinated. As we know from the news, this was a prediction which
came true in 1995.
We are then told that the current discoverer (there had been
those like Izaak Newton who suspected its existence) of the Code was Dr.
Elijahu Rips--a world-renowned expert in group theory (the
mathematical field that underlies quantum physics). According to
the author, Dr. Rips heard about this code but was only able to
decipher it when he used a computer to assist him. While the
information in the Code is information for the whole world, one has
to understand that the Code exists only in Hebrew--the original
language of the Bible.
According to Michael Drosnin, there was a senior code-breaker at
the U.S. National Security Agency--Harold Gans--who decided to disprove
the whole Code theory. He was so skeptical that he wrote his own
computer program for this purpose. However, Gans' disproval theory
backfired--when his own program proved that the program Dr. Rips had
used for the Code was valid. The Code was real.
Basically, we are told "The Bible is constructed like a giant
crossword puzzle...Criss-crossing the entire known text of the Bible,
hidden under the original Hebrew of the Old Testament is a complex
network of words and phrases--a new revelation..."
The premise of the code is that it works according to historical
writings. All spaces between words are turned into one continuous
letter strand--which is, according to what we are told--the Bible's
original structural form. That strand is searched by the computer
for sequences of names, words, and phrases following a fairly simple
skip sequence. The results reveal relation information by bringing
together interlocking words--in a pattern similar to a crossword
puzzle.
Oddly enough, when this same formula was performed on other
books and written pieces, none revealed the interlocking crossword type
of code.
Following the information gained from the sequential pattern,
the author indicates that the Code also announces that we are in the
"End of Days'--beginning the time of the Apocalypse. However,
rather than attempting to instill fear in his readers, Drosnin
stresses that the true use of the Code is to inform and to warn.
"It is not a threat of inevitable doom. It is just information.
The message of the Bible Code is that we can save ourselves."
So, no matter what, if any, your religious convictions, this
book has merit in the library field for several reasons. First, as
workers in libraries we naturally have all been exposed to the Bible
as one of the most famous books. Second, if you've ever tried a
crossword or similar puzzle, this may be the story of the "ultimate"
such puzzle. Third, we are given a good review of the background of
some of the current problems in the Middle East. And last, if you
only want to read the book as a science fiction tale, you'll find
it fascinating.
Try it...it's unique and thought-provoking!