For the 25th anniversary of 9/11 you may be wondering what to read or watch. I have a few suggestions. The movie United 93 is a must, released just five years after the terrible day.
If you haven’t read the Quran, you should. I had bought a copy shortly after the attack and was reading it all the way through when President George W. Bush uttered his remarkable line about “Islam is Peace,” proving that he had not read the Quran.
An excellent and very relevant offering is Geoffrey Simmons’s new thriller, Oppenheimer’s Demon. It’s “9/11 times a thousand” — that’s how Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch describes the fully realistic scenario pictured in the novel. In an interview with Simmons, Schonbuch vividly describes his own 9/11 experience: he was working in a nearby building that day.
Running Toward Danger
The emphasis of the story, which is truly thrilling, is on preparedness for disaster, and on the heroism of those who respond to emergency by running toward it.
As Science and Culture writer Terrell Clemmons asked this week in an essay about the book, “Why the Satisfying Thrill of the Thriller?” The answer confronts us with the choice between alternative pictures of reality, whether suffused with meaning and purpose or with Darwinian nihilism. She also appreciated the story as a story: “Having read the novel, I can tell you it lives up to the best you might expect of the genre.”
Image source: Discovery Institute Press.I agree, and so do the reviewers at Amazon:
- “A fascinating and thought-provoking read. I enjoyed the way it brought the history surrounding Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb to life while also showing the human and moral consequences of his work.”
- It “builds like a Dan Brown novel. By the climactic scenes my elevated pulse was proof that I was thoroughly engaged.”
- “Gripping, thoughtful, sobering and compelling.”
- “You won’t want to put this book down once you get started. Beside keeping his readers on edge, the author manages to engage us readers with a host of insights about events and situations past, present, and in the oh-so-possible future.”
- “As you speed through this page turner, you can visualize the movie that should be made from it.”
- “Very believable premise in today’s world, including the motivation behind the threat. Simmons does a great job of keeping the pace moving forward quickly, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.”
Not the Villains You Expect
This is a standout achievement of storytelling imagination. The choice of terrorist villains, I should add, was not what I would have expected. And few thrillers grapple with the major philosophical dilemmas that Geoffrey Simmons does. As journalist John Zmirak observed,
The author delves into the ominous implications of using AI to enhance or access the mind through the brain. In fact, the two lead characters (both physicians) end up debating whether the mind transcends the brain as a soul, or whether the mind is simply an epiphenomenon of sparks shooting through meat.
Our colleague Stephen Meyer truthfully writes, “No author should be allowed to be as multitalented as Geoffrey Simmons. A distinguished physician. A successful novelist with both medical thrillers and comic novels to his name. A leading disaster preparedness expert.”
At least where I live, it’s not too late to get a copy tomorrow on Amazon Prime. It’s hard to bring myself to use the word “enjoy” in such a solemn context as tomorrow’s observance… but you will enjoy Oppenheimer’s Demon and as the suspense intensifies, you will have a hard time putting it down.