Bible Code II: The Countdown

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious.
Review: This is the feel-good laugh fest of the year. Really. I mean, here's the idea: Drosnin takes the original Hebrew texts of various books of the Bible (a feat in itself, since there are multiple versions of some of them), lines up the text in orderly rows and columns, and then plays crossword. Using various grid arrangements (there's no set rule for how many rows or columns he has to use, so he uses whatever he needs to get what he wants), he connects words vertically, diagonally, etc. and makes new sentences. According to Drosnin, when intepreted correctly these sentences make specific predictions, both for events that have already occurred, and for events that will occur in our own future.

Some of you may still be with him at this point. "Why not?" I imagine you saying. "If the Bible is truly God's own work, or at least divinely inspired, why wouldn't He place within it a code that would allow Believers to read the future of mankind?" I can think of several reasons why not. To take one example, as numerous (and too often overserious) debunkers have been at pains to point out, if you apply the same techniques to "Moby Dick," to Shakespeare, or to any reasonably long literary work, you will also be able to extract sentences that can be interpreted as pertaining to recent events. And you don't even have to learn Hebrew. God has apparently been a busier writer than we first thought.

The "Bible Code" has about the same level of seriousness as the writings of Nostradamus or Jeanne Dixon. Bible Code II is additionally weighted with millennialist hokum - as any number of religious sects will be happy to tell you, we are rapidly approaching the "Last Days" or "End Times," after all, just as we have been every single year since shortly after the Crucifixion - which firmly places Drosnin in the same lame-brained category as Hal "Oops, I think I'll move my predictions another few decades on" Lindsey. What seals the deal here, naturally, is that Drosnin makes a few predictions that are just too specific, and set too soon in the future. As a prior reviewer has noted, if New York fails to take a nuclear hit this year, Drosnin has some recalibrating to do. I'll take that bet. He really needs to move things out a bit if he wants to maximize his take from this scam.

Don't be taken. Even in the overpopulated realm of millenialist, pseudoscientific drivel, this is worthless fluff. In the real world, it's just a belly laugh.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Book.
Review: I have to say, I'm rather disturbed by the reviews of those who say "his predictions are wrong!" repeatedly. I think if you go back and re-read, Drosnin's whole premise is that these aren't "predictions", rather "possible futures." And that we can change the outcomes... That what is found in the code is an infinite number of "futures" and where the most likely is bad we can try to avoid it.

Now I think we all have the basica "butterfly effect" concept down right? I mean, it could be said that any little thing that happened caused a change in those possible outcomes. Infact, we can actually see that is what happened in the case of Libya, which is a "prediction" some of you have blasted. Again it wasn't a prediction but a possible future. And it seems it was the most likely one.. until we went into Iraq. Prior to that Muammar Qaddafi had great WMD ambitions to add to what he already had. But he realised he was screwed if he continued down that path.

Anyway, I'm not "Bible Codist" neccessarily, if there is such a thing. I just find it dishonest and misleading (for what agenda I'm not sure) to slam all what you are calling "predictions."

For those who haven't read this or the first one... Pick 'em up, they are a really quick and easy read, and food for thought if nothing else. Definitely something that will hold your attention.

Rating:
Summary: We'll know by year's end if this is a credible book
Review: According to the book, the "code" predicts a nuclear missle in New York in 2004. So, I guess if we do not see this event then the whole enchilada is a farce. Interesting read though, for fiction, which always seems to be looking back. You would think we could get a more forward look.