Whilst working on the story, Dan Brown must have chosen to save the best for last, as up until halfway, I found plenty to distract me from Robert Langdon's baffling amnesia and endless questions. But shortly after struggling past the third quarter, things became interesting for an avid reader like myself, and I hurtled through the remainder of the book, glad that I had stuck with it.
Brown's skillful writing provided answers to questions I had asked myself many times when something terrible plagued the news: Why does God allow natural disasters to wipe out scores of people? If there was a God, then why is there so much suffering? Never did I think overpopulation would be part of the answer.
With over seven billion bodies dominating the planet, it becomes easy to see why the world needs to re-address the balance. Over-population is not only depleting the planet's resources, but it will also kill us as a species, as in times of crisis, our inner beast emerges, fighting tooth and nail for what little resource is left. We, as a species, become animals.
Don't believe me? Then take a look around. The world is crawling with humans. Humans who need food, clothes, transport and a habitable place to live. Supply far out-weighs demand and artificial methods are used to cater for the rising demand of a product. Let's take chicken for example. Just where does one get so many chickens? Why, they use drugs of course! Humans turn savage in an attempt to breed chickens faster and fatter. Do they care about the welfare of these defenseless animals? Stuffing them into cramped cages is only a means to line pockets and put food on their own table.
Another example, is when I went to Hajj. A large truck was handing out free drinks to the pilgrims, but instead of forming an orderly queue, people were crushing one another to get their share before supply ran out. Did they care about trampling on another human? No, they were only concerned with what went into their own stomachs. Humans are programmed that way, it's in our nature. And as Brown cleverly writes, when humans do not have enough of what they need, we experience one of the seven deadly sins; Greed, gluttony, envy, sloth, pride, anger and lust, which lead to chaos and destruction.
With the volume of humanity rising, factory production, waste and pollution are also increasing. Just how far can we go before the world pushes back? Natural disasters are a way of resetting the balance, wiping out whatever we have created and destroying lives as a way to reduce the world's population.
With these thoughts plaguing me, I read on, nodding emphatically at the logic behind the so-called villain's plan at helping Mother Nature. As the final words swam across the page, I paused to let them sink in. Yes, we are breeding far too many numbers for a world as small as ours but is killing one third of the population off a solution? The genius of the villain's plan comes to light in such a fantastic way that I found myself rooting for the completion of his plan.
What began as a slow read in Italian geography, developed into a mind-blowing, thought provoking ride through the world of fiction, that strangely poked at the edges of reality and our future as a mass-breeding species.
Text taken from Inferno
Have you read INFERNO? What were your thoughts? Feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
