The Babel Effect [Import] [Paperback]

Daniel Hecht (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; n.e. edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330353756
• ISBN-13: 978-0330353755
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three books in one, January 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Babel Effect (Hardcover)

I will admit a connection to the book; I did some of the scientific research that backs it up, and I know Daniel Hecht. I never actually read the book till it came out, but when it did, I read it through in a few long sittings.

What I found was three books in one. On the surface, it is a good international thriller, with a talented but flawed hero, a team of realistic supporting characters, some whiz-bang science and spy tradecraft, and a varied assortment of bad guys. I appreciated the fact that the violence was not romanticized, and the consequences of violence had equal billing. The second book, contained within the first, is the story of a man who drinks too much, battles with anger, guilt, and his own limited emotional perception, and is afraid that his wife is drifting away from him. His search for his wife is literal, emotional, and globally metaphoric.

The third book, paralleling the first two, is a scientific and philosophical exploration of the fundamental question of evil. Hecht provides no easy answers, but provides a number of interesting avenues of thought. The one that catches me is this: Are good and evil human-created concepts that we impose on events, or are these concepts inherent in the structure of the natural world?

It is the love story, the hero's inner struggles, and the wide philosophical scope that lift this book above the usual cold war spy story or nuke terrorist novel. It is a fitting second novel for Daniel Hecht, after Skull Session. Skull Session was a gothic murder mystery that explored the question of human destiny and genetics by way of neurology. Hecht entertains us and makes us think.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful And Suspenseful, January 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Babel Effect (Hardcover)

I can't remember reading many books that made me think so much, all the while engaging me in such a well woven story. This is, perhaps, the only suspense novel that I've ever given to other people to read just so that we could discuss the underlying ideas. I'd recommend The Babel Effect as highly as anything I've read in a long time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly conceived!, January 9, 2001

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Babel Effect (Hardcover)

As he demonstrated in Skull Session, Daniel Hecht is a gifted writer of formidable imagination. He is a producer of trenchant prose on wonderfully unique themes. In The Babel Effect, he tackles the malaise that affects much of the general population as a result of escalating violence, and suggests a very viable thesis for the underlying cause(s). This is not light reading, but it's a powerful, thought-provoking book that ultimately catches fire and burns, hot and bright, right to the end. Compelling, fascinating--all the good adjectives apply to a very special book. I recommend both Skull Session and The Babel Effect. Both will stay with you for a long, long time.