Review: One of the smartest books that I've read......
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2014
As you read “The Sword of Agrippa” by Greg Ness, be prepared  to be hit by myriad facts and thoughts on science, technology, politics, history, religion and spirituality. This is an extremely intelligent book that does not dumb down anything, but requires a certain effort from the readers to truly get the avalanche of thoughts that leap at them from each of the pages. But as I found out, as you take your time over the book, without skimming over anything, it's going to be a reading experience that you'll truly appreciate and pat yourself on the back for having gone through it.The book moves seamlessly from late 1990s with which the first chapter begins, to Prague in 2020, and back again  a long way to Alexandria, Egypt in the 48 BC. The characters in the book are very well developed and almost come alive in it. Roy Swenson, the brilliant, idealistic and troubled scientist, his friend, the failed Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Randall, Agrippa, an engineer in the Roman Army under Julius Caesar, Samia, the highly intelligent Egyptian slave, a young and cynical Octavius, who would later succeed Caesar – I was intrigued by each one of them.The politics of the modern world, especially the Silicon Valley, juxtaposed with the politics of Alexandria, Egypt under the brat King Ptolemy is a running theme of the book. What I liked best though was the thoughtful commentary on how science, technology, religion and even thinking, are held hostage by a risk averse environment prevailing in the modern world and by bureaucratic mediocrity, inefficiency and mendacity.To conclude, a stunning book and a reading experience that I'm unlikely to forget for a long time.