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| The book S with its accompanied items |
Who is the author of the book of Theseus? What secrets is he hiding? J.J. Abrams wants you to ask this question in his new mysterious novel.
Yesterday
My wife who is a librarian says she brought something home for me. Intrigued, I ask "Really, what?" and she hands me a novel that looks old (Written in 1940s) it has the title of the "Ship of Theseus". I immediately recognize the subject of the title from taking too many philosophy courses in college. The paradox of the Ship Of Theseus goes all the way back to Plutarch in ancient Greece and pretty much every philosopher has weighed in on the paradox since then.
Plutarch asks the question:
If a ship has all of its parts removed and replaced over time. Board by board over years is it at the end of the journey the same ship or a different ship. If it is a different ship than at what point does it become a different ship.
The question is one of identity. Are you the same person you were born as, or an entirely different person.
So basically in .2 milliseconds I am intrigued. Of course the book only gets more interesting.
It says it is written by a V.M. Straka which rings absolutely no bells.
Attached to the book though are packets of stuff, post cards, notes, maps etc. There is a little inventory list in the cover of the book for all of these items. Ok so that is weird.
Then I notice, hey somebody has written in this book. They wrote up and down all the margins, its like someone had a conversation with another person on every PAGE! What the heck?
My wife is standing there with a wry smile of amusement.
This is typical of her, when ever she manages to befuddle me it is very, very funny and I was officially befuddled.
She tells me, "It is written by JJ Abrams, you know the guy who directed Star Trek..."
"BUT?, No it says"
She waves me off, "That authors name is fake. Look it is a new book made to look old. All of these items, all of these notes are part of the story, it is called a concept book."
Wowza Mindblown
I have not poured through the book yet to give a review, or uncover all of its mysteries but just the set up itself is freaking amazing. I highly recommend checking it out for that alone.
I will provide my own updates on this mysterious tome. If you want to join me on the journey of unlocking its secrets you can find the book, it is called "S". You can find it by googling JJ Abrams and S. The packaging when you buy it outright is much more intriguing than how it is packaged from the Library. It is not cheap though it costs around $35 dollars.