The Mysterious Professor Edmond Wells

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

When our imagination has no place in everyday life, we dream. When we exist in the clutches of rationality even in dreams, we see dreams in a dream. If the writer is limited by the scope of his work and there is something else to say "about", a book is born within a book - an independent artistic organism, the autonomous existence of which is very conditional. This is an alien in our literary world, organically living only in the cocoon of his world-novel.

Who are you, Mr. Wells?

Edmond Wells' Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge was created within the universe of Bernard Werber's novels. There are references and references to it in many works of the modern writer-philosopher. Having collected together and processed the facts published earlier in different novels, supplementing them with new ones, Werber published his only non-fictionbook.

He gave authorship to the fictional character Edmond Wells not by chance. Thus, the isolation of the created reality from the really existing one was emphasized. Werber's worlds, like any advanced civilization, have their own literature and science. Perhaps the prototype of the invented author was the writer's grandfather, whose habit of saving interesting facts in a special notebook was passed on to Bernard.

On the pages of Werber's novels, Edmond Wells appears not only as the author of the book quoted by the characters, but also as an active character, and in different images. In Empire of Angels, he is a mentor angel. In the novel "We, the Gods" - a god-disciple. And in the "Breath of the Gods" - already a dolphin. We can safely call the author of the Encyclopedia not only a sage, but also a great original.

Should I believe everything

"Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge" by Edmond Wells does not claim to be a fundamental scientific work. This is a funny collection of scientific facts that do not always have an evidence base.

A few examples:

• The fact that vocal cords were removed from Singaporean dogs, fortunately, is not confirmed in reality.
• Antochorides scolopelliens. A non-existent species of blood-sucking insects, but how detailed and fascinating the features of their life are described!
• The strategy of cooperation in game theory is presented with distortions and inaccuracies.

Unusual events and conclusions in the articles are seasoned with a fair amount of fiction:

• Scrambled eggs. Principlesentropy on the example of cooking this dish. Such an explanation will be understandable and interesting to many.
• Alchemy. Its connection with the solar system and types of human characters. An elegant sketch that will make everyone think about their own.
• A paradoxical request. It can be adopted as a method of education or manipulation. And unexpected historical parallels give this article depth of worldview.

At the same time, Werber himself, as a creator, does not pretend to be a teacher and recognizes the superficiality of his discoveries. The main purpose of the facts selected for the Encyclopedia is to "make neurons sparkle".

Edmond Wells' easy-to-read book does a great job of it.

Who on what

Edmond Wells' book "The Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge" has a lot of reviews. Analyzing them, we can come to the conclusion that the experience in popular science journalism was not in vain for B. Werber. Admirers of his work are clearly accustomed to the headings "this is interesting" and view them regularly, like news sites. It is they who write reviews: "interesting", "unexpected", "makes you think", "read by the whole department" and "I will definitely let my son read it." In such reviews, the ease of presentation and non-standard forms of presentation of the material are emphasized.

Post-science fiction, a lot of near-scientific terminology and author's reflections in professionals cause a condescending smile or irritation. Reviewers disputethe theories and assumptions advanced by the author point to inaccuracies and lament "false profundity".

But it is precisely thanks to the accessibility and simplified presentation that Bernard Weber, represented by Edmond Wells, manages to convey progressive and modern ideas to the mass consumer. The author's desire to encourage readers to draw their own conclusions, giving him food for thought, lies at the heart of his work.

The creative path of B. Werber

Regularly published since 1991, Bernard Werber did not immediately come to fame and critical acclaim. The first edition of the novel "Ants" went unnoticed by the public and the literary community. Trying to convey his ideas, Werber tries to write in different genres and forms: short novels, philosophical novels, a detective story that can be called anthropological.

In the new millennium, B. Werber's books have repeatedly taken leadership positions in various ratings and bestseller lists. In almost thirty years, four trilogies have been created that have become classics of modern science fiction. More than 10 independent works have been published. The novel "From the Other World", the latest to date, was released in 2017.

In the basis of each of them, Werber puts such a twisted plot and strong intrigue that the reader forgives all near-scientific blunders and simplifications.