The Rule of Four

This is my first blog, let me start with the review of a novel I read recently - "The Rule of Four.

The Rule of Four is written by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, just after their respective graduation, published in 2004. WikiBaba (wikipedia;) says The Rule of Four reached the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, where it remained for more than six months. The book was a no. 1 national and international bestseller and has been translated into more than 25 languages.

Have you ever heard of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili? Neither did I, before reading this book.

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (supposing this is how you should spell HY-NE-RO-TO-MA-KIA-PO-LI-FI-LI) was published/printed in Venice in 1499 by Aldus Manutius, who was a leading publisher and printer at his time. Do you know "Italic type" letters was first produced by Aldus Manutius. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is written in Latinate Italian, Greek and even used Arabic and Hebrew words. It also contains some Egyptian hieroglyphics. The first letter in each chapter, if joined together reads in Italian - "Brother Francesco Colonna dearly loved Polia". So the author of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is assumed to be Francesco Colonna, but still being debated among the scholars.

The Rule of Four is suspense thriller set on Princeton campus, and the plot revolves around this very mysterious, but real book. Two final year students, Tom and Paul, in Princeton Campus trying to solve the puzzle presented in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Tom, Paul, Charlie and Gil are undergraduate students in their final year, but pursuing different majors.

Tom Paul (a brilliant student) is writing his undergraduate thesis on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and spent all four of his undergraduate years studying the book. Tom is the son of a Hypnerotomachia researcher. Paul convinces Tom to help him out in his research. Tom agrees, as it was his father's dream, but his obsession on the book creates rifts in his personal life.

Vincent Taft and Richard Curry, being early researchers on this book and also being advisors for Paul in his thesis. Apart being academic rivals, Curry accuses Taft of stealing a diary written by a contemporary of Francesco Colonna's that Curry had found. That diary, as Paul and Tom discovered it later, would prove to help them to decode Hypnerotomachia. The story also revolves around the basement of the university which houses huge network of pipes, that carries heat to all parts of university. Also around the various eating clubs in Princeton campus, the top one being the "Ivy Club", of which Gil is the president.

Paul and Tom discovers Hypnerotomachia contains a number of hidden and encyphered texts. The encyphered text contains a riddle and the answer to the riddle is the key to decode each chapter. After solving several riddles and decoding corresponding chapters, the riddle stops with the saying that there no more clues for the rest because Francesco Colonna feared the secret falling in wrong hands. Later Paul realizes that the entire book is encoded by following a "rule of four", in which the message starts with one letter, then moves to a letter four rows down, then three columns right, then two rows up, then one column left (4,3,2,1), and repeating. Soon the duo unravels the mystery and the secret message.

The author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Francesco Colonna, was a humanist in Florence, and lived during the Renaissance period. [Renaissance means rebirth, Humanist - humanists would study ancient texts in the original, and appraise them through a combination of reasoning and empirical evidence. Humanist education being the study of five humanities: poetry, grammar, history, moral philosophy and rhetoric]. He was the son of a rich Roman noble. He loved knowledge, books, and arts. He had great passion for Greek and Roman literature. Girolamo Savonarola was the Dominican priest in Florence during that period. He felt the population were forgetting GOD were getting corrupted by embracing knowledge, art and literature. He asked his followers to gather forcibly books, painting and art, then conduct huge bonfires to burn them all. Collona was deeply disturbed and asked Savonarola himself to stop this, but was disappointed by the outcome. Collona decides that he shall save ancient books and arts as much as possible. He builds an huge underground vault for storing them. Collona used his vast resources to smuggle ancient books, arts from around Italy and stored them in the vault. The secret to the vault is saved in his work - "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili". Francesco Collona and two of his friends decided to become a martyr for this cause. When the bonfire was lit, they went into the bonfire and started pulling out the books, painting with their bare hands. Soon they perished in fire, but it triggered a major outcry against Savonarola, who was later executed.

Vincent Taft and Bill Stein (another of Paul's advisor) finding that Paul has progressed much in the research, decided to steal the work for themselves and claim the credit. Soon there is a string of murders, executed by Richard Curry to prevent this from happening. In a final struggle between Tom, Gil, Paul and Curry, a fire breaks out in Ivy eating club. Tom and Gil escapes from the fire, but Paul and Curry can't. Tom, Charlie and Gill are devastated as they believe Paul must have died with Curry in the fire....

After several years Tom received a tube with an painting, which was considered long lost. Tom realizes, his friend Paul is alive and have found Collona's vault. The painting is from the vault. The story ends with Tom packing up to travel to Italy.

What amazes, is the authors' in-depth knowledge of art and literature present during the Renaissance period. Combined with great imagination, fiery drama and suspense, no wonder this novel was national/international bestseller list for more than six months. This book has been well received by critics and some compared it positively to the Da Vinci Code.

I would recommend to read this book or just wait for some months for The Rule of Four movie to hit the theaters.