The Bible Code (book)

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The Bible Code is a best-selling controversial book by Michael Drosnin, first published in 1997. A sequel, The Bible Code II, was published in 2002 and also reached best-seller status. The third book in the series is to be released in 2007, called The Bible Code III: The Quest.

Drosnin describes an alleged "Bible code", in which messages are encoded in the Torah. The messages are purported to be hidden in the Torah, and can be deciphered by placing the letters of various Torah passages at equal intervals in a text that has been formatted to fit inside a graph.

Drosnin suggests that the Code was written by extraterrestrial life (which he claims also brought the DNA of the human genetic code to Earth). Drosnin elaborates on this theory in The Bible Code II, suggesting that the alien who brought the code left the key to the code in a steel obelisk. Drosnin attempted to find this obelisk, which he believes is buried near the Dead Sea, but was unsuccessful.

Drosnin's book is based on the technique described in the paper "Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis" by Eliyahu Rips of the Hebrew University in Israel together with Doron Witztum and Yoav Rosenberg.

The Bible Code makes numerous predictions and post-diction, such as the coming of the apocalypse in 2006, and proof that Lee Harvey Oswald was destined to assassinate John F. Kennedy.

For a discussion of bible codes and debates about their validity, see Bible code.

[edit] See also

• Bible code, which has many more links
• The Bible Code: The Quest, the third book in the series, expected to be released in October 2007.

[edit] External links

Promoting bible codes:

• Postdiction of SARS epidemic, from Numbers, a bible codes website in Scarborough, ON, Canada where SARS broke out.
• Postdiction of Christmas Tsunami, from Bible Code Digest, an apparently distinct website (but offering very similar material)

Skeptical:

• "Scientific Refutation of the Bible Codes" by Brendan McKay (Computer Science, Australian National University) and others
• Bible Code page from Dror Bar-Natan (Mathematics, University of Toronto)
• The Bible Code: A Book Review by Allyn Jackson, Notices of the AMS September 1997, who ascribes the Statistical Science paper mentioned in the article to "sloppy refereeing and poor editorial policy"; this review is immediately followed by Comments on the Bible Code by Shlomo Sternberg, who calls this paper a "hoax"; the American Mathematical Society is the professional society for mathematicians in the United States
• On the Witztum-Rips-Rosenberg Sample of Nations, by Dror Bar-Natan, Brendan McKay, and Shlomo Sternberg
• THE BIBLE CODE from Ralph Greenberg (Mathematics, University of Washington)
• Hidden Messages and The Bible Code from Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, publisher of Skeptical Inquirer Magazine
• Shocking New Codes Found in Drosnin Sequel!, from New Mexicans for Science and Reason, more debunking by exhibiting silly "coded messages"

Media coverage:

• The Bible Code, transcript of a story which aired on BBC Two, Thursday 20 November 2003, featuring comments by Drosnin, Rips, and McKay.

[edit] Related literature

• Michael Drosnin. The Bible Code. (USA Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-81079-4) (UK Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997 ISBN 0-297-81995-X)
• Michael Drosnin. The Bible Code II: The Countdown. (USA Viking Books, 2002 ISBN 0-670-03210-7) (UK Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002 ISBN 0-297-84249-8)
• Michael Drosnin. The Bible Code III: The Quest. (UK Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Forthcoming 2006 ISBN 0-297-84784-8 )
• Jeffrey Satinover: "Cracking the Bible Code". Wm Morrow, 1997. ISBN 0-688-15463-8. Appeared slightly later, follows a more historical and traditional route.