What do readers think of The Book of God and Physics by Enrique Joven? Write your own review.

Fact and fiction,history and present day and an unsolved manuscript - it's all a reader could ask for. This is not a beach book however. It takes some time and effort to sort through the explanations of who's who, who was who and who tutored who, in the age when astrology and astronomy were connected to religion,king and country.

I loved the premise of this book, a Jesuit Priest, who teaches high school physics, is trying to decipher an old manuscript. Hector, the Jesuit Priest, is an interesting, personable character. He loves to utilize the internet whenever possible. He also enjoys making his physics students think. But, the prose was a little awkward, possibly translation issues. And the book bogged down a little in the middle. The last third of the book was exciting, interesting and hard to put down. So actually 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were believable and well developed. The story was interesting and moved along at a very good pace. The author did a great job of mixing in astronomy and astrology, keeping the topic at a level that I (no background in either subject) could understand and that was relevant to the overall story.
All in all a very enjoyable read.

This book is very interesting albeit complicated. It is based on true facts which I appreciate - I had never before heard of the Voynich manuscript. This is an intense study of the manuscript's cryptography with a personal story woven throughout. I would recommend it but it is certainly not a quick read and one that requires a notepad and concentration. It is certainly thought provoking!

Although chock full of intricate astronomical and astrological statistics and references, this novel is highly readable and entertaining. Following the main character (a Jesuit priest) and his acquaintances throughout their quest to decipher the ancient text called the Voynich Manuscript, keeps the reader not only interested but often times surprised with the story's twists and turns. This book is definitely not recommended for the reader wanting a quick story with no thought-provoking and educational material. For readers who loved The Flanders Panel, The Last Secret of the Temple and The Rossetti Letter, this one's for you.

'Fiction' grounded in 'fact' makes for wonderful reading; it literally combines the best of both worlds. Enrique Joven has woven an engrossing tale around a centuries-old, medieval text that is currently housed at Yale University. (Copies are available on the Internet, and on CD)
Brought to light in 1912 by a rare books dealer, the Voynich Manuscript is written in a code that scholars and scientists worldwide are trying to decipher, with no apparent success. This novel follows the efforts of several such protagonists as they travel through Europe exploring Jesuit monasteries searching for clues in old astrology and astronomy texts.

Anyone with an interest in the history of the middle ages (and, astronomy, in particular) will be hooked in the first few pages.

Take a Jesuit priest, a beautiful woman, a brilliant atheist, a young student, an untranslatable manuscript, astronomy, alchemy, theology and physics and put them all together in a novel.

Dr. Enrique Joven has done all that and has been more successful than would seem possible. Unfortunately, he fails to deliver a satisfactory conclusion to this amazing compilation. Possibly because the Voynich manuscript is still untranslated.
Nevertheless I enjoyed this book ... it taxed my brain at time, but google was a big help.

In Enrique Joven’s The Book of God and Physics, a Jesuit priest seeks clues to the deciphering of a mysterious Renaissance document referred to as the Voynich Manuscript. The story is, of course, in a vein similar to The Da Vinci Code, and fans of that book will probably enjoy many aspects of this one. Yet, while the idea of the plot is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired. It suffers from common first-novel faults, such as poor character development, wooden and plodding dialogue, uneven pacing, and a general lack of subtlety in the writing. For me, the narration also fell flat. Then there is the egregious use of footnotes to explain the dialogue and actions of the characters, and Joven’s annoying habit of reprinting multiple passages from research websites (as his protagonist, Hector, reads them) in order to provide the reader with necessary historic details. Some of these could be issues with the translation, or it may be that (hopefully) by the next book, Joven will have developed as a fiction author.

There is a lot of neat scientific history in the book; however, these passages are not always well integrated into the story. (And if you don’t like a little edification with your novels, you will not appreciate this book.) Unfortunately, Joven’s work feels like two distinct books that have been poorly mixed together—a non-fiction treatise on scientific history, and a fictional piece that wants to be an entertaining mystery/adventure. The historical portions of the book were the best rendered. If readers can get past the average writing, as well as Hector’s frequent denigration of Creationism (which may be offensive to some) they may be pulled along by the story. But when the planned sequel to this book comes out, I will probably pass.