SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Robert Langdon is back in action, the dashing and brilliant Harvard professor who has a knack for wandering into situations where he unearths big philosophical questions and at the same time gets chased around by bad guys who do not want those questions answered. Langdon is, of course, the recurring main character in author Dan Brown's thrillers "The Da Vinci Code," "Angels & Demons" and many others. In Brown's latest novel, "The Secret Of Secrets," Langdon has traded the mysteries of Christianity and the mysteries of Freemasonry for the even bigger mystery of the nature of human consciousness. Dan Brown, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
DAN BROWN: Thanks for having me.
DETROW: So this is by my count your sixth book starring Robert Langdon. How has he changed over the years?
BROWN: (Laughter) Well, he's aging much more slowly than I am, I've sensed.
DETROW: (Laughter).
BROWN: You know, this book took eight years to write. And Langdon, who is always - he's always skeptical about all things conspiratorial and paranormal and all that sort of stuff. And in this book, he is sort of dragged out of his comfort box by a noetic scientist named Katherine Solomon. And he becomes a believer in aspects of consciousness that to most of us, myself included, seem quite out of this world.
DETROW: I want to ask about the topic of the book. How much were you personally thinking about these big questions of consciousness? Was that how the book started out? Is that something you were wrestling with or wondering about and wanting to learn more about?
BROWN: Absolutely. I mean, it's no secret I like to write about big, sweeping, important topics, you know?
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: There really is no topic bigger, that I can imagine, than consciousness. It's the lens through which we see reality, see ourselves, see our interactions with other people. And I wrote the character Katherine Solomon maybe 10 or 12 years ago as an ancillary character in another book, and she was a noetic scientist. And through the research for that book, I started to learn about noetic science. And some of these mind experiments who have results that are simply - you cannot believe them. You hear what the result is and you say, that's impossible. And you read more, and you find out that reality is a much stranger thing than we ever imagined.
DETROW: For those of us who aren't as familiar, can you briefly explain noetic science?
BROWN: Noetic science is - it's the study of consciousness and, more specifically, the study of how the human mind can affect physical matter. It has really taken me almost two decades to learn enough to write the book. And, of course, it's a rapidly evolving field (laughter)...
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: ...So you're constantly playing catch-up. But, yeah, this is a topic that I'm fascinated with, and it is relevant to every single person on Earth.
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: You know, "The Da Vinci Code" resonated with Christians and people who thought a lot about religion. This - you know, we all - for one, we all fear death. It is the great unknown, and that sort of catch-22 question where we're all going to find out the answer. We just can't get back to tell anybody...
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: ...What it is.
DETROW: How much time do you spend thinking about that? Because that's something a character says at one point, that interest in consciousness comes directly from fear of dying or worry about dying.
BROWN: I started this book in a very skeptical place, skeptical of a lot of this science and some of these new ideas about consciousness. And I came out the other end with a totally changed point of view. And I've changed dramatically in my view of death. I no longer fear death at all. I'm in no hurry. I love life (laughter).
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: But - and probably not coincidentally, my mom died eight years ago, right as I started this book, and it really was a catalyst as I started to learn more and more about out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences and some of the physics that is really suggesting, if not proving, that our consciousness can survive the death of our physical body, which, of course, has enormous implications for...
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: ...Everyone on a personal level.
DETROW: Can I ask - and so many characters in the book ask each other this - do you believe that at this point?
BROWN: I do. And eight years ago I would have given you a totally different answer. I would have said, death is the end, full stop. Total blackness. The end.
DETROW: Yeah.
BROWN: You basically cut the cable to the computer and it's off. You ask me today, and I'm a hundred percent convinced that the consciousness, whether you want to call it the soul or the - whatever you want to call it, your consciousness will survive beyond your physical death. And, you know, (laughter) it's going to be...
DETROW: That's a high level of certainty for the biggest unknown in existence.
BROWN: You know what? It is. And I should also stress, I have not had a spiritual experience. I have not had an out-of-body experience, a religious experience. This is simply based on enormous amounts of reading and conversations with specialists in the field, as well as people who have had these experiences and are really walking their talk. They come back from out-of-body experiences and change their lives in fascinating ways.
DETROW: Lastly, getting back to Robert Langdon's day job, which shows up in your books more than other professor day jobs shows up in movies, would you - if you were a college student, would you rather be in Professor Langdon's class or Professor Indiana Jones' class?
BROWN: (Laughter) You know what? I think you would win either way.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Any teacher that can incite a bit of curiosity in his or her students is doing a pretty good job.
DETROW: There you go. That was author Dan Brown. His new book, "Secret Of Secrets," is out today. Thank you so much.
BROWN: And thanks so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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