A novel by R.M. Dolin
The Book of Darwin – SYNOPSIS
Marquez Mountain is a rugged Northern New Mexico wilderness that holds its history with reoccurring certainty, which is why no one in Taos takes the road-weary Harley rider’s offer to buy the mountain seriously. What they don’t know, because DARWIN (32), doesn’t say, he’s a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who made a mistake and now must serve his penance in wilderness isolation away from technology’s dangerous temptations.
For years, Darwin, along with other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs calling themselves Shadow Dancers, in reference to Plato’s allegory of the cave, have been sharing concerns about technology’s impact on society. When Darwin hosts an investor’s forum at the Berkeley Faculty Club to offer his technology for commercialization, he’s given an offer that so exceeds expectations he fails to scrutinize the buyer’s background and only later learns the capability he developed to help humanity has become the missing link in China’s autonomous nonhuman solider.
Overwrought with guilt Darwin flees California taking refuge with his brother VINCENT in Chicago whose wife ILENE is expecting. Darwin confesses his conflicted uncertainty about what to do but stops short of telling Vincent what happened. While at Murphy’s Northshore Bar for a Cubs game, Darwin wagers Vincent for who gets to name his son; Vincen likes Joesph, after the Polish writer Joesph Conrad. When Darwin wins the wager, Joesph becomes ISSAC, based on Darwin’s belief he’ll have a better life as an engineer.
After Issac’s baptism Darwin rides the Harley, he won in a wager from his high school buddy LENNY to New Mexico. After inspecting the hacienda on Marquez Mountain, Darwin decides to pass on the purchase but when VICTOR (50), takes Darwin to the high mountain meadow, he pays asking price. With winter coming, Darwin gets busy acquiring everything needed, relying on Victor to teach him how to survive. He returns to Chicago for Thanksgiving where GWEN, Ilene’s sister, is the unfortunate soul Darwin unloads what happened at Berkeley on and the raw intensity of his darkness terrifies her.
After four winters on Marquez Mountain, with hacienda renovations nearly complete, Darwin’s living a comfortable off-grid self-sustainable life. MURPHY, his two-year-old German Shorthair and constant companion enjoys playing with the wild mustangs in the high mountain meadow as much as Darwin likes listening to Cub’s games there. Murphy has Darwin’s back the afternoon in Red River when he rescues ANNA from drunk Texans taking too many liberties. Anna helps Darwin gets prized landowner elk permits that he distributes to local Hispanic families elevating his status within the local community to sainthood.
Darwin’s mostly put Berkeley behind him when TIEN arrives needing help fixing the mess she made trying to fix the mess he made. While reluctant to get back into technology, how can he not help his former protégé. For months Darwin wrestles with the implications and hopes while Vincent and Ilene visit, he can lean on them for advice. Before that can happen, Vincent reveals the difficulties he and Ilene are going through and when she abruptly leaves for Chicago, Vincent insists on flying his private plane back unaware an early fall storm is forming over the Rockies.
When told of Vincent’s crash, Darwin immediately goes to Chicago to be with Ilene and Issac. It’s hard for him to get on with life afterwards but he finds peace focusing on helping Issac with his loss. While the tragedy draws Darwin and Anna closer, she senses he’s in crisis but won’t tell her what’s wrong. Reluctantly Darwin reveals that Ilene is preventing him from seeing Issac.
As a necessary step to helping Tien, Darwin constructs a subterranean command center beneath the massive solar farm he builds on a flat section of his property. Tien recruits ALFONSO, Darwin’s former hardware engineer, to build the required computing infrastructure. As she recruits more members of Darwin s former team and the frequency of her visits increase, gossip weaves its way through Darwin’s world building toward a showdown between Anna and Tien that ends with them finding common ground.
At the kickoff meeting of the reconstituted Shadow Dancers cohort, Darwin defines the dangers posed by Information Oligarchs having access to Artificial Intelligence and the equally worrisome way humanity willfully trades their freedom for convenience and constant stimulation. To Darwin ‘s surprise, BASIA arrives with her daughter, CAMILLE, who is not only a talented technologist, but part of an idealistic French movement called ‘l’Alliance Pour la Préservation de l’Humanité’ who have similar concerns and aspirations as the Shadow Dancers. The plan Darwin proposes is fraught with uncertainties, but the team tacitly agrees it could possibly work.
A week after the rendezvous, Darwin ventures up to his high mountain meadow where the fate foretold in the novel’s opening paragraph balances with the ledger of life. A fast-moving storm rolls in and a bolt of lightning strikes a tree causing a heavy branch to fall on Darwin killing him instantly.
The story doesn’t end with Darwin’s death though, it continues in the follow-on novel. AN UNSUSTAINABLE LIFE is one story told from two perspectives. THE BOOK OF Darwin is a journey of redemption as Darwin atones for his role in humanity’s demise while THE BOOK OF ISSAC is a journey of awakening as Darwin’s ne’er-do-well nephew Issac, reluctantly picks up his uncle’s mantel only to discover the burdens and obligations associated with leading a purpose-driven life.
Dr. Dolin previously worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with research in Truth & Trust; primarily as it relates to information and digitally controlled processes. In addition to publishing over 100 technical papers, Dr. Dolin has written five novels, two nonfiction books, one cookbook, and a plethora of poems. Dr. Dolin’s novel writing method is to use poems for character development and to springboard storytelling; as such, it’s possible to enjoy his stories in both novel and poetry form.
Comments are closed