The Faithful, a novel by Peter W. Van Ness Get an Autographed Book HERE

Science and Technology in The Faithful

The Faithful is a work of fiction that blends science and speculative science with a psychological/spiritual journey and a touch of social commentary. Obviously, the revolutionary discovery is fiction, along with the technology and experiments that reveal it.

The rest of the science and technology are real. Below are links to some of the books and articles that sparked my fascination and are relevant to the story.

• Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn.
• Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web).
• Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence by Roger C. Schank (if you're interested in AI, read this book!)
• Chaos: Making A New Science by James Gleick.
• Dialogues with Scientists and Sages by Renee Weber (also listed here).
• Wholeness and the Implicate Order by David Bohm (also listed here).

• In Chapter Fourteen ~ Carl, Carl tells his investors, We're also experimenting with several technologies that might be able to reprogram an adult somatic cell to become a pluripotent stem cell. and he later he says, We could end up with a Nobel prize! In 2012, John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka won the prize. See The Nobel Prize Press Release "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."
• If you're interested in how various electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect cells, in particular, embryonic stem cells and their differentiation, check out this article in Nature.
• In Chapter 7 ~ Crossroads, John and Emily talk about the placebo effect. This Article has some fascinating detail.
• Later in the Chapter (page 98), John reminds Emily of a paper she'd written on the nocebo effect. This Lancet Article sheds some light on the work in this field.
• Here's Franklin's 1784 report to King Louis XVI's Royal Commission investigating Mesmer's Animal Magnetism. This report lays the foundation for what would later become known as the placebo effect.
• Resonance is a theme running throughout the book. Here's a good introduction to the subject: How the Physics of Resonance Shapes Reality by Ben Brubaker.