I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Memory, the new work by French author Bernard Werber, who gained immense popularity with his novel The Ants. While I usually listen to radio or music, once I started this novel, I became completely engrossed, as if watching a movie, and finished it in just two days. The story begins when a history teacher at a Parisian high school attends a hypnosis magic show, where an accident occurs. The plot was truly thrilling. The premise involves entering the unconscious world through self-regression hypnosis, tracing back through past memories to meet various past lives, and even journeying to the lost civilization of Atlantis. While this past-life travel might seem a bit far-fetched, it was sufficiently captivating as a science fiction novel.

The author also seemed to draw heavily from biblical motifs. Similar settings appear, like Noah’s Ark or the story of the biblical manuscripts discovered in the Qumran Caves. Particularly interesting was how the number of final survivors from Atlantis, 144, evoked the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation. While tackling the somewhat classic theme of ‘hypnosis’ in this era overflowing with new technology, the scene where the protagonist connects with their past life self as easily as making a phone call was incredibly fresh. Much like the protagonist in the movie The Matrix downloading necessary software into their mind to learn martial arts, the way the past life self connects to the protagonist’s body to navigate crises felt like watching a superhero movie. While I don’t believe in past lives, this novel sparked a delightful fantasy: wouldn’t it be amazing to store various people’s skills in your mind and pull them out when needed? It would make a really fun movie!