I finished Howard Bloom’s The Lucifer Principle today, and I must say, it was an enlightening read, even the second time through. The first time I read this book, it was my second year in college, when I had all the time in the world to read. It took me 24 hours to finish. This time, I’ve had far less time, but I also read it more carefully, letting the details sink in, and thinking about them. I also read the impressively long annotated bibliography (a weighty 74 pages in it’s own right), which was also quite rewarding.

As a science-fact book, you probably wouldn’t expect The Lucifer Principle to tell a story well, but Howard Bloom manages to take a massive amount of information and weave it into a cohesive whole – one which flows from one point to the next, gaining momentum along the way. Throughout, he takes information from a variety of fields and sources: from the Bible to Darwin’s own observations, from the sciences of biotechnology to sociology and economics. Each piece of information builds upon the common thread, and the force pushes towards a simple idea, which, for me, is well encapsulated by the following quote:

If we ever save ourselves from the scourge of mass violence, it will be through the efforts of millions of minds, networked together in the collaborative process of science, philosophy, and movements for social change. In short, only a group effort can save us from the sporadic insanities of the group.

This quote, added as a bit of flavor text in Mage: The Ascension, is what convinced me to read The Lucifer Principle those years ago, and made me remember what it was about that made me want to read it again. But, though this quote comes very early on in the book, by the end, it seems obvious. Howard Bloom spends 300+ pages describing thing things that lead to the Lucifer Principle, but never actually calls it out until the end. And, by then, there’s little left to be said.

Because of this, I’m a bit at a loss whenever anyone asks me “What is the Lucifer Principle?”, I guess, my answer would have to be, “An excellent book”. There’s so much more there to talk about, but it’s difficult to assemble without all the little details. If it sounds interesting, read the book (I’ll even loan you my copy) – the volume of stuff to discuss is too large for this one blog post to contain.