The Alchemist’s Secret (Ben Hope, Book 1)

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Every review I've read of Scott Mariani's Ben Hope series compares it to Dan Brown and his ilk. And you know what? They're quite right. In making that comparison, you know exactly what you're getting. Of course, a hell of a lot of people can't stand Dan Brown, and those people should probably stay away from this book. But if you enjoy the occasional thriller with a bit of pseudo-scientific hocus-pocus thrown in, then this is probably worth a read. It's a nice easy read, with nice easy characters, and a story that's interesting enough to pull you along, and reasonably well written. All this sounds like I'm damning this book with faint praise. I'm not really - I enjoyed it quite a bit, but then I'm the sort of person that thinks not every book you read should be the best example of its craft, and not every film you see should be the finest film in the world. I'm happy reading a book or watching a film for sheer entertainment value, and not expecting a lot out of it. That's what you get with this book. During the Middle Ages, alchemy became closely associated with Christian theology and mysticism, with alchemists such as Paracelsus and John Dee seeking to uncover the hidden secrets of the universe. Their writings often contained mystical and spiritual elements, as well as practical instructions for conducting experiments and creating potions and elixirs. I considered the coming times predicted by Christ in the Gospels, namely, of the tribulations in the time of the Antichrist, under which the Roman Church shall be tormented and have all her worldly riches despoiled by tyrants. . . . Thus for the sake of liberating the chosen people of God, to whom it is granted to know the ministry of God and the magisterium of truth, I wish to speak of the work of the great Philosophers’ Stone without lofty speech. My intention is to be helpful to the good of the holy Roman Church and briefly to explain the whole truth about the Stone. Lawrence Principe is one of the foremost scholars of alchemy in the world. He earned his first PhD in chemistry and his second in the history of science.We asked him to give our readers a taste of his bookThe Secrets of Alchemy .

Mariani discovered the character of Ben Hope when he was out walking one day in the Welsh country side near his home. Scott wanted to develop a character that had all the accessories and virtues of the traditional action-adventure hero, but he wanted them to be a unique character and a little bit deeper than other characters in the genre. Hope has all the training and exceptional abilities, but he is an imperfect guy who goes through the same ups and downs that everyone does and is someone that anyone can empathize with. His books are written in English and have also been translated into more than twenty of the world’s languages. Mariani’s Ben Hope series has been described as “James Bond meets Jason Bourne with a historical twist.” From the city of Oxford to Ravenna, Vienna, Venice, and the snow capped mountains of Slovenia; Hope and his old flame, the world’s popular opera singer Leigh Llewellyn, must move with a haste across Europe to unravel the mystery. To solve the case, they will need to stay a notch above the determined group of killers who are out to erase the trail of The Mozart Conspiracy. găsi repede pe străinul prăbuşit cu faţa în jos printre mărăcinii şi frunzele căzute de la marginea pădurii. Tremura din toate încheieturile şi îşi cuprinsese cu braţele trunchiul costeliv. În întunericul umed, preotul reuşi să vadă că straiele îi atârnau de trup, zdrenţuite.

Publication Order of Ben Hope Short Stories/Novellas

He’ll end up teaming up with a good-looking American scientist, Dr. Roberto Ryder. Ben is directed on a dangerous trail from Paris to the Cather strongholds of the Languedoc, where an astounding secret has been hidden for many years. On the other side of the Atlantic in the 1890s, an entrepreneurial chemist and mining engineer named Stephen Emmens offered the United States Treasury a method of turning silver into gold. Independent tests were made of his method (which involved hammering Mexican silver) both in the United States and in England, but the results were not encouraging. It might seem incongruous that a man so fervently committed to the ideal of poverty would also devote himself to finding the secret of making gold. When Ben is recruited to locate an ancient manuscript which could save a dying child, he embarks on the deadliest quest of his life.

John also wrote On the Consideration of the Fifth Essence of All Things. With it, he extended alchemy into a new area—medicine. During the Antichrist’s reign, Christians would need not only gold but also their full health. Thus, John recounts how he sought a substance that could prevent corruption and decay and thus preserve the body from illness and premature aging. He found such a substance in the distillate of wine—what he called “burning water” or “water of life,” and what we call alcohol. The Latin alchemical term for this delightful liquid— aqua vitae—lives on in the names of several liquors: the Italian acquavite, the French eau-de-vie, and the Scandinavian akvavit.Other notable alchemists throughout history include Mary the Jewess, who is credited with inventing the bain-marie or double boiler, and Nicolas Flamel, who is said to have discovered the philosopher’s stone and achieved immortality.