Overview
Provides an arresting meditation on what survival really means, through a deeply evocative novel
Explores the ethical limits of science through expertly written fiction
Encompasses themes from ecology, philosophy and anthropology in a literary thriller
Startles readers with an unexpected ending and a tense, hard-hitting plot
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Table of contents (90 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
“You alright, Professor?” Mal asked in a whisper.
“Yeah, I’ll be alright.”
World renowned ecologist, UCLA Professor David Lev, aged 84, has just begun a contemporary odyssey. From delivering a plenary address on climate change at the Rio+20 UN Summit, he must prevail on a journey through sub-zero hurricane-force gales, impenetrable bogs and twelve foot drifts of ice in the forests of Belarus. Along the way, Lev’s journey directs us to consider such profound questions as: Are we our Brother’s Keeper? What are the ethical limits of science? And, finally, at what price, glory?
It is not only Lev’s story that is the key to this page-turner but also an account from the days of World War II and the Holocaust, which hinges on survival. A constellation of richly nuanced, deeply drawn characters whose enmeshed lives and unique circumstances speak with resonance, melancholy, inspiration and unrelenting drama are all part of this complex and thought-provoking novel - including cutting-edge biochemist Dr Taman Chernichevsky. What has he discovered?
Reviews
“This is a thriller about geo-terrorism, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust as it reverberates decades later, and grasping global pharmaceutical syndicates. … In his novel Tobias connects the Holocaust, the Anthropocene, and the Sixth Extinction Spasm. … This is a crackerjack of a read. You will learn a lot about zoology, population extinction, Belarus, wilderness survival, and the love of family.” (Bob Sanchez, The Internet Review of Books, Internetreviewofbooks.blogspot.de, November, 2016)
“I highly recommend Codex Orféo. But be prepared! What awaits the reader is a riveting literary expedition. Solid science, animal behavior, conservation biology, and human psychology all within a fictional odyssey by a very wise scientist. It’s an unrelenting and powerful drama, the result of which we can all hope will be a true renaissance of virtue.” (Marc Bekoff, MAHB Millennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere, mahb.stanford.edu, July, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
essays published in Forbes in the last few years.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Codex Orféo
Book Subtitle: A Novel
Authors: Michael Charles Tobias
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30622-3
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Michael Charles Tobias 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-30621-6Published: 22 June 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-80853-6Published: 31 May 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-30622-3Published: 15 June 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 282
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Science in Nature and Environment, Fiction, Popular Life Sciences, Ecology