Draft:Einstein in the Attic

Einstein in the Attic is a philosophical science fiction novel by Lebanese-America n author Dana Dargos and Lebanese author Said Al Bizri.

The novel was published by Solstice Publishing on January 31, 2022. It has won eight awards and counting, (the Independent Press Award, the Literary Titan Award , Firebird Book Award , Maincrest Media Book Award , Best Book Award Finalist and three honorable mentions at the prestigious New York, Hollywood, and San Francisco Book Festivals  ).

Most reviews were very favorable, commenting on on Dargos and Al Bizri's imagination, originality, relatability, humor, research, (regarding time travel, the philosophers, and an intelligent designer), "realistic hardships and conflict," "engaging storyline," "evolutionary writing" "push[ing] science to the limit," character development, "open[ing] a whole new approach...to the issues of evolution, intelligent design, the existence of God, and faith" and clever plot construction.

Plot
Curious ten-year-old, Adam Reemi, constantly wonders why God put him and his loving parents through the hardship of growing up in war-torn Lebanon, although he pushes such skeptical thinking aside. A few years later, Adam and his parents finally immigrate to the US in hopes of starting a new life. Unfortunately, Adam's world is shattered once again when his mother succumbs to sudden illness and his father change into an abusive, religious fanatic. The combination of such trauma and learning the concepts of creationism and evolution, taught by his science teacher, Mr. Jellosa, push Adam away from his once-precious notion of a God.

As decades pass, Adam’s passion for understanding the beginnings of the world and creation influence him to become a professor of theoretical physics at UC Berkeley. However, his unresolved anxiety, depression, and trauma accumulate over time, negatively impacting his sense of self, marriage to ex-classmate-now-therapist Evie, quality of life, and passion for teaching. One day on his way home, Adam accidentally bumps into a new professor of quantum physics, Mark Von Muntz, and their two worlds collide. Their common interest in the world’s origins sparks the beginning of a close friendship. Unfortunately, that same night, Adam receives a phone call informing him that his father passed away, plunging him into a deeper depression.

The head of the department, Headmaster Helms, tells Adam that although he is sympathetic towards his loss, he needs to bring a new project to the table to make up for his poor work performance. Adam informs Muntz about the situation, who lets him in on a secret: He is developing a miniature hadron collider, (similar to the real-life LHC), to generate two high-energy particle beams and cause them to collide into each other at the speed of light to replicate and understand the world’s beginning. Adam initially rejects the idea, but eventually acquiesces to it.

While Adam watches TV at home to get his mind off the predicament, he ends up discovering the sound waves of past human beings trapped in the atmosphere. Adam hatches a plan to use his new discovery and Muntz’s hadron collider to create a mass-controlled nano black hole that opens a bridge between the past and the present, and transports the brightest philosophers from the past to discuss and deduce the existence of an intelligent designer, which could help Adam find closure to his many questions and present new research to Helms.

Adam and Muntz successfully zap Albert Einstein, Soren Kierkegaard, Isaac Newton, and Baruch Spinoza to the present and keep them in Muntz’s attic. After helping the dazed and confused philosophers adapt to modern life, Adam and Muntz lead the group to a local Starbucks to hold their highly anticipated discussion. However, the discussion does not go according to plan as the head of the Scientific Excellence Organization (SEO), Mr. Nelson, overhears their conversation and considers Adam an insult to the scientific community, resulting in him threatening to cut off funding for UCB and slander its position in the scientific world. Headmaster Helms finds out about this and he and Adam argue back-and-forth until they settle on a solution: To have Adam attend the annual, world-famous science conference, Equinox 2019, and debate with Nelson before the university’s leaders, SEO’s faculty panel, and the entire scientific community of renowned scholars. Should Adam win, he’ll restore UCB’s funding and renew his own name and career. Should he lose, Adam will relinquish everything.

Adam goes to Muntz's house to update him of the dilemma, only to find Evie there in a sorrowful rage, having found out about the predicament Adam had got himself into. Adam attempts to explain the situation to Evie, but she refuses to believe him. He then takes her to the attic against Muntz's wishes to prove to Evie that he isn't lying about any of it. Evie is in shock when she first meets the philosophers and believes that Adam has finally lost it, thinking he is delusional and kidnapped the gentlemen, keeping them in the attic. Evie attempts to storm out to seek help for her husband, but Adam pleads for her to believe him and suggests that she hold individual therapy sessions with the philosophers to determine if he is lying or not. Evie acquiesces and conducts therapy sessions with each philosopher, finally realizing that what Adam has been saying is true. Her only request, however, is for her to join Adam and Muntz in their endeavors. After some back-and-forth, Adam agrees, with Evie declared as the philosophers' therapist—interested in better understanding their minds.

The group meets together to decide on the next steps to prepare Adam for the debate and settle on researching intermediary fossils.

Meanwhile, Evie begins her first sessions with the philosophers. She asks Einstein if he would use emotion to rationalize and conclude the existence of God—to which he counters that emotion cannot explain anomalies, therefore, no. She asks whether his family shared his beliefs, and he tries to shrug off the conversation. In her session with Spinoza, Evie asks him to define the notion of "God." Spinoza believes that God is the sum of the natural and physical laws and all of the substances of the universe. Evie then inquires about evil in the world, and Spinoza says that it is the result of one's will and simply suggests that if the world merely society refurbished their notions of God and free will, peace would prevail. Evie's next meeting with Kierkegaard results in the philosopher declaring that life is not meant to be happy. Lastly, Newton states that everyone elses' beliefs are incorrect and they need to be proven wrong.

The group intends to travel to UC Berkeley to meet with Professor Philip D. Gingerich of Paleontology to discuss his intermediary fossil research. However, when Muntz sees that he isn't available until March, they opt to meet with Gingerich's colleague, Professor Rainen Diggins. Upon arriving at the campus, a security guard declines to let them in, arguing that there is a gas leak. Adam does not believe him and sneaks in with the others. They meet with Diggins, who topples the argument of intermediary fossils, citing the fossil fallacy, in which a meager morsel of data cannot disapprove the entirety of a multifarious step process.

Adam and the others regroup in disappointment to figure out the next steps. However, in the midst of doing so, Adam receives an alert that someone from "Science Today" has published an article in which Adam allegedly attacked Diggins over a mere difference of opinion—instigating media frenzy. Adam is sure Nelson hired someone to slander his name before the debate. The party discuss what should be done and decide on the next point they must research: irreducible complexity.

Adam goes downstairs to inform Evie of their next steps and finds her opening a letter from the bank, declaring their intent to foreclose their home, unless he pays his debt within fifteen days. The two argue until Muntz intervenes and says that he will take care of it, despite the couple's protests. Nevertheless, Evie says that the least she can do is take another client on to make more money.

The next day, whilst discussing preparations for the next research topic, the issue of passports comes up and Muntz also says that he has connections that can take care of it. Upon picking up the passports from Muntz's connection at a cafe, Adam bumps into his old high school science teacher, Mr. Jellosa. Adam fills him in on everything that's happened, and Mr. Jellosa reveals that he has been working as a scientific journalist and editor-in-chief for a while now and can help him out.

Evie meets her new patient, Eli Solomon for the first time. Eli is a reclusive computer programmer with a drastic anxiety disorder. He tells Evie that has begun therapy with her to target his severe panic attacks attributed to his fear of his experiences with death and the unknown that comes after it.

Mr. Jellosa publishes an article debunking Adam's alleged assault on Diggins and bolstering his reputation by stating how Diggins had actually praised Adam's ambition and perseverance in the scientific community. Adam and the rest of the gang fly out to meet with Dr. Madelyn Golubev to discuss the topic of irreducible complexity.

Meanwhile, Nelson and his journalist-accomplice, Terry Birk, discuss the next steps to obstruct Adam's journey and further damage his Adam's reputation.

The group arrives to meet with Dr. Golubev in hopes of her bolstering the argument of irreducible complexity. Unfortunately, she offers many counterarguments, instead. However, she does not rule out the possibility of an intelligent designer, not because of science, but because it is a personal belief that provides her with emotional comfort. Adam and the others leave her office in confusion and frustration, with their pro-intelligent designer argument points debunked, and the debate creeping closer and closer. Just then, a flurry of angry, protesting college kids arrive downstairs, intent on hurting Adam. The group flees through an emergency exit.

Back home, Adam and the rest of the gang find out that Nelson got wind of a single incident from Adam's experience at high school and blew it out of proportion to make it seem as if he was an angry, abusive individual that assaulted someone. Although it never happened, Jellosa suggests releasing a statement expressing his supposed regret and apologies at the alleged event to gain the people's sympathy and empathy.

The novel then switches scenes to a character only known as "the gentleman" traveling, with a translator, to the village of Baya in Nigeria. The gentleman intends to establish an NGO in poverty-stricken Baya that will help it, with his years of experience as a head microbiologist working for the UN in Abuja, Nigeria. Two years later, the gentleman's project flourishes, in addition  befriending all of the village chief, Jigo, and villagers. However, Baya is then attacked by criminal rebels, leaving many dead, including Jigo, and the village ravaged and destroyed. Soon afterwards, Baya is hit with a deadly wave of Ebola, this time killing the gentleman's adopted son, Gowon. The remaining villagers turn against each other and loot the remainder of the village in a final ever-man-for-himself act. The gentleman then renounces all false hope and compassion for man and decides that one must only live for themself, declaring that the problem of evil did not care who was evil and who was good, for it collapsed on whomever it wished. It is then revealed that the gentleman is in fact Walter Nelson.

Flash back to the present, and Jellosa's idea to release a statement has helped improve Adam's reputation, albeit the damage that has been already done. In her next session with the philosophers, Evie explores their conversation with Dr. Golubev and the notion of turning to God as an emotional response to pain, similar to what Dr. Golubev mentioned. Adam and the others are about to head out to London, hoping to find the research they need in their last efforts to win the debate. However, Muntz opts to stay behind, despite everyones' protests, stating that it's his fault in the first place that they're in such a mess, were it not for his machine. Furthermore, he states that it's better to split up anyways so they can best use the time that they have left; he'll research whatever he can and find a final argument for them to win the debate, whilst they implement their efforts in Londo n. Adam begrudgingly accepts.

The last individual the team meets with is Professor Esperanza De La Fuente, an award-winning molecular and microbiologist, mathematician, professor, author, and visiting scholar. They discuss the origin of the DNA code, and this visit proves to be successful, with Esperanza stating that it is impossible to have a perfect, complex, and synchronized code, (with the possibility being one in over a trillion), manifest from evolution—implying the existence of an intelligent designer. The group flies back home from London and Adam rushes to tell Muntz the good news. However, when Adam goes to greet Muntz, he finds him dead next to the time machine. In a letter left behind by him, Muntz explains that he was very depressed due to the deaths of his wife and son, and came up with the entire idea of a hadron collider hoping to find answers about God, and bring his family back to life or join them in the afterlife. He also expresses appreciation for Adam's place in his life and his constant support. Lastly, Muntz states that in a final effort to win the debate, he will try to zap himself back in time and bring an artifact home as proof and should they find his body, the attempt failed. He mentions Nelson in his last words, implying that a final conversation with him lead to the suicid e.

Adam flies into a rage and dials Nelson, losing his temper and accusing Nelson of manipulating Muntz to his death. Nelson retorts that they were the ones who continually placed pressure on Muntz without recognizing his signs of distress. He also reveals that he was aware of all of Adam's trauma and past, illustrating that he knew exactly what weak spots to target—that all of the events that unfolded were simply part of his plan. Nelson clicks the phone off and Jellosa calls Adam immediately after, stating that Nelson broadcasted their disastrous phone call to the media and the damage is catastrophic and irreversible. Headmaster Helms then calls and states that he is terminated from his job at UC Berkeley, and that he was right to heed to Nelson's advice and falter his attempts to meet with Behe, Diggins, and Gingerich. Adam has a breakdown and rushes out of the house without a trace.

Adam spends the next few days in a deep depression and isolated in a hotel room. Evie and Einstein, (with he and Adam having become extremely close), attempt to persuade him to open up, but to no avail. Einstein returns to make one last effort in cheering Adam up and inspiring him to proceed with the debate in honor of Muntz. He has a heart-to-heart conversation with Adam, expressing his personal regrets, but not allowing them to hold him back from moving on with life. Einstein leaves Adam with food for thought telling him that the decision to get back up is his. Meanwhile, Evie is forced to carry on with her session with Eli, (who mentions that it will be his last one). Eli departs with a watchmaker-intelligent-designer analogy that leaves her pondering their situation.

Adam thinks about his conversation with Einstein, but gets lost ruminating about the situation and breaks down, once more. He stumbles upon a photograph he took earlier in the story, (as a child), and flashes back to looking at it, whilst becoming enchanted and hypnotized by Einstein's passionate, melancholic melody on the piano. Adam recalls how that memory had caused his heart to cry out for something unknown that he yearned to discover, renewing his determination to make things right.

The team prepares for the debate, holding one final discussion, (using Evie’s lessons learned from her sessions with Eli and evidence and arguments gathered), to determine what to present at the conference. Once they arrive at the conference, Nelson shakes Adam up just before the debate. The debate progresses horribly with Nelson making a mockery of Adam despite the validity and potential of his counterarguments, and his damaged image only adding fuel to the fire. However, Einstein does not stand for it and interferes, giving a speech about the second rule of thermodynamics, entropy, and the mathematical impossibility to yield a better design through evolution using the concept of time. He also expresses his concern of humanity losing opportunities to attain facts by indoctrinating young scientists to an old theory and veering them away from seeking the noblest thing of all...truth.

The team receives a slow, yet brilliant, unfurling standing ovation, leaving Nelson humiliated. The group head out the door and await the results and the media’s verdict of their performance. Adam leaves with a  much more open-minded understanding of the world and the deeper emotional complexities surrounding the mystery of an intelligent designer.