Timothy P. Smith

I have to say this book was a disappointment. I was hoping for The DaVinci Code but what I got was boring and confusing. I really enjoy books with religious themes, especially if they puzzle out ancient mysteries. This book never got off the ground for me. It spans many years in the author's life. He details what were revelations to him, but to me just seemed like coincidences. If I knew ancient Hebrew maybe this book would make more sense. The author came across as egotistical and worked to make his findings meet his theories.

I received a free copy from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)

The subtitle to this book, “Unlocking the God code…,” might have put me off, as I’m seriously uninspired by Gregg Braden’s the God Code. But the author seemed similarly unconvinced about the earlier book—calling it “misleading and silly”—so I decided to give the Chamberlain Key a try.

Reading like a cross between a memoir, spiritual journal, and persuasive argument, the Chamberlain Key starts from the author’s curious dreams and visions, follows with an intriguingly dangerous trip to camp with wife, children and friends in a frozen nowhere in search of… an unknown something; then continues into analysis of letters in the original Hebrew Bible. A forward by Eugene Ulrich confirms that the author used a viable source, but says nothing about his conclusions.

Through hidden, untold tools the author purports to reveal hidden, untold truths in the Bible, starting with his own first name—ten characters long in Hebrew (if you call him Timotheus). By curious coincidence this is decoded from the same passage in Genesis that mentions Jacob’s six sons and one daughter by Leah… and the author, fourth of six sons and one daughter, has six sons and one daughter—proof perhaps that coincidences happen, or that the Bible has a code prepared especially for him.

The code continues, with various changes of location, separation, translation (including Japanese) and illustration. Soon the images on the page look like a child’s wordsearch puzzle, and the nearness of so many words (suitably reinterpreted) is like that “Oh, that’s almost a word too” moment. The author blends Judeo-Christian faith with Native American methods of recording story to conclude that every letter position matters in the Hebrew Bible, and a secret message has been waiting for him to find it.

Frequent mentions of “the only” name/date etc “encrypted by equidistance” in a particular style and situation might inspire “a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry” but they lack mathematical/statistical substance. Mention of Nazis and 911 bear that all-too-common imprint of present day exceptionalism and end-times dreaming. The author clearly believes what he tells, but it reads like a tale of gradual separation from reality, exciting for those who accept the author’s conclusions, but frustrating, I would think to those same readers who disagreed with the Bible Code.

Disclosure: Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)