Bernard Werber (born September 18 in Toulouse) is a French writer. He is known for mixing several literary genres: philosophy, science fiction, thriller, mythology or biology. He himself defines his style as philosophy-fiction. Let's discover together this author and his books that we advise you to read first if you want to start reading his works.
1. His writing history
First of all, who is Bernard Werber? He is a man who has always been brimming with limitless imagination. Since his childhood, he began to draw and write, but it is in writing that he excels because it is at the age of 7 that he writes his first short story : "The adventures of a flea". The story deals with the point of view of a flea, climbing the body of a human from head to toe. We can therefore notice that since he was a child, he loves to write stories by taking an amazing point of view as for example recently "Demain les chats". He continued to write throughout his youth, inspired mainly by his readings of Edgar Allan Poe. Being passionate about writing, he created "Euphorie", the newspaper of his high school, where he met and discovered with his friend Fabrice Coget the genre of science fiction and fantasy. It was at the time of the passage to the baccalaureate, that he began the writing of the iconic novel for some literary: "The Ants". Initially, the idea was a 7-page scenario in order to make a comic strip with his childhood friend, Fabrice. But being very interested in the environment of animals and insects, he finally decided to make a novel, developed into a saga later thanks to the success of the first volume. At the end of high school, he embarked on studies in law, criminology and journalism. His studies will allow him to be a great source of inspiration for his thrillers and allow him to develop his knowledge of human psychology. His professional beginnings began as a freelancer for many renowned magazines: Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Point ..). In parallel while continuing the writing of his novel, "The Ants". Anecdote, when he is a science journalist at the Nouvel Observateur, he is sent to Africa to report on the colonies of migrating ants, which will serve him for his novel. And it was in 1990 that it all started, when he was fired from his job as a journalist, he decided to abandon his novel. But the publisher Albin Michel is interested in his literary work and just asks him to reduce his initial version (which reached a total of 1463 pages) to 350 pages. It is therefore 12 years later (1991), that his first novel comes out for the general public, which welcomes him at first rather difficult but which in the end touches the hearts of many French readers.
2. Recommended books to start Bernard Werber
Starting to read Werber's works is not something simple for everyone, especially when you know nothing about psychology. To enter the author's world, start by reading some short stories that are easier to read and understand. Therefore, I advise you to read the following works:
- Cassandra's mirror
Released in 2009, the themes of this novel are diverse: prediction of the future, freedom and social exclusion. We follow the story of a young woman with amnesia, Cassandra Katzenberg. She has no memory of her life before her parents died in Egypt, but she has a gift: to see the future. It all begins when she runs away from the school of swallows with an intriguing watch and finally finds refuge in "Redemption", a community of marginals in a garbage dump to whom she reveals her clairvoyance gifts, which ultimately harms her. Subsequently, she wanders the streets in search of warmth and food and ends up stealing a book about her mythological namesake: Cassander of Troy. This book is the key element with the watch that allows you to understand the whole story when you get to the end of the novel. To summarize, Cassandra experiences adventures throughout the novel that allow us to see all the complexity of humans as well as all the social classes that divide our society into several small groups.
- Pandora's box
Released in 2018, this work tackles the complex subject of hypnosis and past lives. We discover René Toledano, a history teacher at Johnny Hallyday high school, who goes on a boat, "Pandora's Box", with a friend to see a show on hypnosis. The host of the show is a certain Opal, who makes her directly discover one of her previous lives: a soldier engaged in the army during the First World War. This first hypnosis shocks René enormously who does not come back and decides to isolate himself. That's when a skinhead appears and tries to racket him with a knife in his hand. In self-defense, René kills him and plunges his body into the Seine. The rest of the story depends on this event, he wants to try to understand why he did this, how and especially if his former lives have an influence on his current skills. To conclude, this book plunges us into a psychological journey and beliefs about life after death. Do you believe in reincarnation? This book is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in this universe and especially to try to understand it.
- The sixth sleep
Released in 2015, this book is one of my favorites for its relaxing and informative side. We are introduced to a young man of 28 years, Jacques Klein, a scientist passionate about the world of sleep and dreams. It all starts when he meets in a dream his future him, 20 years older. He explains that he has built a revolutionary machine: time travel via the invented dreams of the 48-year-old Jacques, and that he wants to help him find his mother who has disappeared in Malaysia. It is then that Jacques' investigation into his mother's disappearance begins. Once there in Malaysia, he meets the Senoi, a native people who perfectly master lucid dreaming. He will therefore try to learn their knowledge in this area in order to reach the stage of all possibilities. The sixth sleep is the ultimate stage, it is a sleep that allows you to have lucid and totally restorative dreams. This book allows us to discover the world of dreams that is not much documented by scientists. Even though we have no evidence that this stage of sleep actually exists, many people who are passionate about this environment consider it to exist. What do you think?
Conclusion
To conclude, if you want to embark on a philosophical reading, Werber's works will take you to another dimension thanks to his science fiction side. These works are refreshing and original thanks to this mixture of paradoxical genres. We advise you to read one of these 3 works before embarking on his biggest creations. This will allow you to get into the bath, understand his literary style as well as fully adhere to his philosophical and social messages. Obviously, there are also 3 known sagas of Bernard Werber to follow: Cycle of cats – the 3rd Humanity – The Ants. If you are brave and you like substantial books, do not hesitate and get started! You can find the author's works here, as well as our latest article on a comic book !
