The Real Rule of Four: The Unauthorized Guide to The New York Times #1 Bestseller

by Joscelyn Godwin

Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason’s The Rule of Four is already a bookselling phenomenon. The 28-year-old Ivy League super-achievers drew upon an authentic 1499 Renaissance text to create a thriller about two Princeton undergraduates who try to unravel the mysteries in an ancient book titled Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (pronounced HIP-nair-OTT-oh-MOCK-ee-uh Poe-LIFF-il-ee). Noting the Da Vinci Code¬-like obsession The Rule of Four has engendered, Publishers Weekly says "readers might be tempted to buy their own copy of the Hypnerotomachia and have a go at the puzzle. After all, Caldwell and Thomason have done most of the heavy deciphering – all that's left is to solve the final riddle, head for Rome and start digging." Now those readers inclined to take up PW’s challenge – and those who prefer to do so from the comfort of their armchairs – have the perfect companion, Joscelyn Godwin’s The Real Rule of Four. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili was not translated into English for 500 years. In 1999, Godwin, the undisputed heavyweight champion of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili scholars, finally achieved that near impossible task (the book was written in Latin, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldean and Egyptian hieroglyphics – and when the author couldn’t find a suitable word in those languages he made up ones of his own!). In his new book The Real Rule of Four, Professor Godwin carefully investigates each aspect of the history of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and its use in The Rule of Four, • What is the Hypnerotomachia?
• Who wrote the Hypnerotomachia? (A central theme of The Rule of Four)
• What does the Hypnerotomachia mean?
• Places and people in The Rule of Four
• Glossary of names and terms in The Rule of Four

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Literature, Literary Criticism, Books About Books

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Composer, musicologist and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism and music in the occult.

Reviews

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reviewing the book The Real Rule Of Four by Joscelyn Godwin which is a companion piece to the novel The Rule Of Four and is a very good book which I bought from a local secondhand bookstore. The Rule Of Four is a conspiracy thriller not that different to the Da Vinci Code. Obviously with the popularity of that book these books are more likely to get published. There is a very old book called Hypnerotomachia which was written in 15th Century Venice in the renaissance. Joscelyn was the first person to translate this book into English. Apparently there are several original copies of these books which regularly used to sell for $320,000 at auction. These kinds of books used to be written in several different languages with even some made up words so only the most learned scholars could understand. The scholars at this time believed there was a kind of ancient wisdom to ancient societies like the Ancient Greeks and learned all they could about them. The story fluctuates between the 15th Century and the present day and Princetown University is depicted very accurately. I haven't actually read The Rule Of Four but will soon. This has caught my interest. The book does run like the Da Vinci Code in the sense that there are monks protecting an ancient secret and will even kill to protect it and there are some Americans trying to uncover it. I did quite enjoy this book.

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this to accompany the confusing novel I just read, The Rule of Four. The novel would have been less confusing if the characters had been better developed, and the structure a bit better worked out. Godwin spent a good deal of time exploring the structure of the book, which may have been unnecessary if the novel hadn't been rushed to follow the wake of Brown's Da Vinci Code books, for which I have nothing but abject content. I look forward to future books by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason but I hope they do not require commentaries like Godwin's for interpretation. I knew that Godwin would be relentless about the historical veracity of The Rule of Four, and he was quite satisfying in this regard.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mystery somewhat in the vein of The DaVinci Code, where scholars are in search for the hidden message in a book called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, meaning Poliphilo's Struggle for Love in a Dream. The protagonists are college students, one of whose father was a scholar searching for the answers to the book's riddles. The son isn't really interested in pursuing his father's obsession, but his roomate drags him along anyway. There are scholar's of the father's generation who push the two forward in their research, some as allies and some planting deceptions along the way. The story is interesting, but not as well written or suspensful as The DaVinci Code.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nifty companion to The Rule of Four by the translator of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to the Davinci Code--very intense!