In thinking the author, one Michael Drosnin is a whack job. See Bible Code Digest.com. Yes there are sites to it. Disclaimer: They sell their own software too. Quoting R. Edwin Sherman:

Bible Code II The Countdown (Viking) offers new mini-clusters that “prove” Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election. They “show” that life on earth began when aliens delivered DNA during a visit to planet Earth. His findings predict the 9/11 terrorist attacks, world war in 2006, an atomic holocaust in Israel and several other attention-grabbing themes.

There is plenty to fault in this new book by both sides of the argument. Code proponents will say that the world and Bible code research have both moved on dramatically since his first book, but that Drosnin hasn’t noticed.

And another review by Dave Swaney is even less charitable.

The author of Bible Code II The Countdown believed in his code findings so strongly that he made a nudnik of himself with high public officials in Israel and the U.S.

And he has probably written a second best seller about his experiences.

Yet his findings are not only very questionable in terms of their validity as authentic Bible codes, some are off the chart in fantasyland.

Drosnin’s new book on codes, Bible Code II The Countdown, describes his frenetic attempts to see Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Ariel Sharon and Yassir Arafat with his codes about the necessity of peace in the Middle East to avoid a nuclear holocaust.

Well and good. Bravura, even.

But his use of the codes to predict future events is not only futile, but violates Judeo-Christian beliefs. And when they show him that aliens are responsible for life on earth, well . . . maybe Art Bell would be interested, but serious code researchers won’t.

Several problems I noted, and I don’t read Hebrew, are, well, I don’t read Hebrew for one. Even if I could, the words could be interpreted differently, some have several meanings. And not knowing Hebrew, there is no way for me to see if there are other words hidden in the same matrix as the ones Drosnin highlighted. The shorter sequences aren’t statistically valid even. I have a real hard time swallowing his thesis that our DNA and the Bible Code was brought here by aliens on a spaceship, oh accidentally - forced landing here, with full knowledge of our future and that finding the Code Key is the key to avoiding said future. Um, ok, Art Bell would love this. Suffice it to say the plain text of the Bible and other scriptures has told of a time when we would all be destroyed. It doesn’t take much to figure out. Hey, we have nuclear weapons, we have terrorists willing to use them, and most of all we have the long standing (goes back to Abraham/Genesis) feud between the Arabs and Israel. That time is now give or take a few years.

Personally, I prefer to get my info from the plain text of the Bible and words of the Prophets. More reliable anyway. But if anyone is interested, there’s tons of stuff on the net on the codes, even free software. Just check Google. Then try it yourself. Warning, not all versions of the Torah are alike and results will vary. See this review. I especially like the part about “a heaping steaming helping of doggie-doo.” This is one of the more acerbic reviews too. Gotta quote here from Randall Ingermanson:

There’s a bit more in the book besides giving peace a chance. Drosnin believes that there’s some sort of alien artifact near a place called Lisan on the east coast of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is lowering, you see, and there are places now on dry land that have been underwater for the last few thousand years. Drosnin finds a whole pile of “codes” that give him more and more information on this mythical artifact. It’s an obelisk. It’s a steel vehicle. It’s an alien code. It’s the key.

Drosnin spends a bit of time building this up with an account of his attempts to get permission to dig at the site. Wouldn’t you know it, those Jordanians wouldn’t give permission? There’s no peace in the area, you see, and Drosnin is Jewish, so they just won’t let him find that dratted obelisk which will be the fix to all our problems. That’s his explanation anyway. A cynic might suggest that maybe the Jordanians just think Drosnin’s a whackball.

Gotta love it. And yes, I think he’s a whackjob, already said that. However, it would make for an interesting sci fi movie, all it’s good for.