At this point in time I have now completed H.P. Lovecraft's most famous novel, At the Mountains of Madness. I can now say that I am set upon the course of researching the idea that there are concepts and ideas that the human mind simply is unable to comprehend or fathom. I have reached this conclusion due the way that Danforth reacts to the horrors he is witness to. He is simply driven mad from his inability to rectify the knowledge he has gained with his human perceptions. This is primarily seen in how he gains a single glimpse at what is called a mirage, what exactly it is is never revealed. Due to this, he loses his sanity and ability to cope with the incomprehensible knowledge or insight he has experienced. With this series of events, it seems that Lovecraft is asserting that it is possible that there are some truths which are simply impossible to comprehend. Although this works focuses on the existential horror that this could produce, I think I will focus my research more towards the scientific or established philosophical. What first comes to mind is on of Zeno's paradoxes of motion which assert that motion is actually an illusion that cannot be a physical reality. I'm not sure I truly agree with the philosophical position that is being forwarded by this novel, but I do think that it is an interesting topic to look more into. In terms of possible scientific inquiries, I will try to look for some form of theory or argument that science is unable to experimentally prove. This will most likely found in either the grandest of scales in astronomy and physics, or at the smallest of scales in chemistry and particle physics.
Overall, I very much liked this novel. I am generally not enthused by the horror genre, but in this case I found it's unique buildup and expansive mythology to be quite intriguing and effective at creating immersion. With this in mind, I would certainly recommend this to any individual looking for leisure reading.
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