Bach wrote this book during the waning years of the cold war, when the sword of a potential nuclear war had hung over humanity. In one of the chapters, we as readers live through his words the horrors of a nuclear strike in real time. The death and destruction are too real for comfort, for any reader. With this, the author effectively drives home the probable plight of humanity in the light of continued spite and hatred.
By taking us through the multiple universes, Bach attempts to guide readers to the ultimate reality of our life–where we are above and beyond all our differences, where we are all one. To accentuate this idea, readers are also introduced to ‘Pye’, a single living entity in a future universe. She guides Bach and his wife through the various universes and imparts them the wisdom to glide in and out of them. In the end, Pye is what Bach and his wife ultimately become–conjoined together in body and thought.
Thus, through One, Bach presents how every individual is a part of the same consciousness, hidden behind varying depths of emotions and layers of thoughts. Through the several story lines of Bach and his wife, readers are reminded of the power ingrained within them to always make the right choices for the better of all humankind. The fact that One is a life lesson imparted as a quasi-science fiction, makes it a must-read and a page-turner at that.