The Republic of Heaven

Tool 1: The Alethiometer. Tool 2: The Subtle Knife. Tool 3: The Amber Spyglass. Tool 4: The Book of Dust?

Though what sort of powers the Book would have, I don't know. Maybe it is made of Dust, or maybe it is a source of Dust?

Maybe not so much a tool, as a source of information.

I can see Lyra discovering it through her studies of the Alethiometer

Join intrepid Arctic-explorer Lyra Belaqua on her journey through life at St Sophia's, where The Book Of Dust is balanced firmly on top of our heroine's head as she learns to walk like a lady.

Join intrepid Arctic-explorer Lyra Belaqua on her journey through life at St Sophia's, where The Book Of Dust is balanced firmly on top of our heroine's head as she learns to walk like a lady.

"Nobody can make me a lady!"

But yeah, TBoD would indeed make sense as the fourth tool. Maybe Lyra herself will write it? Considering it was predicted in TGC that Lyra would someday know more about Dust than anyone else in the world, she very well could, I think..

Good idea, I had always thought the title would refer to the actual physical book. If it was an actual item though, it would significantly increase the chances of a full Lyra story.

a fourth tool?
no i dont think there will be a another "tool"
although the book of dust is aparently going to be a big book pullman himself said that there would be no more books in the trilagy after tas, if there were going to be another "tool" i think it would have been introduced in once upon a time in the north, still good thought
but please dont call it a "tool" there more important than tools,
if the real lyra heard that you wouldnt have a nose now

http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/srafope ... hree_Tools

I think "Three Tools" is an overall term.

There we go. I think that if the book was the fourth 'tool' then it would be on there.

I can't see a book having any relation to Dust except talking about it-lets face it, it can't 'see', it can't be powered by or help get rid of Dust.

The thing that always bugged me about that The Amber Spyglass being the name of the third book is that it has little relevance to the overall plot of the trilogy, nowhere near the same scale as the golden compass or subtle knife. Its just some minor thing at the end of the third book.

how about the book of dust is what helps lyra learn how to read the aleathiometre again?

I read this thread with interest, hoping there might be some news of 'The Book of Dust' which seems long overdue now.
However, I just had to add my comments:
Dust = dark matter and is (stated to be by Mary Malone) concious, so I suppose it could be manipulated as a tool in the same way the police/military were interested in the book. However, it would appear Lyra's degree course is laid out in 'Once upon a time in the north' and is not Physics.
It was said that the alethiometer was 'powered' by dust, so I suppose a book about dust might help Lyra to read it again, although again in OUATITN she mentions that she is way ahead of her teacher in her alethiometer studies.
As to the amber spyglass having little relevance to the overall plot, well it enabled Mary to be accepted fully by the mulefa so I suppose that was all part of the plot to keep her there so that she could become the serpent. It also enabled her to see Lyra's potential executioner coming to the village from far off, and of course verify that the world had been put to rights after Will and Lyra's 'garden of eden' encounter.
I sincerely hope that Mr Pullman is going to finish the book sometime soon - I am beginning to think that riches have given him writer's block...

i'v had new thoughts and i dont thing it will be.
dust is what the 3 "tools"(....yes im still anoyed about that) were controlled by, or were controlled by in some way.

What if the book of dust was the book that the aleathiometrist, on the boat where they torture the witch, had?





500th POST! (pats self on back)

Neither. It is a companion novel.
It will have lots of Stories, possibly things such as how farder coram and serfina pekkela met and the ending to the story about "Lyra and the Birds" started in "Lyra's Oxford"

What if the book of dust was the book that the aleathiometrist, on the boat where they torture the witch, had?





500th POST! (pats self on back)

That book was just a book which detailed the meanings of the symbols of the Alethiometer. Presumably that means it was written before Dust (which seems to be a pretty recent phenomenon) was discovered.

Anyway I like the idea of the book of Dust being a tool but I don’t think that’s what Pullman will do. I know it’s a trend but “Lyra’s Oxford” wasn’t a tool in anyway. And Dust, to me, always seemed like something that had just been discovered as well as being top secret so I doubt anyone in Lyra’s world would have written about it.