Bernard Werber

For most people, a role model is someone who is admired because he has changed the world or has helped many people. In my opinion, a role model is not necessarily that sort of man. A role model could be an unknown man or someone not that famous. I have chosen an author who is not as well known as Gandhi (but who is beginning to be famous).

Bernard WERBER is a French author. He was born on September, 1961, in Toulouse. During his childhood, nothing special happened: he was a good drawer and his teachers thought he would be a professionnal artist. He wrote his first novel in 1968, at the age of seven. He continued to write novels, on various subjects (but most of his novels are about the concept of humanity, and the way to improve it). In each novel, he tried to be original, to do or tell something nobody had ever done. In 1978, he created a newspaper for his school: Euphorie, which could be read but could be smelled too (various perfumes were used). In the same year, he began to write "Les Fourmis" (The Ants), which would become his first popular book. He tried to study in various domains: criminology, economy, human rights. I think Bernard Werber is my role model because he has a lot of ingeniousness and to my mind, that's a very good quality. He hasn't helped the world like Gandhi or Mere Thérésa, but he tries to change our mentality and our perception of the world as in "Les Fourmis." "Les Fourmis" was published in 1991, and made him famous. He showed us his ingeniousness by publishing other novels :
Le Jour des fourmis, 1992
Les Thanatonautes, 1994
La Révolution des fourmis, 1995
Le Livre du voyage, 1997
Le Père de nos pères, 1998
L'Empire des Anges, 2000
L'arbre des possibles, 2002
Nous, les dieux, 2004
Le Souffle des dieux, 2005

The books are very well written, even if I think the last one was a bit less interesting. In each of his books, he give us another vision of the world, and tries to show us the different possibilities of the world, all the things we can do. Even if he didn't help the world very much, I personnally think his various visions of the world can help to change the world, even in a small part. Each of his books were translated in many languages, for example, "Le Jour des Fourmis," his second book, was translated in 22 languages. Now his books are translated in about 80 languages.
Bernard WERBER is still alive and continues to write novels.

If I had to explain why I admire him, it would be because of his ingeniousness and perseverance, which is how he makes the books interesting.