A completely realistic novel about that kind of paradise under the rule of Cleopatra, about a crazy man with a doctoral degree named Philip—whom his own devoted student, Charlie, tirelessly saved—and about a monk-boy named Socrates—the same Socrates who might have truly existed or might only have seemed to exist, but who absolutely knew something. Scientists, shepherd-gods, mediums, and Tibetan monks all get mixed together in the third book of Nika Gorn’s series “The Square of Solitude,” “The Principle—Hope.” Music: Alexander Nakarada.