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Summary: DAN BROWN: RACIST? or NOT A RACIST?
Review: I've been hearing that Dan Brown is a white supremacist and said some bad things about black women. Anyone here know if this is true? I see one of his readers (Minerva) harbors a negative attitude about black women but I haven't yet come across anything explicit from Dan Brown himself.
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Summary: Don't belive EVERYTHING you read in the book...
Review: ...But you can believe the research. There are many publications out on the market explaining the true roll of Mary Magdalene, the WIFE of Christ, and each one is countered by a book that goes against it. So it is all up to the reader to believe or not believe. I mean, we can't ask Jesus or Mary, can we? But just because you may not believe in what Dan Brown suggests in this book, doesn't make it automatically false, AND VICE-VERSA. It's all up to the individual reader to decide, but all I ask is that once you make up your mind, keep your opinion to yourself. Let others form their own opinion, and challenge their faith at will. Their faith is not for you to control. Live your life how you want to, but don't tell me what I can believe and what I can't.Now, Dan Brown decided to use the artwork of DaVinci in his novel. The same principles apply here as up above. There is no way for us to go and ask DaVinci himself, so even the ART HISTORIANS will NEVER KNOW 100% what was meant to be in his artwork and what wasn't. And the same goes for any other artist now deceased. Because of this, WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING EXCEPT WHAT WE BELIEVE. And what you believe may not be what I believe. So leave me alone. As far as the story goes, It's a page turner. Whether you acknowledge the research, or are tooooo close minded to even consider it a possibility, you have to agree. It may not be accurate, but the story keeps moving at a fast pace that keeps any reader interested if they are reading for the story and not for the facts. The one thing I didn't appreciate is that the begining of the story is almost a clone of "Angels & Demons." Anyone who read that book and this should know what I mean.
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Summary: Amazing
Review: This book was a page turner to say the least. Not wanting to put it down and continue on at all hours of the night to see what will happen next was what was occuring wit me. For people to hate this book, they are just being ignorant. Yes it is FICTION and has some great thinking parts. Look at the cover in the mirror and see what the writing beholds for YOU! Recommend this to EVERYONE. A must read! Dont miss out!
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Summary: Great book and here is another
Review: After reading the "Da Vinci Code" my friend recommended another book, and I was equally amazed. You will find this book to be totally fascinating- "The Golden Milestone: Over 2500 Years of Italian Contributions to Civilization."
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Summary: Lousy history, dangerous conspiracy-theory storyline
Review: This badly informed book would have been less annoying if the author had avoided such outdated stereotypes as the supposed role of 'the Inquisition' in persecuting witches, or conspiracy-theory-type accounts of imaginary secret Christian societies and mysteries. This is all so derivative, and so wrong, and so boring. I don't care if historical novels are inaccurate--after all, they are not MEANT to be accurate, they are meant to be entertaining, and this book succeeds on that score. But I do care when heavily biased and badly outdated scholarship informs a novelist's view of the past--such as the nonsense about 'the Inquisition' persecuting witches. Dozens of good books on the history of witch-hunting have been published over the last three decades, and looking at one or two, instead of an older encyclopedia or Western Civ. textbook, might have pushed the author to avoid this old (Protestant) slur. The Catholic Church per se had little to do with witch-hunting, though many individual churchmen (and Protestants too, BTW) were guilty of all kinds of nasty things. I should also mention that a substantial portion of those persecuted as witches were men--in some parts of Europe, they were the majority of 'witches'! Anyone interested in this can read more in Andrew Gow and Lara Apps, Male Witches in Early Modern Europe (Manchester University Press, 2003). It'll be clear enough by now that I am a professor of history. However, I am not a Christian of any kind, so I don't have a particular warm spot for Rome--I'd just like to see less in the way of outdated views and vicious bias in books like this.
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Summary: Very well written and captivating from beginning to end...
Review: I'd like to start off by saying I've never read anything from Dan Brown before, and after reading this book, I'm very impressed... The book is very well written, the plot is excellent and the excitement keeps on building until a fantastic climax at the end. The book is full of exciting facts intermingled with fiction all throughout the book. A man is murdered after hours at the Louvre museum in Paris. He's the chief curator of the museum, and he leaves behind clues as to why he was murdered and by whom, for his granddaughter, cryptologist Sophie Nevau, and Robert Langdon, a famous symbologist, to decipher. This unlikely couple ends up on the run from the French Police while searching for the killer or killers. They soon discover that the murder victim was a high-ranking member of a secret society that has been around since the time of Christ, and which have had prominent members such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton. This secret society has guarded one of mankind's greatest secrets for centuries - The Holy Grail. I could talk about this for ages without really spoiling the story, since it is so complex, so full of twists and turns, and packed with intriguing facts about the history of the world and Christianity. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll love this book. The book is excellent - a real page turner, and I literally couldn't put the book down until I was done. Without hesitation, I give it 5 stars!!!
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Summary: A disappointment
Review: I went into this book with such anticipation. C'mon, it has a great build-up, intriguing premise, glamorous settings. But the writing is flat, the dialogue stilted & didactic, the so-called characters mere cardboard cut-outs whose sole purpose is moving the plodding plot forward. By the end of the book, I barely knew anything about Langdon, Agent Neveu, or anyone else. Furthermore, I didn't CARE if I knew anything about them! Even the originally titillating premise was finally a yawner. Holy Grail as feminist manifesto? Whatever. I'm sure plenty of people love this book, it pops up on commuter buses all over my city. I can't recommend it under any circumstances.
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Summary: A True Page Turner
Review: Before anyone gets their religious beliefs or artistic expertise in a knot, remember that "The Da Vinci Code" is only a book and a good mystery at that. It will leave you guessing at every turn of the page. Dan Brown's character Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon goes to Paris to give yet another lecture and becomes involuntarily involved in one of history's greatest mysteries...the Holy Grail. What is it truly? What does it mean? And how does it affect the outcome of all that the world has come to "believe" as fact? The curator, Jacques Sauniere, of the Musee du Louvre in Paris is murdered, but this is no random killing. This man happens to be the Grand Master of the secret society known as the Priory of Sion. Established in 1099, this organization is bound to secrecy in the preserving and location of the Holy Grail which has been sought for centuries. After being shot in the museum, Sauniere uses his own body; Da Vinci's encrypted artwork, and his avid use of code to pass on clues to his granddaughter Sophie Neveu in locating the infamous keystone which leads to the Grail. Robert, who is falsely accused of the murder, teams up with Sophie who happens to be a Police Cryptologist. Becoming suspects on the run through Paris the two must play detective. In deciphering Sauniere's clues they come across a box for which they have no idea what is inside. What they find is what is called a keystone. Who ever wanted this keystone is behind not only Sauniere's murder, but three other murders that same night of prominent members in the Priory of Sion and a nun. Their adventure leads throughout Paris, to Westminster Abbey in London to the Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland. The keystone holds a two thousand year old secret that can change the fate of all. This book is a true mystery from start to finish. Some will be appalled by the religious replications made or question the accuracy in the referenced artwork. I am not an expert in either area. However, I do applaud Brown celebrating the other essential half of spiritual enlightenment...the feminine side. Women have be demonized in society for far too long.
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Summary: Overated and predictable
Review: Sorry, I don't agree with all the hype. I found the book boring at times and to be honest about half way through the book I realized I didn't care what happened to the main characters. I only finished the book because everyone I know had read it...so I thought it would get better as I got to the end... It didn't! Some of the history of the Catholic church is interesting... but that is about it! Don't bother.
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Summary: good and bad
Review: books good fiction good suspence thriller fiction books good dan brown bad dan brown books worse dan brown thriller novel the davinci code the worst
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