Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars for a great book, but -2 for bad research!
Review: Since it is written as a vehicle for supposed 'facts' I have to give this a 1... because the facts are distorted or outright fabricated. However, it was well written and highly enjoyable as a story... very fast paced. I'm looking forward to book three of the Robert Langdon stories.That said, let me go over some of the weaknesses: For starters, Jesus is not mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls are Jewish texts, not Christian. There are no accounts of the Gospel, standard or otherwise. Next up. sex rites were NEVER performed in the Jewish Temple. There is absolutely nothing to suggest there were. This is one of the most absurd claims I have ever heard. The author gives two reasons the Crusades were launched... two opposing reasons. Were they a product of AOMPS or the Vatican? Make up your mind! The Knights Templar were not exterminated by the Vatican, but by King Philip le Bel of France. In some countries, they got off practically Scot Free (pun intended). Most modern scholars who have actual degrees in European history discount the stories of Joseph of Arimathea and the Magdalen fleeing to France. Perpetuation of these stories is an outright deception. Finally, the Council of Nicea did not "vote" on the divinty of Jesus... merely to include the statment in the Nicean Creed. The author seems not to know that an intact codex of Matthew from the secind century exists, and it is identical to our current copies... no alterations. Please, read the book, but read it as fiction... ALL FICTION.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth losing sleep over!
Review: As an Art History student who took a class in Iconography with Horst Janson as an undergrad at NYU, I have to say this book is better by a mile! Art and history brought to life and while it is a novel, it screamed TRUTH at me from every page. The Goddess has been trampled in this world I lost a week's sleep over this book and it was worth it! Dan Brown wrote and intelligent book about a fascinating subject. I see the influence of his art historian wife all over it. What a powerful pairing of research and invention! Dan does NOT need to read "The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For?", he KNOWS!
Keep doing it Dan - this was wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Great books, page turner
Review: A very good book, with a lot of interesting ideas in it. However, I think some reviews spoiled the fun by telling most of the story. Reviews should help people to decide if the book is good or not, not to show off that you have read it. A good book definitely worth readin.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Wonderful!
Review: This is the best book I have read in MANY years, and I read lots of books. There is something to learn on every page that will boggle your mind and keep you wanting more. I find it fascinating that one man could store so much knowledge in his head! NO ONE will come away from this book lacking anything, only wanting more!
Rating: 
Summary: too many blunders
Review: A commercial success and rather fun in its way, but marred by technical blunders that tend to tarnish the author's image as an art-historian at play. For example, the Louvre is east of the Tuileries, not "west" as Brown has it (page 17). That's Paris 101. Yet somehow Brown gets us to the Louvre anyway, where he tells us that it would take an "estimated five days" for "a visitor to properly appreciate the 65,300 pieces of art" there (page 18). Thus a visitor would have about three seconds to "properly appreciate" each work of art. Wow. Later, Brown tells us that a scroll is a codex (199), whereas a codex is precisely what a scroll is NOT. Brown-or his copy-editor-misspells "ad nauseam" not once but twice (169, 247), which suggests that somebody doesn't know his Latin-which is a little hard to understand in a book about church-history. Similarly, Brown misspells Armand Hammer's name (300), which is downright inexplicable given Hammer's importance as a collector. While such blunders as these may detract from the author's credibility, they are unlikely to cost him much when it comes to selling the film rights-which is presumably what this book is all about.
Rating: 
Summary: The
Review: The beginning of the book was good, and I was excited to read it. But as I got farther into it I realized that it was only a not so well disguised attempt to push the author's views against Christianity. My personal opinion is he's trying to do some major kissing up to feminists. From a strictly literary standpoint, his writing was nothing out of the ordinary and he filled many of the pages with his own ideologies. I was also very offended by his blatant attacks on Christians (He potrayed them as being either narrow minded or fools, covering up the "truth" about Christ)and his seeming glorification of women. He obviously does not know what he is talking about in either of those areas. His views of goddess worship and the like are very far-out. Christiantiy has done more to furthur the good treatment of women than any other religion. And as for all the "facts" presented in the book, I didn't notice a bibliography listing the sources from which he gathered all this "ground-breaking" research. I would not reccomend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Book!
Review: The Da Vinci Code is one of the most amazing books I've read. It has so many facts. This book is a marvelous suspense story that absolutely shocks you with its ending. I strongly recommend this book. Trust me, its GOOD!
Rating:
Summary: Da Vinci?
Review: Like some of your readers, I found The Da Vinci Code to be a fun summer pastime. But although I am no art history expert, I found some of the errors to be disconcerting. In the first place, most art lovers refer to the artist as "Leonardo", in the same way they call Raphael and Michelangelo by their first names. No one would dream of referring to them as "Buonarroti" or "Sanzio." Also, Leonardo did not have "hundreds of lucrative Vatican commissions." He didn't even have hundreds of commissions period. Considering his genius and his long life (69) his output is surprisingly meagre. And his disappointment at receiving no commissions from the Medici pope Leo X, a fellow Florentine, is well documented. Furthermore, Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi has no paint on it at all. Only the underpaint, the preparatory ground, which is not grey-green but reddish brown. No one has ever painted over it, unlike The Last Supper, which was painted over many times. Surely the most rudimentary research would have prevented these errors.
Rating: 
Summary: Brown gets better each outing.
Review: Dan Brown writes novels with complicated, often convoluted plots, and The DaVinci Code is no different in that respect. But overall it is the best he has done to date, and its tenure on the bestseller lists attests to that. Unlike "Angels & Demons", which played fast and loose with the thriller genre mixed with irrational science fiction, blended with religious (Catholic) philosophy that just went too far over the top to suspend disbelief, in "the DaVinci Code" Brown lectures less, and writes "to" instead of "down" to his readers. In previous books I have felt he showed off too much, lecturing like a frustrated professor rather than being a story teller. Here he seems to have geared back and found a much better balance to create a truly memorable romp. The writing is dense, but readable, the plot is stellar, and the characters resonate. Definitely, I will be looking forward to the next Dan Brown.
Rating:
Summary: History buffs of the world, unite and read!
Review: If, like me, your idea of great television is the Discovery or History channels, you'll love this book. I won't go so far as to say that Brown weaves together his fact and fiction "flawlessly", but he does it in the best interest of an entertaining read, and really, isn't that what we're here for?
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is a murder mystery whose clues all involve a secret society's beliefs about the Holy Grail. The plot is presented in "real time", with the more complicated explanations taking the form of flashbacks to the university classes taught by the main character, Robert Langdon. It was in these flashbacks that I felt the book bogged down the most, as the students' dialogue invariably consisted of the "3 Ws" - "Wow!", "Whoa!", and "Will this be on the test?" Their awe and ingenuousness at the neato-keeno things their professor is presenting is so unbelievable, especially for anyone familiar with real college students, that they jarred me away from the narrative.
Aside from that, expect to be surprised, shocked, and maybe even a little offended - but again, isn't that what we're here for? Brown has done his research, and whether or not you agree that his theories are correct or not, the fact is that there are some societies who believe in them. Learning about those theories alone made the book worth reading for me.
The plot itself is basic, a standard mystery/chase scene scenario that plays out across Europe. There are a few twists, but chances are pretty good you'll see them coming. The puzzles and cryptographs are witty, if inconsistent in their level of difficulty, and the characters are like milk - smooth, bland, and they go down fairly easily. The cookie is in the details and theories, and it's there that Brown has spent his time. Readers, you need the milk, but you're really there for the cookie. Swallow it down, you won't be disappointed.
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