Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!!!!
Review: I would like to thank Dan Brown for such an outstanding novel. The only bad thing about this thriller is the fact that I'll have to read a lot more books to find one thats even near as entertaining and riveting as this one. The research was exceptional. The secrets that lie in wait for the reader will amaze you. The history and life in the Vatican, the story of the Illuminati, the science and research in physics, Galileo. These are just some of the things you'll learn about while on this rollercoaster ride of a book.A true 5 Star if ever there was one.... Highest recommendation........
Rating:
Summary: Another fast paced thriller from Dan Brown
Review: Dan Brown's second book, Angels and Demons, rivals the fast pace he set with Digital Fortress. Techies will love the antimatter and physics, and everyone will love the basic premise as well as the vivid detail that Dan Brown uses to bring the Vatican City to life. Take journeys where few men have been, and where few will ever go again. Angels and Demons is incredibly well researched, and Dan Brown uses real places to create the ultimate thriller to start out the new millenium, and to think about until the next.
Rating:
Summary: Judge this great book by its cover!
Review: Dan Brown has more than done it again! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes. This book is definitely more than 10 stars. I have shown this ambigramic cover to over 25 different people. Everyone has said how did he do that? And over half said I was showing them the book upside down. And then when I show them the cover looks the same right side up or upside down, they can't believe it even more. The book is as great as the cover. Not only is it a great story, but it asks universal questions at the same time. Angels - Demons; God(s) - no God(s); Religion - Science; good - evil; life - death; love - hate; fiction? -fact?; matter - antimatter; light - dark; like - dislike; Illuminati - Catholicism; laughing - crying; pain - happiness; killings - miracles?; should we? or shouldn't we?, and many more. The sign of a good book for me is one that I can't put down until it ends. And this one ended (unfortunately) the same day I received it in the mail. Talk about not being able to put it down. (1)English - Latin - French - Greek (2)Earth - Air - Fire - Water (3)Nile - Ganges - Danube - Rio Plata (4)The Inquisition - Knights Templar - Cruscades - La Puga (5)Dissimulation - Camouflage (6)The Great Seal - The Great Castration (7)Hassassin - Terrorism (8)Iambic Pentameter - Couplets (9)Substantiate - Suffocate (10)Cross - Yin Yang - Jewish Star - Swastica (11)God - Illuminati - Shaitan - Satan (12)Antimatter - Time Zero - Hadron Collider Particle Accelerator - Airtight Nano Composite Shells (13)Kilotons - Weaponry - Payload - Destruction (14)Electron - Volts - Joules - Constuctive (15)Zeus - Janus - Poseidon - Helios (16)Michaelangelo - Basilica - Bernini - St Peter's Square (17)Marisa - Sachiko - Kanara - V. Vetra (18)Wahad - tintain - thalatha - arbaa (19)Galeleo - John Milton; Einstein - Dan Brown (20)Dan Brown - Exeter? Robert Langdon - Exeter. I can't believe all the information that Dan Brown has put into this book and made it all make sense. I'll bet the next time you take out a one dollar bill, you'll take a closer look at "The Great Seal." (1)Novus Ordo Seclorum - A New Order of The Ages (2)Annuit Coeptis-God Has Favored Our Undertaking (3)E Pluribus Unum - One Out Of Many (4)In God We Trust (5)13 leaves; 13 berries; 13 arrows; 13 stars; 13 layers on the pyramid; 13 letters in Annuit Coeptis; 13 letters in E Pluribus Unum Who said 13 was unlucky? Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? I know everyone will enjoy this great book! Don't forget Digital Fortress 128-10-93-85-10-128-98-112-6-6-25-126-39-1-68-78
Rating:
Summary: An Intelligent Thriller
Review: Dan Brown has produced a thriller that not only is a page-turner, but also covers a wide range of subjects as its protagonists fight an ancient enemy through the monuments of Rome. From nuclear physics through Renaissance art, the reader is swept along a path that will lead to a reluctance to turn out the light and go to bed, as the twists and turns of the plot force another page to be turned, and then another. Dan Brown's gift is to make it all connect in a plot that reads as if it came right from tomorrow's headlines. Dark and light, good and evil, religion and science all wind through Angels and Demons in unexpected patterns. A warning--you'll find it hard to put down and even harder to forget.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome thriller
Review: To fight the Catholic Church's inaccurate teachings, the most enlightened thinkers of sixteenth century Rome formed a fraternal organization The Illuminati. Their aim was to spread scientific information to the masses, but the Church condemned them as heretics and wanted them destroyed. The group was forced into hiding but promised to reveal themselves when they held the power to demolish their foe the Church. The Pope just died and the Cardinals are meeting in the Vatican to elect his replacement. The Church's security force, the Swiss Guard, notices a strange canister being broadcast by a video camera located somewhere in Vatican City. Maximillan Kohl of the CERN think tank in Geneva realizes that somebody has stolen the institute's supply of anti-matter, a weapon of mass destruction. Director Kohl sends symbiologist Robert Langdon and scientist Vittoria Vertra to Rome to assist the Church in the hunt for the deadly container that is set to blow up at midnight. The force of the explosion will destroy Vatican City and much of Rome. Robert and Vittoria race against time to find and defuse a doomsday machine before it savages a powerful organization and kills many innocents. Dan Brown, author of the critically acclaimed DIGITAL FORTRESS, has created another frantic paced, pulse pounding thriller that rivals the best works of Clancy and Cussler. The action-packed tale takes readers on an exciting adventure that feels perilously real. ANGELS AND DEMONS is one reading experience that the audience will never forget. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Whoops, there it is!
Review: This book is what it is: a commercially successful novel for the masses. It is not a pulitzer candidate, or a definitive treatise on religeous myth and dogma, or the final scholarly word on ancient civilizations. People who are turning up their noses at it because it is not any of these things reveal themselves to be truly ignorant. It's like going into a burger joint and complaining about the wine list: you're looking in the wrong place. Many will want to debate whether DA VINCI CODE or ANGELS & DEMONS is the better work. They are similar and even have some of the same characters, but overall, A&D is a better buy for my money. Frankly, I thought the writing was better, and the characters (even though some are the same) are better "fleshed out" in this riveting read. But you have to take it for what it is. Don't expect Dickens or Hemingway, just as you would't expect Madonna to write a symphony! Also recommended: mcCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
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Summary: The Prequel as Good as the Sequel
Review: Angels & Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's recent best selling novel, is another exciting thriller by this author, combining adventure, travel, history and science fiction. Brown creates an atmosphere of mystery, in which the reader has no idea what will happen next. His use of unthinkable objects like the super high-speed jet and the canister of deadly antimatter force coupled with the fast pace of the story holds the reader's interest.
The novel is about Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, being asked to help out on a case involving the death of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra. His body has been branded with Illuminati ambigram. The Illuminati are an anti-Catholic group who believes in the creation of the world scientifically. Also, Vetra's recent creation, antimatter, is missing. This substance can annihilate anything it touches within a certain radius depending on how much of the substance there is. It is known to be somewhere inside the Vatican, all this on the night of Papal elections. The antimatter will detonate within 24 hours of being removed and based on a Vatican camera, they can watch it tick down. At the same time they search for this, Langdon has to find 4 kidnapped Cardinals while following the ancient trail of the Illuminati. He is led to their secret lair and uncovers the truth about the Illuminati, its current leader and the groups famous, Illuminati diamond.
When I started this book I couldn't put it down. The overall plot catches your attention and makes you want more and more. The chapters are relatively short so it seems like you fly through it by chapter. I was also compelled to research more about the components of the book, such as the Illuminati or anitmatter. The topics will intrigue you and will make you wonder whether they are real or not. Brown uses these things as well as real European sites to make you become apart of the action. You can imagine the scenery the scene is occurring in and you picture yourself standing next to Langdon.
Brown also writes about a topic not widely discussed, the creation of the earth. The battle between science and religion as the creator is widely known yet not a popular topic. Brown courageously writes about this and it shows the reader, in the end, that there will always be arguments between the two sides for as long as we exist.
I recommend this book for anyone who likes excellent thrillers. You will love this book before or after reading The Da Vinci Code. This novel is one for all readers.
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Summary: New Light Shed On An Ancient Conflict
Review: Dan Brown has successfully created a book that has a good, fast paced story and a theme that can apply to just about anyone who reads this book. Brown identifies the conflict between religion and science, reveals the pros and cons for both sides, and ultimately proves that science cannot exist without religion and vice versa because they balance each other out. Brown also creates a compelling mystery/thriller novel that seamlessly blends fact with fiction with characters that are both intriguing and real. A must read for those looking for a good story with a deeper meaning.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Put It Down
Review: Neither my husband nor I could put this book down. If you aren't motivated to read momentarily, this book is the perfect cure. Having been educated in Europe many years ago, we found ourselves double checking some of the book's descriptions and references to historical landmarks, etc. as Dan Brown's descriptions are equisite. (Remember this book is classified as "fiction" by its author.) It's meant to be an interesting read and accomplishes that goal very well. We strongly recommend reading Angels and Demons first and then The Da Vinci Code.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: Angels and Demons introduces the character of Robert Langdon, professor of religious iconology and art history at Harvard University. As the novel begins, he's awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN, the world's largest scientific research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. One of their top physicists had been murdered, with his chest branded with the word "Illuminati." Since Langdon is an expert on the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, he's asked to help solve the murder.
The murder victim is Leonardo Vetra. Not only is he one of the world's leading physicists, he's a Catholic priest. He's a priest who has adopted a daughter, Vittoria, who is also a scientist at CERN. Vetra and his daughter were using the world's largest particle accelerator to create antimatter which has mysteriously disappeared and will explode in 24 hours.The canister is quickly found on a security camera in Vatican City, with its clock counting down the time until the batteries run out and the canister explodes. The security camera, however, is nowhere to be found, leaving the canister's whereabouts a mystery too. Langdon and Vittoria Petra are quickly sent off to Rome and Vatican City, to help find the canister and return it to CERN before it explodes at midnight.
Not only does the canister threaten to destroy Vatican City, but with the recent death of the Pope, the cardinals of the Catholic Church are all within the city for the conclave to choose the new pope. They are all about to be locked within the Sistine Chapel where, according to church law, they must remain until a new pope is chosen. They are awaiting the preferiti, the four cardinals from four different European countries who are the preferred candidates to become the new pope. While Langdon and Vittoria are trying to convince the captain of the Swiss Guard and the camerlengo, the Pope's chamberlain who leads the church until the new pope is named, that the antimatter bomb is real, a phone call is received from a man who claims to be from the Illuminati. He has the four cardinals, which he will murder one by one, and then allow the bomb to destroy Vatican City, which houses not only the church hierarchy, but also its possessions and wealth. He has no demands; his only wish is the destruction of the Catholic Church in retribution for the church's treatment of scientists and the Illuminati over the centuries.
In Angels and Demons Dan Brown told a masterful story that takes you to the underground corridors of a Swiss laboratory to the darkest churches of the Vatican. You will be unable to put the book down until the last page of the book. Dan tells a story full of mystery, revenge, betrayal, and courage.
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