Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent thriller.
Review: 105 chapters, 104 cliffhangers that defy you to put down Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code."This book easily lives up to its hype and New York Times debut at #1. "The Da Vinci Code" is a thinking man's thriller...a knowledgeable suspense novel. Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu team up when Sophie's grandfather (curator of the Louvre), is murdered. A breathless chase at a breakneck pace deciphering a combination of coded clues, hidden treasure, fascinating historical figures with a secret society link push the plot with a relentless beat-the-clock pressure. Empirical evidence and religious faith conflict leading you to jaw dropping conjectures. You will challenge all you discovered in school. Conspiracy theory buffs will love this book. Just when you think you know who are Langdon and Neveu's allies and enemies, you doubt your logic, change your mind and still remain unsure. Making "The Da Vinci Code" all the more enthralling is the knowledge that Priory of Sion and Opus Dei are real organizations. Attempt the "challenge" at ... You need not be a Mensa Society member to solve it, but it would speed the process.
Rating:
Summary: A Code for The Da Vinci Code
Review: 11 23 47 89 73 26 18 92 55 This is the real code for understanding the depth of Da Vinci.
If you can break it, you are qualified to comprehend what most fail to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: 2-dimensional characters.Overdone,tabloid-popular theme. Predictable outcome.Yawn.
Rating:
Summary: Left Behind for pagans seeking the sacred feminine.
Review: 7/17/03
The DaVinci Code In this best selling thriller, the second in a series about the renowned symbologist Robert Langdon (a modern day Indiana Jones), Brown takes us through one of history's more inflammatory legends in an action-packed ride through historical haunts of Paris and England. There are many good things about this book. First of all, Dan Brown's skill for puzzle making is great, making the reader really want to figure out the conundrums before the protagonists do. I often found myself scouring the Internet for clues to crack the case while reading along, hoping Google would give me the answer first. Secondly, there are some beautiful descriptions of European churches and other famous historical landmarks. When reading about the Louvre, I often felt I was in Paris, watching the events take place. But the most interesting thing about this book is Brown's wealth knowledge about ancient legends and the history of many secret societies. Regardless of your religious persuasion, the premises of this book are interesting, at the very least. And the amount of information about symbology and history that he imparts through character conversations is staggering. I honestly feel that I learned a lot from this book, but this is where the problem begins. I don't know what is true and what is false. Basically, the premise is that Jesus Christ was the husband of Mary Magdalene, who the Catholic church later besmirched as a whore to combat this knowledge. Supposedly, the true message of Jesus was one of sexual equality and the "sacred feminine," which was covered up by white males who liked their power too much, specifically the Catholic Church. What's more, Mary was pregnant when Christ was crucified, and His descendants are still alive in the Merovingian line, protected by the Priory of Sion. The Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion were created to protect this knowledge from the Church, who has been seeking it's destruction. The knowledge and practices of the "sacred feminine" (basically, orgies as religion), Mary's physical body, her descendants, and the knowledge about her connection to Jesus are revealed to be the Holy Grail, which is figurative (Mary holds Christ's blood by having his baby), rather than the literal chalice which held Christ's blood. They call this line the Royal line, despite the fact that, in this book's philosophy, Jesus is neither God nor anything more than a great man. His divinity was decreed by the Council of Nicaea, and was not the original belief of any of Christ peers. What's even more impossible to believe is that Christ's "rock," the man on who he would build his church, was supposedly Mary, but this role was usurped by a jealous Peter, who can be seen attempting to murder Mary in the Last Supper by DaVinci. There's plenty more about DaVinci's (who was a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, along with such other notable figures as Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, and Victor Hugo) subversive works. The conclusion is unsatisfying, as Brown lets the big secret out of the bag halfway through, and I read on to find that the philosophy was all packed in the middle, while the beginning and the end were soulless plot. Throughout the plot, both the Priory of Sion and a Catholic organization, Opus Dei, fight to discover the truth about the Grail. While Brown avoids vilifying any specific Catholics or Christians, this is little recompense for his merciless slander of the Church and the tenets upon which it rests. The second shortcoming of this book is that every character is one dimensional, with few exceptions. While they do some surprising things, and there certainly is enough plot twists to warrant the label "thriller," the characters frequently launch into summaries of history and symbology at the most peculiar times. By the end of the book, I got the impression that the characters and the whole of the plot existed just as a podium for Dan Brown to shout his interesting views, similar to the way the Left Behind series of books exists for little purpose than propagation of a narrow set of Apocalyptic views. It's ironic that books from such opposing worldviews share such a big similarity. In conclusion, I would not recommend this book. In particular, Christians should stay away, as it has many inflammatory themes and lots of slanderous accusations. There are many great things about this book, namely the puzzles, the locations and the history, but the bad far outweighs the good, as a whole. This book is Left Behind for pagans seeking the sacred feminine.
Rating:
Summary: It may be fiction, BUT...
Review:
Of COURSE it's fiction, but the research behind the story is impeccable, and it makes the story very plausible. I did some research of my own. The organizations named indeed exist or existed as claimed: the Prieur du Sion dates back to 1099, and whose grand masters included such luminaries as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton--not exactly lightweights--and apparently one of the more modern leading figures was a priest named Berenger Sauniere, abbe at Rennes-le-Chateau (also the surname name of the murdered curator in the story), and was preceded by the Knights Templar (which was originally founded during the Crusades by Godfroi de Bouillon, who was named King of Jerusalem by the Pope, and was the leader of the first Crusade, AND who claimed to be a direct descendant of Jesus through Mary Magdalene; and the Opus Dei, which still exists at its headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York, exactly as stated by the author, and exactly as he described it. The novel is obviously placed in the future, as the Pope is described as more liberal than the present pope, John II, and is his successor. The criticisms by present members of Opus Dei on their unofficial website qv:(Opus Dei: their unofficial homepage) quite apparently overlooked that fact in their criticism of The Ds Vinci Code. Actually, as the story unfolds, Opus Dei members involved fared quite well, and were certainly not maligned. This is a crackerjack of a tale, and it is little wonder that it ranks third in sales on Amazon (out of their over two million titles). To begin with, the curator of the Louvre, in Paris, is murdered and an American, Professor Langdon--an expert in religious symbology--becomes involved, as does the curator's granddaughter, who is a cryptographer. The two of them set out to solve, not only the crime, but the mystery of the Holy Grail. I prefer not to tell more of the plot. There are many surprises and unexpected twists in the story, but underlying it all is a generous history lesson that tells much about the early history of the Christian faith, much of it relating to the Gnostic Gospels which were found in the Egyptian desert near Nag Hammadi in 1945; the Roman Emperor Constantine and his part in suppressing most of the eighty some Gospels in favor of the four which were "blessed" by his scholars at the Council of Nicaea, and where the idea of the divinity of Jesus, the immaculate conception and the resurrection were given coinage by his "scholars". The Da Vinci Code certainly has an agenda: to give the legend of Mary Magdalene a wide audience, which it does in spades--and obviously, judging by its wide readership, it has achieved its purpose handsomely and quite plausibly. Those who most strongly ctiticize The Da Vinci Code ovviously do not do so because of the writing, editing, or research. All of those functions are quite acceptable if not outstanding. So, their criticism is because the story undermines their own religious faith. An understandable reaction. But, this book is an education in itself. I have done a great deal of research myself in this area, and I can tell you that I admire Dan Brown's effort immensely. He has done well to bring, even if it is in fictional form, so much information
in such an assimilable form to so many people, most of whom will not have heard it before. Joseph (Joe) Pierre,
author of The Road to Damascu: Our Journey Through Eternity
Rating: 
Summary: New Age writer's thriller
Review:
This book was interesting to read. Many of his facts or suggestions were intriguing.
As a christian, I had some mixed feelings about some of the alleged "conspiracy theory" of this atheist writer.
In fact, I did not like the way this writer tries to sell his "natural" beliefs through his characters in this fiction.
In the end, this book is a cheap thrill. It mocks the fundamental principles of Christianity.
Rating:
Summary: Uses Fiction to Illuminate Non-Fictional Scenario
Review:
Although I rarely read or review fiction, this book leaped into my consciousness, in part because I just reviewed a book on the Vatican and its use of spies as well as its vulnerability to spies from Italy and Germany, among others, and because I am very interested in the concepts of both institutional corruption vis a vis historical myths, and the alleged infallibility of the pope. More recently, I have taken an interest in religious subversion of national governments and policies, and strongly recommend Stephen Mumford's "The Life & Death of NSSM 200: How the Destruction of Political Will Doomed a U. S. Population Policy", which is still available from Amazon via the used book channels.
The Da Vinci Code is most interesting, not because of its bashing of Opus Dei, but because it addresses what may be the core injustice in Catholicism (I was raised a Jesuit Catholic in Colombia, with roots in Spain): the concealment of the normal sexuality of Jesus, his marriage, and the fact that until the mid-1800's, the Church did not dare to claim that the Pope was infallible, and that all that preceded that claim was based merely on a man's prophecies. Jesus, in other words, can not lay any greater claim to our faith than Mohammed. Most relevant to me, as I consider the need for elevating women to positions of power because they are more intuitive, more integrative, and less confrontational than men, was the book's discussion of the origins of paganism (not satanic at all, but rather worshiping Mother Earth and specifically the human female mothers from whom life obviously emerged) and the manner in which the Catholic Church deliberately set out to slander Mary Magdalene, making her out to be a whore rather than the spouse of Jesus (from whom issue came), and murdering five million women in a witch-hunt and global psychological operations against women that has been mirrored by Islam in many ways, and that must, if we are to survive, be reversed by thoughtful people willing to think for themselves. This book, riveting in every way, suggested to me that we the people need to doubt the integrity and intentions of all our institutions, but especially the Catholic Church; and that we need to reverse the centuries of discrimination against women, restore the matriarchal roots of society, and again begin to respect the natural relationship between ourselves and the Earth that we have defiled precisely because we have allowed men to abuse women, and corporations to assume legal manly personalities abusive of governments and the tax-payer. This is a revolutionary book. If it causes you to question authority and re-think your relationships, you cannot have made a better purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Draws heavily on the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Review:
Of COURSE it's fiction, but the research behind the story is impeccable, and it makes the story very plausible. The author, Dan Brown, draws heavily on the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln who spent more than a decade in researching the historical facts behind the story. I did some research of my own. The organizations named indeed exist or existed as claimed: the Prieur du Sion dates back to 1099, and whose grand masters included such luminaries as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton--not exactly lightweights--and apparently one of the more modern (1885) leading figures was a priest named Berenger Sauniere, abbe at Rennes-le-Chateau (also the surname name of the murdered curator in the story), and was followed by the Knights Templar, the Ordre du Sion's military arm, (which was originally founded during the Crusades by Godfroi de Bouillon, who was named King of Jerusalem by the Pope, and was the leader of the first Crusade, AND who claimed to be a direct descendant of Jesus through Mary Magdalene; and the Opus Dei, which still exists at its headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York, exactly as stated by the author, and exactly as he described it.
The novel is obviously placed in the future, as the Pope is described as more liberal than the present pope, John II, and is his successor. The criticisms by present members of Opus Dei on their unofficial website qv:(Opus Dei: their unofficial homepage) quite apparently overlooked that fact in their criticism of The Ds Vinci Code. Actually, as the story unfolds, Opus Dei members involved fared quite well, and were certainly not maligned. This book has caused a firestorm of criticism, primarily from the orthodix Christian community who are outraged by the claim that Yeshua (better known by his Greek name: Jesus) and Mary of Bethany (better known as Mary Magdalene) were married, had a child, and whose bloodline is still extant today. This is a "heresy" that the Catholic church tried to stamp out by murdering 15,000 residents of Provence, on the Mediterranean coat of France; a crusade which the Vatican launched in 1209 and lasted a generation. That was followed by the Inquisition, which tortured and killed thousands more for their "heresy." These are historical facts, disputed by no one. This is a crackerjack of a tale, and it is little wonder that it ranks third in sales on Amazon (out of their over two million titles). To begin with, the curator of the Louvre, in Paris, is murdered and an American, Professor Langdon--an expert in religious symbology--becomes involved, as does the curator's granddaughter, who is a cryptographer. The two of them set out to solve, not only the crime, but the mystery of the Holy Grail. I prefer not to tell more of the plot. There are many surprises and unexpected twists in the story, but underlying it all is a generous history lesson that tells much about the early history of the Christian faith, much of it relating to the Gnostic Gospels which were found in the Egyptian desert near Nag Hammadi in 1945; the Roman Emperor Constantine and his part in suppressing most of the eighty some Gospels in favor of the four which were "blessed" by his scholars at the Council of Nicaea, and where the idea of the divinity of Jesus, the immaculate conception and the resurrection were given coinage by his "scholars". The Da Vinci Code certainly has an agenda: to give the legend of Mary Magdalene a wide audience, which it does in spades--and obviously, judging by its wide readership, it has achieved its purpose handsomely and quite plausibly. Those who most strongly ctiticize The Da Vinci Code obviously do not do so because of the writing, editing, or research. All of those functions are quite acceptable if not outstanding. So, their criticism is because the story undermines their own religious faith. An understandable reaction. But, this book is an education in itself. I have done a great deal of research myself in this area, and I can tell you that I admire Dan Brown's effort immensely. He has done well to bring, even if it is in fictional form, so much information
in such an assimilable form to so many people, most of whom will not have heard it before. Joseph (Joe) Pierre, author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity
and other books
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly boring
Review: A "cut and paste" replay of the author's "Angels and Demons". Badly written, not a trace of humour, stuffed with boring non-information. I stopped reading when I reached 2/3 of the book. What is the sense of this all? I have still no idea.
People who dare to compare this inane scribbling with e.g. Umberto Eco's work should be flogged on the spot.
Incomprehensible that these nonsense should be on top of bestseller lists, which proves the craziness of the booksellers world.
Rating:
Summary: Paleeeez
Review: A bit too James Bondy for me.
While the historic accuracy is debatable, I did however enjoy the mockeries Leonardo DaVinci placed within his paintings.
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