The Davinci Code by Dan Brown
 

Has anyone read the book The Davinci Code by Dan Brown.

It is a very good book, that i just finished reading. It is a suspense/mystery book with some religious and historical undertones. I reccomend it to everyone. Here is a link to some more infomration about the book.

Info about the Book (Amazon.com)

Great book. I suggest you read the first one of the series if you liked Davinci Code, it was even better imo.

The book is called: Angels & Demons

Thanks for reccomindation, does it also have Langdon as a main character or is it completeky seperate story?

Yeah, he's in it.

I'm about half way into it and i love it. It has not let me down yet. A must read.

Both are quite good, and are both worth a read, though personally I felt Brown did things a bit more streamlined in Da Vinci Code, built on everything he did in Angels and Demons and did it up right.

Anyone know when a paperback edition should be coming out?

I've heard so many good things about it, so I picked up Angels and Demons a while back, and I really liked it. I'm gonna hold out for the paperback edition of The Davinci Code, but I'm not sure how much longer I can wait! :p

Also, has anyone read Deception Point (also by Dan Brown)?

I was wanting to pick up this book almost all year but since Im a poor college student I was unable to. Thankfully it was given to me this Christmas! I sped through the book in a day and a half. The first time in a long while that a book actually pulled me in to the point where I couldnt put it down. Kudos to Brown.

I heard it was a good book maybe ill borrow it from my aunt i think she has it.

Reading the description this seems similar ot Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Has anyone read this? If I liked that should I like the DaVinci Code?

It was excellent! DaVinci Code is Foucault's Pendulum, but readable, and the plot goes somewhat different places.

I've been thinking about picking up his earlier book. Thanks for the recommendation, guys!

It was pretty good. I liked it for the little historical tidbits more than for the actual story, which I thought was a bit lacking, but on the whole, it was pretty good. Very readable, thats for sure, and like I said, the little pieces of history imbedded in it are very interesting.

Thanks.

Well, should I read Ange;s & Demons before moving on to the DaVinci Code?:crazy:

Though both books have the same main character there is no need to read them in any a specific order.

Jadey be aware that the DaVinci Code is MUCH MORE mass market then Foucault's Pendulum. The book is very enjoyable but will not stretch your mental muscles at all.

Thanks. I had a little trouble getting through parts of Foucault's Pendulum. Hopefully this will be a better read then.:D

Is anybody else afraid that The DaVinci Code movie is really going to suck? Couldn't they have let somebody talented direct it at least?

Whats the info on the movie. I havent heard anything, but the book would seem like it would be hard to mess up in a movie.

There isn't much info on the movie yet other than the fact that it's going to be directed by Ron Howard. Also the rights to Angels & Demons and (I believe) the upcoming Robert Langdon novel were also purchased.

I hope they don't make these books into movies, but I'm sure it's inevitable. Angels & Demons is my favorite so far, but The DaVinnci Code and Deception Point are very good as well. Please go out and read them. And for all those people that are waiting for the paper back or someone to give the book as a gift: there's this new place called a "Library", it's really cool, you should check it out. NPI.

I've always hated to read, but the Da Vinci Code was so good that I read it in three days!

I read Angels and Demons and the DaVinci code, and couldn't put down either. I made a special effort to see the circular Temple Church on my trip to London, but couldn't go inside because it was closed. On his website, there was a mind game puzzle to get clues about the next book, but I don't know if it's still there.

I just finished reading it last night and it was very entertaining.

Granted, the general plot was fairly plain and somewhat predictable, the history tidbits transform the book into something you want to keep reading.

My professor in college was the artist who created the ambigrams in Angels & Demons. Amazing stuff!

Check out his site, if you like:
www.johnlangdon.net

Very cool stuff.

Did you take art classes from him? What kind of art did he teach?

Arg! I'm tryin to think of one of the other books that he wrote that my fiancee's mother bought me. It was a really good book. Something Fortress I believe. That one was definately a good read.

He was my Typography teacher.
...and a very nice guy too. He opened my eyes to the artform of type and the beautiful subtle nuances that make up letterforms.

That would be Digital Fortress. I haven't read it yet, though.

I finally got to read the book, and I loved it! I thought Angels & Demons was a little better, though. Maybe because I read it first. I liked the use of art and architecture as clues, too.

LOL drown_with_me.

eh? why the chuckle? I'm being dead serious.

Here's that puzzle I was talking about:

(there's music there)

publisher's puzzle

it gives clues about the next Dan Brown Book featuring Robert Langdon. Use Google (or PM me) if you get stuck.

The next book is about Spoiler: the CIA, Masons, cryptography, and the Great Seal of the U.S.




at the end, there's a
link to the original DaVinci Code game that was put up prior to the release of that book.

So the character of the book was based on a real person?

What? No, Robert Langdon is a fictional character.

By the way, some casting rumors for the movie include Russell Crowe as Robert Langdon and Kate Beckinsale as Sophie.

I felt like a was reading a screenplay when reading the book (sort of like any Michael Crichton book ever written), anyway. I don't think there is lots of deep subtext that will be hard to capture in a movie. It's your basic thriller, within an interesting religious setting. I think Angels and Demons would make a better movie, mainly because of the primary setting.

Both books were great fun to read due to their clever and original settings, even though within those settings they are pretty formulaic. I found all the religious mumbo-jumbo to be a blast to read, especially because much of it has some surface truth to it.

-Smarm

Easily the best book I've read in awhile

Not my usual type of read, but it was fun. The little web game was also a pretty good time. All in all, I would recommend reading it.

I got the book for christmas and finished it inabout a week. It was good stuff, but I think what kept me turning he pages was the interesting historical facts more than the actual story.

I loved it, a friend sent me a link to the game thingy before it was published and it made me determined to get it.

I have read Da Vinci, Deception and Angels.
I am getting through Digital Fortress at Internet Speed.
The ending let me down because he does a great job of pulling you along w/ the story but they all end abruptly.
Nevertheless...it really occupies me on the commute...Iget to my destination in no time.

exactly. the actual story didn't really impress me much and some of the characters were kinda...blah. and the ending was really unfulfilling. but the historical fact/religious symbolism stuff was interesting, even if it turn out that none of it is true

I just finished it tonight, and I absolutely loved it. I found it fascinating how Dan Brown was able to take all of the little pieces of history and relate them to a fictional story.

Easily the best book I've read in quite a while.

IMO it's a bad book.

It has all the characterization of a comic book and the plot - or the extended riddle-me-this narrative just held no interest for me. I can tell you that sus also teaches art history and she also thinks the book is a hack job, a badly written snore, and a typical popular-fiction easy-reader.

I suppose if I had to elaborate on why I think it's so bad (and I suppose I'll have to, since I have a student doing an Independent Study Project on it) is that when symbology is presented as a series of one-to-one relationships, as it is in many popular books on dream symbolism, for example, all of the living and resonant qualities of symbols is rendered quite dead and lifeless.

It's the "easy answers to complex questions" syndrome that concerns me. To bring a one-to-one symbological perspective to works of art - da Vinci's for example, really does a disservice to the artist, art history, and more broadly, the open-ended significance, ambiguity, and potential meanings available in works of great art.

IMO, the only way to defend this book is to see it as a light time- passer, good for reading at the beach or on a plane trip, but nothing serious enough to merit anything resembling meaningful discussion.

Perhaps the notion that discussing the themes as have been listed above does merit some consideration - as they are significant topics. But the mere fact that they are mentioned by this author - and that he hangs his narrative on them - does not credit him with doing anything more than raising the issues. He could have done that with a simple list of interesting points that attend to the subject. The fictional treatment here is not a work of literature but a work of rank popular writing.

Tom Hanks has been cast as Robert Langdon

Hmmm...I like Tom Hanks, but he's definately not who I'd cast as Robert Langdon.

ART... But it is a work of popular fiction! It incorporates art-history, physics, religious symbology, etc, into a plot meant to carry a story along that ultimately required glossing over certain issues. Coming from someone who studied physics in college, my main critique of his other book "Angels and Demons" was the wishy-washy job he brought up the subject of anti-matter and the err.. ending flight... (those who have read it probably know what I mean). I can see how you, as someone I take to have a great interest in art and its symbology, would be put off by a book that places the meanings of good art work into strictly defined pigeon holes. But, coming from my perspective, I learned a lot about the ways art can be interpreted as well as a lot of historical context in when the art was made. I imagine others view the physics in the book the same way; it is not any where near a substitute for a text book on the matter, but at least it generates interest and possibly presents new information to the reader. I certainly can't say that about much of the popular fiction I read. I would commend Brown for taking some rather obtuse and difficult subjects such as physics and art-symbology to the popular reader.

I would also point out that Langdon through out the book made mention of the fact that there were many ways to interpret the art work, and that it was only the necessity of the plot that Da Vinci's works were boiled down to conveying simplistic "go there next" types of messages.

Oh... And after typing all that above, I opened up my "my yahoo" page and saw this as a top emailed news story, a link to an article mentioning Tom Hanks possibly cast as Langdon. (Just to confirm what FailedEagle said above).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../film_hanks_dc

Good book, i just hope that digital fortess will equal up to it. Thought i should at least read one more book of his in the hope that the next book will be better.

Everyone says it is fiction but it does bring out some strong points across about religion and other symbolism. My book of the year so far. I'll let you know how digital fortess goes. Lets hope Robert Langdon cracks this code to, you could say he's the new Indiana Jones (not that there could ever be a replacement).

I heard recently that Tom Hanks had signed on to play Robert Langdon

teflonian, I do understand that. When people ask me if they should read it, I do say yes. I just have these issues with it and I think they need to be stated. And personally, I didn't enjoy the read.

Well there is no accounting for personal taste. :) I think people have blown this book out of proportion, but the flip side is not giving it enough credit for what it does do well.

In any case, a fun book in my opinion, and I have enjoyed all three books by Brown that I have read including Deception Point, Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code. I look forward to what comes next from Brown, but I am sure his style will grow tiresome as Crichton's did for me long ago.

I liked the book, but I thought all the good stuff would have fit nicely into about 100 pages. There seemed to be a lot of stretch and filler. There were a few too many lines like "She couldn't image what was going to happen next." Also I can't picture a grown woman being quite so tramatized by the incident with her grandfather, and that it took her 150 pages to tell us what it was.

I am not sure that I'd go with Tom Hanks for Langdon--Russel Crowe could have worked...but I'll never complain about Kate Beckinsale if that happens!!!

Digital Fortress wasn't near as good, though it was better than theone set on the iceberg was... now that was eh. I liked DaVinci Code, it was -- what it was, an entertaining read. It moved fast, and was interesting... Was the perfect plane book. I did like Angels and Demons a lot better though.

I liked the book it was a fun read, but his writing style is .. well crumby :/ I hated the cliff-hanger chapter end, it got lame after chapter 2
IMO.

Well said.

For me a true test of a book's quality is if it can withstand multiple readings. Although I enjoyed parts Da Vinici Code and thought parts were clever, the book just had too many scenes that were unintentionally funny, but mostly just silly. And on a second look these scenes become unbearable. Bad enough to drag the story down, and, yet, not bad enough to get some kind of "Plan Nine From Outer Space" humor out of them.

This book is simply poorly written. Cliche after cliche pile up leaving of interest only the historical "facts" which he lays down with a heavy hand (as I've seen someone mention, you think Langdon's going to whip a chalkboard out of his jacket whenever he starts on history, and try taking a shot everytime one of the characters mentions the "sacred feminine" you'll be wrecked by the end).

I've heard people mention that they finished the book quickly. That's not a good thing. These types of books are meant for mass consumption. A quick read designed to get you onto the next book as quickly as possible. Sure, it may foster interest in some historical tidbits. But googling The Last Supper and arguing with your friend wether or not the figure next to Jesus looks like a woman or going all the way to the Louvre just to see the Da Vinci Code points of interest both seem a tad superficial. But they'll hold people over until the next Dan Brown novel.

Now, I don't think there's no place in this world for page turners. In fact, they'll probably continue to dominate the bestseller lists. But when someone mentions the Da Vinci Code and three other people in the room pipe up and say "Oh I love Dan Brown, I've read all his books, I love the historical parts" it's a little disheartening.

And for those who've mentioned that they're waiting for paperback, don't want to spend too much money. Don't you want value for your dollar, more bang for your buck? Why not pick up Foucault's Pendulum or In the Name of the Rose? Or how about some classics: Moby Dick? The Sound and the Fury? Sure, these books will take a lot longer than a few days to read (unless you have a lot of time on your hands, and even then), but the deeper meanings you get from these works are far more satisfying.

It's a good book but most of it is untrue. Many people think that Dan Brown is a religious expert but really he is just a good writer. The facts that he presents seem realistic even though he made them up.

I'm not going to waste time repeating things when art said what I think better than I probably would have. So, I agree with art completely.

And dbc's point is also an important one I believe. To me, some of the popular reaction to The DaVinci Code is the equivalent to if people started believing there was a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence after seeing National Treasure.