"The
DaVinci Code - Seems you can't throw a dead cat without hitting this
book these days, so I felt I should read it. I got totally enthralled with the story
and read straight through it while traveling on Day 9. I'd like to understand how
much of the book was fiction, obviously the book is fiction, but it is at least loosely
based on some facts (like the Mona Lisa is a real painting!)..."
"The beauty of The DaVinci Code was how well Dan Brown
authored it. There was a significant amount of fact in it, and I consistently found
myself looking at the pictures described in the book, thinking to myself... Wow...
Do a google search on some of the artwork mentioned in the book and see for yourself...
It was so cleverly authored that you could not determine where the fact stopped and
the fiction started.
Some things that I got from the beginning of the book... Opus Dei and the Priory of
Sion *are* real."
"I was embarrassed when my aunt gave me _The DaVinci
Code_ for Christmas. Everything about it, right down to the title, sounded like your
typical conspiratorial gobbeldy-gook.
It was with even greater embarrassment that I went tonight to purchase Brown's previous
Robert Langdon adventure - _Angels and Demons_.
(Note: I would like to apologize in advance for all the people, including myself,
who are about to begin using your blog to post their own impressions of _The DaVinci
Code_)
For trash novels, I can't put this stuff down. Brown knows his stuff (some of it),
and does a much better job than my friends do of getting me to stay up past my bedtime.
My only issue is all the pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo numerology. I'm waiting to see
my local newspaper (The Oregonian) get caught up in the DaVinci Code fever and start
printing lotto numbers based on the Fibonacci Sequence and the golden ratio.
But, whatever... Good to relax and get lost in the weirdness for a little while.
Speaking of which, I still have more not sleeping to do with _Angels and Demons_..."
I figure I would just pull out this discussion into a separate post in case more people
want to respond without having to read the rather length NYC post...
I too enjoyed the Da Vinci Code a great deal, as well as Long's other books. I had a friend who recently traveled around England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, and made a point to visit many of the key scenes from the book to verify their authenticity. He said it was amazing how much he felt like he had already been there just based on the descriptions in the book.
I had a lot of fun personally reading Deception Point, because I used to work at NRO. Of course I can't talk about anything I did there, but it was scary to see what things he got dead on describing NRO and its programs and fun to see which things were out in left field, giving hollywood a run for their money.
Definitely one of my favorite mindless reading, entertain-me-after-too-many-hours-staring-at-code authors.
DaVinci Code
From myself :)
"The DaVinci Code - Seems you can't throw a dead cat without hitting this book these days, so I felt I should read it. I got totally enthralled with the story and read straight through it while traveling on Day 9. I'd like to understand how much of the book was fiction, obviously the book is fiction, but it is at least loosely based on some facts (like the Mona Lisa is a real painting!)..."
And Matt says (in comments):
"The beauty of The DaVinci Code was how well Dan Brown authored it. There was a significant amount of fact in it, and I consistently found myself looking at the pictures described in the book, thinking to myself... Wow...
Do a google search on some of the artwork mentioned in the book and see for yourself...
It was so cleverly authored that you could not determine where the fact stopped and the fiction started.
Some things that I got from the beginning of the book... Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion *are* real."
And Rory responds (in comments):
"I was embarrassed when my aunt gave me _The DaVinci Code_ for Christmas. Everything about it, right down to the title, sounded like your typical conspiratorial gobbeldy-gook.
It was with even greater embarrassment that I went tonight to purchase Brown's previous Robert Langdon adventure - _Angels and Demons_.
(Note: I would like to apologize in advance for all the people, including myself, who are about to begin using your blog to post their own impressions of _The DaVinci Code_)
For trash novels, I can't put this stuff down. Brown knows his stuff (some of it), and does a much better job than my friends do of getting me to stay up past my bedtime.
My only issue is all the pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo numerology. I'm waiting to see my local newspaper (The Oregonian) get caught up in the DaVinci Code fever and start printing lotto numbers based on the Fibonacci Sequence and the golden ratio.
But, whatever... Good to relax and get lost in the weirdness for a little while.
Speaking of which, I still have more not sleeping to do with _Angels and Demons_..."
I figure I would just pull out this discussion into a separate post in case more people want to respond without having to read the rather length NYC post...
8:25 AM | #Personal Life #My Hobbies
01/04/2004 12:03 PM
I too enjoyed the Da Vinci Code a great deal, as well as Long's other books. I had a friend who recently traveled around England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, and made a point to visit many of the key scenes from the book to verify their authenticity. He said it was amazing how much he felt like he had already been there just based on the descriptions in the book.I had a lot of fun personally reading Deception Point, because I used to work at NRO. Of course I can't talk about anything I did there, but it was scary to see what things he got dead on describing NRO and its programs and fun to see which things were out in left field, giving hollywood a run for their money.
Definitely one of my favorite mindless reading, entertain-me-after-too-many-hours-staring-at-code authors.
Brian Noyes | http://www.softinsight.com/bnoyes | brian dot noyesAT NOSPAMidesign dot net
02/09/2004 5:44 PM
www.cs.unc.edu/~taylorr/davincicode.htmlRussell Taylor | www.cs.unc.edu/~taylorr/davincicode.html | russell-m-taylor-iiAT NOSPAMnc dot rr dot com