The Da Vinci Code?

[Totti]

Any of you guys read this one yet? I bought it yesterday, just from getting sucked into all the hype surrounding it, but its actually a pretty good book witch some interesting factual references.

[Benwah]

I'm not reading because everyone says it so good, out of stubborn principle.

lame eh?

[jefah]

....interesting factual references.
If you are after interested facts you should try one of the non-fiction books on the subject matter such as the Hiram Key (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1931412758/102-7819069-2378523?v=glance)

I asked my mother what the da vinci code was about and it seems that he stole most of his ideas from Hiram Key.

[Blink]

Great book, although he steals a lot of content from "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail".

The next one in the series "Angels and Demons" is also good, but falls short of the Da Vinci code.

[RedMaN]

Haven't read it yet but a good friend of mine just purchased and I am looking to 'acquire' this after they are done. Will post my thoughts after I have finished.....

[Sparhawk]

Angels and Demons actually comes before DVC IIRC.

Enjoyed the book immensely (finished it in a day), and while I can imagine most of his stuff is 'stolen' from the nonfiction books I can forgive him that since he based his story around it. A more interesting way of presenting the story.

[Bostonmess]

If you read a couple of threads down the forum there's a review of it.

[Rod]

I didn't get the feeling that I had read a great book, but I couldn't put it down and finished it in aboiut 3 sittings.
It was fast paced and very easy to read.

[Lina]

It's pretty odd to say he 'stole' ideas from non-fiction books - I mean...this is a fiction. He's not pretending he thought up this stuff all by himself and is passing it off as a serious piece of work for reference. That's like saying Wilbur Smith 'stole' ideas from the Egyptians when he wrote River God. Anyway. I liked it, liked it a bit more then it kinda fell down for me by the end. I must say it had my quite hooked but there was a bit of disappointment when I finished.

I've been interested in this subject for years and have read books like The Templar Revelation (I think this is by the same authors of The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail) which I found to be an eye-opening read and very interesting. I love Da Vinci and read everything about him I can get my hands on. So it was kind of cool to see this stuff bought to light in a fiction book.

[HAL]

Wow! Big deal, the church is full of shit, you needed a book to tell you that?

[evil]

Good book, really good book. Hard to put down

[Afta Image]

Dont be hard on People HAL,most people find it is easier to take things on face value.....

[jae_hyung]

i thought angels and demons was better than da vinci code
tho it was an exciting read
mainly cos of the hype i think

[ersatz]

Haven't read it yet (I'm fortean enough already thanks, all his theories are old news, found it funny how I could pre-empt what people were going to talk about when the book first came out), but wouldn't mind picking it up anyway to see how he puts it all together.

[RedMaN]

Just finished reading it this past week, completed in three days.

Ummmm, not quite sure what to think of it. It was a good read but I felt let down at the end. I did think it was quite informative on the religion and art aspects, especially for a newbie like myself in both afore-mentioned fields. There was some good plot twists and the story was engaging but I don't think it deserves the no.1 position on the New York Times bestseller list.

If peeps thought Angels and Demons was better, maybe I should get a hold of that too. *me runs off to the nearest book store*

[Sparhawk]

I think Angels and Demons was about the same. Though I did find the characters a bit more interesting.

[Rod]

The bottom line is it keeps you turning the pages!

[useless_kraap]

my family and i rented a cottage this summer. it was stocked with alot of books, and on the last day i found the da vinci code on one of the of the shelves. read it in something like 8 hours, i couldnt put it down.


I'm not reading because everyone says it so good, out of stubborn principle.

lame eh?

haha im the same way with the harry potter books. that and when the books first came out everyone wouldnt shut up about how i looked exactly like him :spingo:

[Totti]

Yeah you guys are right about not being able to put it down, got about 30 pages to go and man is it addictive or what!

[Munchkin]

Must resist ...... temptation ... to buy the book :aah:

[MisterBishi]

While I agree that the story is excellent and well researched, I found the author's written style to be lazy and uninspiring.

On at least two occassions when Langdon was speaking to Sophie about something she was clearly not familiar with, the author said something like..

" Langdon explained to Sophie all about 'x' "

..and the conversation continued.

Throughout the book the story was told like an identikit thriller, with little bar his undeniably impeccable research to make the author stand out.

Fortunately the story was strong enough to deter me from this in the most part, and I'd recommend any tinfoils or religious nutters out there to read this book.

I think the picture of the author on the inside back cover put me off a bit too :\

The other thread is here (http://forum.zgeek.com/showthread.php?t=9307), worth checking out for druid's excellent review of the book and some comments about flaws in the history.

Quite a few historians have said his history is actually a load of garbage so I guess I can now take back my comments on impeccable research and just stick with the 'this book is average and over-hyped' line.