Rating: 
Summary: LOL
Review: I READ THIS BOOK SIMPLY BECAUSE EVERYONE WAS TALKING ABOUT IT. AS A FEMALE, I ALMOST BECAME INTRIGUED WITH DAN BROWN'S THEME REGARDING THE RELIGIOUS, HISTORICAL TREATMENT OF WOMEN.HOWEVER, SOMETHING RAISED THE RED FLAGS IN MY MIND. THE ONLY THING I CAN REALLY POINT AT IS MR. BROWN'S TERRIBLE WRITING STYLE. IT IS SO ANNOYINGLY POOR, I DEFINITELY WILL NOT READ MORE OF HIS WORK. AND, I BELIEVE IF A AUTHOR CANNOT REASONABLY WRITE WELL, IT FOLLOWS THAT HIS INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ABILITY TO ACCURATELY INTERPRET HISTORY. I KNOW MR. BROWN IS MAKING MERRY TRIPS TO THE BANK AND HIS LAUGHTER IS OK WITH ME. I HAVE LAUGHINGLY ENJOYED READING ALL THE REVIEWS ON THIS INSIGNIFICENT BOOK. THESE DAYS I APPRECIATE HUMOR WHERE EVER I CAN FIND IT. READ THIS BOOK IF YOU MUST AND WANT TO BE FULLY ENGAGED IN CONTEMPORARY LIFE ALA ALL THE OTHER POPULAR FANTASIES OUT THERE. PS: MINERVA, I AM ON YOUR SIDE BUT GIRL, YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO SPELL SO PEOPLE WILL RESPECT YOUR OPINION. PEACE.
Rating: 
Summary: Wait for the movie!
Review: I read this book thinking I might learn something useful about Leonardo Da Vinci. I was disappointed. The material concerning the master seems to be mostly nonsense, as is the rest of the book -- entertaining nonsense like an Indiana Jones film, but nonsense nonetheless. The more I read the more I thought that the main purpose of the book was to be turned into a Hollywood film with Harrison Ford playing the lead, that is, Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor and expert on "the divine feminine" in mythology. Langdon finds himself invited to the Louvre to talk with a curator. He finds the curator dead and Langdon immediately becomes a prime suspect in the grisly killing. The curator's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, is a cryptologist with the Paris police and she discovers that her grandfather has left her a complicated message which she and Langdon spend the rest of the book attempting to decipher. For a bona fide expert in cryptolgy, she often seems obtuse. On the other hand Langdon has more than a little bit of Indianna Jones in him, a surprise for us given that he is a Harvard professor, hence the suggestion that Harrison Ford is just right for this role. The heart of this novel is a new search for the Holy Grail -- the fate of the Western World is supposed to hang in the balance. Few readers will believe much of this preposterous tale, I hope. It appears, at least to Dan Brown, the author, that Jesus was married and had a family. His progeny are still alive today, as the reader will discover. The Holy Grail is not what we have thought it to be and I'll let anyone who decides to read this book discover the secret of the Grail. My advice is: wait for the movie that is sure to follow. All the fans of Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones are sure to love this film if Stephen Spielberg can be convinced to direct the movie. Two hours is about the right amount of time to be distracted by this story, not the two or three evenings it will take to read the book, a fast read to be sure. Many reviewers hated this book because they felt it was blasphemous. The Da Vinci Code is not serious enough to be blasphemy. It is mostly fluff which few thoughtful people will take seriously. Other reviewers note the bad writing and many factual errors Brown has made as he rewrites history. Again, The Da Vinci Code is a popular novel; just as in an Indiana Jones film, we are not expecting more than a roller coaster ride with a safe and satisfying ending on the platform where we let out a long breath and think to ourselves, "I'm glad that's over."
Rating:
Summary: Decent entertainment but historically inaccurate
Review: I read this book, believe it or not, for a history class at the University of California, Berkeley. The plot was fairly entertaining, and it was readable to a degree that I was able to finish most of it at the last minute (ahhh the college years). This is why it gets two stars. The problem is that it furthers an unfounded, oversimplistic, and extremely dangerous view of history. I've read that reviewers go on to brag that they have checked the information in the book via the internet. Well that's great, but SCHOLARS DON'T PUBLISH ON THE INTERNET. Half-baked conspiracy theorists do. Chances are you would find pages and pages filled with "evidence" supporting the goddess theory and the rest of Brown's claims, when the truth is that source material, combined with a little bit of common sense, propose a far more complex and realistic picture. Could a logical thinker truly assume that, before Christianity, everybody was enlightened and happy in a society in which there was equality between the sexes? Medieval Christianity had many abuses, but the truth is that the spread of Christianity through the Roman empire was actually associated with many advances in the condition of women. Bottom line: If you want an enteraining read, feel free to indulge (although I can think of a few books i'd rather read). But don't take any of Brown's claims seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: The DaVinci Code
Review: I read this fabulous book about a week before I went to Paris and felt compelled to go to Saint-Sulpice and look for the Rose Line. I figure i was just being a big dork, but then I noticed three of couple searching the floor of the church. I studied then for a while and then said, "Davinci Code?" To which they all began to laugh and responsed with a yes.
Dan Brown has the most amazing ability to weave an ancient legend into a modern day tale, and DaVinci Code isn't the only one.
One of the couples scanning the floor of the church informed me that they had just been in Rome and while there they followed the quest in Angels and Demons, another Dan Brown book, through the city.
After reading I can't wait for two things...1) Another Dan Brown book, 2) To return to Rome so I can join in on another quest.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Blockbuster Slam Against People With Disabilities
Review: I realize that with over a 1000 reviews for this book that mine probably won't actually get read. If you've read the book- or plan to- please take note that all the "bad guys" are disabled. Filled with words like "crippled" and "outcast" its so demeaning, I am a person with a disability and I found myself insulted and squirming with the horrible rhetoric and descriptions of having a physical difference. However you feel about the political, religious or feminist nature of this book- it really is just another blockbuster the perpuates that people with disabilities, can't handle there situation and are so emotionally vurnerable that they fall prey to evil, or are just plain diabolitcally evil to begin with. In the end- it is all caused by the selfish anger, greediness, and misguided faith of people with disabilities! How narrow minded can you be. Just think for a moment if the villians were jews, or black, or gay, or substitute another group- its like we've time traveled back to a Peter Lorre type character, hunched over and lurching in the bushes. I worry that the popularity of this book will brush over its fundemental problem, I hope a few people will stop, and think about how damaging this type of genre stereotyping is to people who are disabled This type of dressed up pulp fiction needs to come up with a little more complex character development. We've surpassed the days when its okay to paint the disabled person, who, unhappy with his lot in life, becomes either the ever faithful assistant (yes master, mea copa) to an able bodied genius, thankful for the crumbs tossed to him or the eccentric "cripple" academic whose secret plot is to take over the world. It worked for Dickens, Hugo, H.G.Wells and Marvel, leave that to the comic books- and give the world of disability a break and join us in the 21st century- you have a powerful medium to make a difference in the world. Use it for good and not to continue this blatant "ablism" that separates people, and excludes people from equal treatment in society.
Rating:
Summary: Indiana Jones Lite
Review: I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. The Da Vinci Code is nothing special; it's a religious mystery that feels a little too familiar at times. This is one case where the book doesn't live up to all the hype surrounding it. And maybe that's why I was so disappointed by it. We've seen this before, and better. How many time have we followed historians or archeologists who are seeking the Holy Grail? This time around, we're following historian and art expert Langdon and Sophie, a young French police officer who's grandfather has just been assassinated. Before dying, the old man wrote a strange message in his own blood. Once decrypted, the message will put Landon and Sophie on a road they do not necessarily want to be on. And that's pretty much all there is to it. I love mysteries that make you work for your money. This one didn't. When the characters are faced with a problem, the answer will usually come to them as if falling right from the sky. They never work really hard to achieve their goals. Everything is pure coincidence. The book - and author - believe themselves to be much more clever than they actually are. Their search leads them across France and England, as our two heroes try to find what they seek all the while trying to dodge the police (and their many enemies). I have to admit that the pacing of the books was pretty quick. Written in short chapters, this was one quick read. But maybe a little too quick. I wanted more out of this story. I wanted more complicated characters, situations that were not so easily solved, and a plot that didn't feel so deja vu. In the end, The Da Vinci Code is nothing special, more the product of a great publicity campain than a real innovative thriller. This book almost reads as if it was written with one sole purpose in mind; to become a Hollywood movie. As it now stands, The Da Vinci Code is just another religious conspiracy thriller that is all talk and no action.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting! Suspenseful! BUT...
Review: I really enjoyed so much about this book! The history (although some not 100% accurate), the suspense, the scenery, the writing style and a lot more made this book really really good BUT the ending fell a little bit flat for me. I had fun all the up until the end! I guess I'm used to so many other great writers out there coming up with better endings that maybe I was expecting too much out of this book. Then again that could be the point (ie The Holy Grail).
Rating:
Summary: Falls a little short
Review: I really enjoyed the book's premise and set up during the first half, but the last half was a bit of a let down. I actually found myself correctly guessing some of the clues to riddles chapters before the characters did - and I have no pedigree in mathematics, religion, or code breaking! Not to mention some of the plot twists that seem rather borrowed. I had that sinking feeling of knowing exactly where the story was headed, pages before I got there. The characters were bland, and the author could have used several hundred more pages on character development. I frankly didn't care all that much about these characters. Given the public's general ignorance about history, I'm both hopeful and wary about the popularity of this book. Hopeful that people get interested in the underlying history and do their OWN research, but wary that they may take this fictional work as historical fact. Also, I'm not all that religious, but couldn't help feeling that the author has one hell of an axe to grind with the Church. Clearly, he is not a fan. I imagine devout Catholics would have problems with this book.
Rating:
Summary: thouroughly engaging, but very controvercial
Review: i really enjoyed the da vinci code. it really makes one reflect on hidden meanings, and "what lies beneath." although there were a few controvercial ideas, i would just like to say to all of the people out there who are having hissy fits over this book: dan brown did not write this book and say "these are the facts, this is true." he simply did a lot of research and developed a wonderful conspiracy theory on the work of da vinci. he never claimed that it was all true. though most of his research is based on facts that he foud, the conclusions he drew from it are not necesarilily concrete and he NEVER claimed that they were. i would encourage all of the people out there to calm down, and realize that it is a well written book, you might not think it's true, but he's not saying it is. it is a fictional book based on extensive research. dan brown is not trying to undermine the Christain religion, i myself am a fervent Christian and i simply read the book with an open mind, enjoyed it beyond belief and placed it on my permanent list of best books i have ever read, and moved on. i suggest u do the same. u are taking a stance against somthing that never claimed to be true. do somthing better with ur time, and enjoy this wonderful book, i gurentee u won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting Subject
Review: I really enjoyed this book because it honestly put my mind at work.
The book is about a different religion other than Christianity. The plot is ok, but the main purpose of this book is to give people, everyday common folk such as me a view of other religions that have been in existence for many years and that were thought to be banished once Christianity become the official religion.
Since reading this book I have been reading numerous books on religion and how Christianity become the powerhouse it is today.
Fundamentalists will have a problem with this book as they take the bible literally and cannot picture any other God besides the one that is written in the bible (or some who think God actually wrote the bible).
If you have an open mind and a hunger to learn you will enjoy what this book is all about.
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