Rating: 
Summary: Innaccurate & manipulative research
Review: I think the Da Vinci Code is a historical stretch at best (understatement of the century!)...It opens with the grisly murder of the Louvre's curator inside the museum. The crime entangles hero Robert Langdon, a tweedy professor of symbolism from Harvard, and the victim's granddaughter, cryptologist Sophie Nevue. Together with crippled millionaire historian Leigh Teabing, they flee Paris for London one step ahead of the police and a mad albino Opus Dei priest/assassin named Silas who will stop at nothing to prevent them from finding the "Grail." But despite the frenetic pacing, at no point is action allowed to interfere with a good lecture. Before the story comes full circle back to the Louvre, readers face a barrage of codes, puzzles, mysteries, and conspiracies.... all riddled with factual error.... Short historical backdrop:
With the exception of the Nicolaites (1st century), the heretical Christian sect with rather loose morals mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse), the first fights of the early Catholic Church were to defend the sanctity of the human body and the humanity of Christ. Thus, the Gnostics (1st to 3rd century), led by Basilides, Valentinus, Bardesanes, Tatian, and Marcion, taught that Christ was an eon, an intermediary of God with matter, and that physical existence was an evil to be escaped from by knowledge. Marcion's followers, for example, refused baptism to anyone who was married. Manicheism (3rd century), founded by Manes, taught that matter or the physical world was the cause of all evil. In one of the most extreme examples of the levels to which heterodox Catholics took this abhorrence of physical existence and sex, Origin, an earlier Christian writer, castrated himself. Note that his conduct was not approved by the orthodox Catholic Church. Against these heresies and excesses, Catholic bishops like St. Irenaeus and St. Augustine argued that matter or the physical world was NOT intrinsically evil and that Christ was in fact truly God AND man... spiritual and PHYSICAL. Given this backdrop, it is nothing short of absurd to suggest that the early Catholic Church attempted to suppress the "sacred feminine" and the sacredness of sex, while the Gnostics sought to preserve it. The Gnostics, like Marcion, were the ones who refused to baptize people who married and had sex. They were certainly not the champions of Mother Nature and the material world. He claims that goddess worship universally dominated pre-Christian paganism with the hieros gamos (sacred marriage) as its central rite. His enthusiasm for fertility rites in this book is clearly enthusiasm for sexuality, not procreation. The Da Vinci Code's etymology is also wrong at several points. Astonishingly, Brown claims that Jews in Solomon's Temple adored Yahweh and his feminine counterpart, the Shekinah, via the services of sacred prostitutes-possibly a twisted version of the Temple's corruption after Solomon (1 Kings 14:24 and 2 Kings 23:4-15). Moreover, he says that the Tetragrammaton YHWH derives from "Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jeh and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Ovah." YHWH did not in fact derive from Jehovah, but rather the other way round. In fact, Jehovah is the combination of the tetragrammaton JHWH (currently YHWH, but "J" also substituted for "Y" in the Middle Ages) and the vowels of the Hebrew word Adonai (Lord). "Jehovah" derived from "YHWH." When the Protestants translated the Bible into English, they didn't realize that the vowels inserted into the Hebrew text were the vowels of the Hebrew word for "Lord," not the vowels of the Hebrew word for "I am who am." (Sorry Jehovah Witnesses, but that's just a historical/archaeological fact). Until the 1500s, the word Jehovah didn't even exist! So.... no.... it is not a combination of an ancient male divinity Jeh and a female divinity Ovah... but nice try ;) Similarly, the Da Vinci Code's derivation of the word "pagan" is suspect. Yes, it is true that one translation of the Latin word "paganus" is "country dwellers," those who were last to convert to Catholicism. But another translation of the Latin word "paganus" is "civilian," those who did not enlist in God's army to fight against the Devil. Given the large number of Catholics who fled to the country to escape persecution and the number of Catholic desert hermits, the more plausible derivation of the word pagan, it seems to me, is "civilian," one who was too weak or cowardly to enlist in God's army. This military aspect of the Catholic Church is borne out by St. Paul's epistles urging his fellow Catholics to don spiritual armour and by the sacrament of Confirmation in which a seal (spiritual mark) was placed on the Catholic marking them a soldier of Christ just like a seal was placed on the Roman soldier marking him a soldier of the Roman emperor (remember how Crowe cuts out his "mark" in the movie Gladiator?). Even the Da Vinci Code's description and implications of the "Last Supper" is wrong. St. John (according to the Da Vinci Code this was really St. Mary Magdalene) is dressed in red and green, not red and blue like Our Lord. The Da Vinci Code argues that they wear the same colours because they're male and female, yin and yang. Also, the hand with the knife belongs to St. Peter, it isn't a hand without a body attached to it; St. Peter has his wrist bent on his side with the knife in it. Finally, the scene is not the Consecration ("This is my body"), which occurred after the meal, but the announcement of the betrayal. St. Peter is leaning over to St. John telling him to ask the Lord who the betrayer is. The list of inaccuracies in this book goes on and on... and much more detailed reviews have been done by many, particularly Christian scholars who have analysed his claims. These can be found at the following websites: http://www.crisismagazine.com/september2003/feature1.htm
http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2003/nov7.html Urgh! How can critics condone this book as an in-depth and well researched best-seller given the elementary mistakes and inaccuracies? (New York Daily News book reviewer trumpeted, "His research is impeccable.") It's only 'pull' factor is the age-old and much attempted tactic of shock through implications weaved into a mysterious fictional story that claims to be intertwined with well-researched historical facts. On the contrary, I would say this book contains highly erroneous research and its 'fictional' story is highly manipulative. Now that is factual.
Rating: 
Summary: An riveting book
Review: I think the reviews of this book are almost as entertaining as the book itself, although they took a lot longer to read. This is an excellent pulling together of both fact and fiction. The factual aspects of the book, those that deal with the historical Jesus and the inner workings of the various churches and secret societies, are interesting enough to demand a read. Interwoven with it, however, is an enticing mystery story set in the modern world of politics and power. OPEN YOUR MIND when you read the book, and, if you choose, do your own research. The journey will be startling and very much worth it!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, not the best, but a good read
Review: I think this is a book worth reading, not necessarily because it will win Pulitzer prizes (no such luck) but because it is creative, easy to read and intriguing in a way that a lot of books are not these days. I read this book while away on a business trip and it filled my nights after hectic days of work. I recommend this book for someone who just wants a fun thriller that is a page turner and not so difficult to follow that you need to be on your toes while reading. The premise is intriguing enough to make you want to delve in and the twists and turns are suspenseful enough to make you want more. Maybe the character development leaves a little to be desired but what is there is fun and entertaining. Makes me want to buy another Dan Brown book when I am on a trip and looking for good company when I am away from my husband! As a lawyer, difficult, complex reading is what I do at work. I like the energetic novels for nighttime!
Rating:
Summary: A Fun, Quick Read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in a weekend. It was like an Indiana Jones movie in that it's this wild adventure on a quest for sacred things. Don't get tripped up by the history. A lot of negative reviews are saying the author got it wrong. Well, this is a work of fiction, based on some historical facts and events. It says quite clearly at the beginning of the book what is fact -- the religious groups and the architecture. Don't get wrapped up in fact vs. fiction, just enjoy a fun, interesting story that might actually make you go, "hm...?" at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Angels and Demons is better!!!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. However, I do feel it got too much hype and is slightly over rated. I read Angels and Demons first, and I loved it. I found the DaVinci Code to be too similar to Angels and Demons. It was almost the same....only they changed the characters names around. I would recommend Angels and Demons over the DaVinici Code. I felt that The DaVinci Code dragged ona bit and was not as gripping and intriguing as Angels and Demons!!!
Rating:
Summary: A clever and coherent thriller
Review: I though The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown was a clever and coherent thriller from the murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum through the sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. Very entertaining. Here's another book that's filled with codes, mystery, and it's a fast paced fantasy that will blow you away: Dragon Man The Adventures Of Luke Starr ... check it out it's on amazon.com as well ... you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I thought DaVinci Code was one of the best books I have ever read. Having been raised Catholic and always having questioned womens role in the church I thought this book brought an excellent perspective to the doubts I have had since I can remember.
Rating: 
Summary: Remember it's FICTION
Review: I thought that this was a very well written book. It's full of interesting riddles, puzzles and intrigue; it's a real page turner. Dan Brown obviously knew that he'd sell a lot of books when he wrote about such a controversial topic.
The danger in this book lies in the fact that some people might read this book and be tempted to think that some of it is true.
The author has put in just enought "facts" that people might somehow think there could be truth in this.
I spent more time researching the subject matter in this book than I did reading it; far more. I suggest that anyone who is tempted to believe the premise of this book should do the same.
I don't want to wreck any part of this book for someone who hasn't read it yet; but I think it's important to put out there one of the many pieces of research I found.
The main person this book revolves around is Mary Magdalene. The author states that she is portrayed in the Bible as a prostitute and how this is a cruel thing that man has done to degrade her and women etc. etc. If Dan Brown would have bothered to even pick up a Bible when he was doing all of his so called research he would have found out this major point of his book was totally false.
Within two minutes of picking up a Bible that has a concordance and looking up Mary Magdalene, you will find out the Mary who was the prostitute, (who washed Jesus' feet with her hair) is NOT even Mary Magdalene. They are two different people. This is only one of the many incorrect suppositions in this book. I couldn't possibly list them all the the 1,000 words I'm allowed for this review.
I don't want to make more of this book than what it's supposed to be, but I guess I'm disturbed by the number of people on here and the internet who have said 'this book makes them think that there could be some truth to this.'
The only thing people should be thinking is true about this book is that it's an entertaining piece of fiction.
And for the record, I have bought literally hundreds of books from Amazon and have never written a review. I usually have no trouble separating fact from fiction. I am not having trouble separating it in this book. I'm troubled by people who may. This book is receiving a tremendous amount of press and apparently some people have found enough small truths in this book to get them thinking the rest of it might be true also. Please take this book for what it is, FICTION.
Rating:
Summary: Stupid, Absurb, Ridiculous and Overrated
Review: I thought that this was one of the most stupid books I ever read. The plot stunk. The history so faulty it was laughable. The characters were boring, underdeveloped and tedious. The riddles were the most ridiculous and predictable. The conclusion....ho-hum. Don't waste your time
Rating:
Summary: Poor John Sebastian
Review: I thought these were supposed to be reviews of the book not insults of other reviewers "Keep opinions about other reviewers, Christians and just downright common-sense people to yourselves!"
For the definition of HYPOCRISY please see the review by poor little Johnny boy, who seems to have no interest other than bashing The Da Vinci Code and other reviewers. Grow up! I thought this was a pretty good read though a bit dull at times but taken with a grain of salt it was indeed entertaining. I would recommend it only to people who understand that this is not a factual discourse on history.
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