How did secret societies, associations, cults, and shadow cabinets influence human history and how evolved the first few stone age groups of chief, medicine man, dealer, and strongest soldier until today and will develop in the future? Go science, show who is the boss, yes, keep using that chokehold,… A subjective interpretation: I am reading nonfiction for soon over 20 years and must say that much that has been deemed impossible, wrong, or lies, became true and influenced the lives of everyone in massive ways.
In light of the fact that there is said that the lucky ones of us are living in so called enlightened democracies, one could reverse engineer history and guess how much of, well, everything could be wrong, lies, and pure fiction. View 2 comments. Jan 17, Sean Barrs rated it it was ok Shelves: 2-star-reads , mystery-crime-and-thrillers. Dan Brown writes trash, but sometimes trash can have a certain allure.
Sometimes trash sucks you in as you feel forced to reach the bottom of the rubbish pile and see what secrets it may be hiding. It creates so many ridiculous questions that just need to be answered. I stormed through this book at lightning speed. Looking back though, it is very easy to see the faults. Dan Brown hooks his reader, using mystery and suspense as bait, and it is so very easy to bite on the line.
This is a book of very cheap thrills, which can be addictive but will only ever be cheap. View all 20 comments. Religion always was, is, has been, and always will be a very sensitive subject for me. However this book was a "battle" of religion and science. The storyline was engaging.
I have to admit that the beginning was a bit slow, but as the book progressed, the pace really picked up to a point I pruned myself out in the bathtub finishing it. There was a page I found to be very thought-provoking. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised.
In the end Religion always was, is, has been, and always will be a very sensitive subject for me. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. Look at the diffusion of religion around the globe. Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end, we all are just searching for truth, that which is greater for ourselves. View all 5 comments. Oct 22, Russell rated it it was ok.
Sadly, I think he did a better job the first time around. I recommend you have a computer handy so you look up what Brown is talking about, and that way you can This was Brown's book before the infamous "The Da Vinci Code. I recommend you have a computer handy so you look up what Brown is talking about, and that way you can have a better idea of what it really looks like. Added bonus too, you can have a laugh over how Brown had to forced it into his world to make the plot somewhat cohesive.
Look, if you want to write fiction, do so but please own up to it being fiction! Trying to pass off the Ecstasy of St. Theresa as being so pornographic in nature that the Vatican had it exiled to a small church, is, well, wrong as wrong as gets. Brown throws out a number of stunningly stupid statements, like asserting that since Christianity is syncretic, God-eating the Holy Communion was taken from the Aztecs.
How, Brown never explains, since the practice was established by Christ himself during the Last Supper around 33 A. I figure Brown left it open so he could write some sort of time travel book, involving a long lost secret that the Aztecs built their pyramids as sort of a dry run, traveled back in time and were actually behind the pyramids in Egypt.
And, of course, were the sect that created the Christ-myth due to a poorly thought out plot. Thanks to the internet, you too can have fun poking holes in the book.
See, for example, CERN's site on the book. And if that doesn't do it for you, here's a good site looking into all the errors. Langdon points the mistake out to Kohler: "That column isn't Ionic. Ionic columns are uniform in width. That one's tapered. It's a Doric -- the Greek counterpart. The three orders of classical columns, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, are all Greek in origin, so it's impossible for the Doric order to the be the Greek counterpart of the Ionic.
It's also much easier to distinguish the Doric from the Ionic based on their capitals; Doric columns have plain capitals, while Ionic columns are topped by volutes or scrolls. Let's ignore the bad, the erroneous, and the ugly, and you have decent little thriller zipping around Rome looking at art. Of course, it has to zip along, slow down long enough to think about it, and a host of questions start to swarm up.
Like how Langdon has a whole theory on who the bad guy is and how Langdon was involved in these rather preposterous circumstances. Of course, the premise is wrong, so that that whole house of cards fall down. Not bad in of itself, but then Brown doesn't ever provide any reason Langdon was involved after that. Of course, you aren't supposed to notice while reading it, and preferably not afterwards, either.
Doing so reveals how badly Brown writes. He can't provide a single decent reason why his hero is there, aside from a vague "Because" and a shrug. I'm envious of Brown, he can't write well, has plot holes big enough to drive the Popemobile through, bad research and "facts" that aren't, and yet still is entertaining, popular and, most galling perhaps, published.
Caveat lector. View all 25 comments. Jan 07, James rated it really liked it Shelves: 1-fiction , 3-multi-book-series. When I got home, I realized it was not the first in the series I refused to read it And while it's not really necessary, I always follow the order unless I have an ARC with a due date on a newer book and no time to get to the whole series. Not everyone loves Dan Brown, and people aren't always kind, but man And I'm not afraid to say it It's exactly the kind of book I like to read: 1.
Has some connection to me -- I'm Catholic and knew most of the stuff they were talking about 2. I love reading about murder -- since I won't do it in real life, I have to get my thrills somehow 3. Secrets are the best thing in the world -- I have so many about others, but I never let anyone have one about me 4. Classic battle of good versus evil -- This is my life. Should I be good or bad today? Sophie's catch It's non-stop thought-provoking messages and themes -- How much control and time do we really have right now?
Oh, that's the spot baby! Today was all about just being excited to think about the book again. Now that said, I thought Da Vinci Code was a slight bit better, hence the 4 here. I've got some branding to do About Me For those new to me or my reviews I write A LOT. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note : All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them.
Many thanks to their original creators. View all 19 comments. But can he stop someone from using the antimatter as a weapon, even with hot physicist Vittoria Vetra in tow? After all the hype, I managed to dodge this bullet for over a decade but when my girlfriend caught me in a vulnerable moment between books, I knew the time had come. Overall, it was a fun read. It reminded me of a high tech Indiana Jones a lot of the time.
However, at the end of the day, it was pretty much a by the numbers thriller, complete with forced sexual tension. Like I said, it's pretty Indiana Jones-ish, except instead of an archaeologist who has crazy globe-trotting adventures, Langdon is a symbologist who has crazy globe-trotting adventures. As much as I want to hate on this book, it's a page turner; Short chapters, nearly all of them ending on a cliffhanger.
However, even for a thriller of this type, the plot seems a little overly complicated. A centuries old secret society is going to use some stolen antimatter to blow up the Vatican?
Wouldn't it be easier to get a surplus nuke from the former Soviet Union? The writing is so cheesy and over-dramatic I can't help but be amused. It's really pulpy but not in the good Raymond Chandler way.
More like an early Doc Savage. Seriously, Langdon could have said "I'll be super-amalgamated" and it wouldn't have felt that out of place.
One thing I didn't enjoy is that the book suffers from "I did a bit of research so I'm going to cram it all in the dialogue" syndrome.
There are infodumps galore and lots of redundant information, mostly about symbology. I'm not going to touch on the things that weren't researched and are erroneous since most movies have equally shitty fact checking. I guess I'll rate it 3 stars. It's not well written or to any degree believable but it's a fun and exciting read, like a pack of Skittles for your brain.
Not good but definitely entertaining. Not only that, Dan Brown's milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Any book that gets so many non-readers reading gets a little slack from me. View all 47 comments. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown was one of the best page-turners I have ever read. I did not know where Dan Brown would take the story next. Following the main character Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist on his first great adventure was breathtaking.
I wanted to learn more, to know the secrets of the Illuminati and the only way to do it was to let the story naturally unfold as I read. I can usually guess what is going to happen in thrillers, but Angels and Demons by Dan Brown was one of the best page-turners I have ever read. I can usually guess what is going to happen in thrillers, but Dan Brown did a wonderful job keeping everything a mystery until absolutely necessary to reveal the secrets.
I first read the book on a flight from Seattle to Rome, with a few places in between. Angels and Demons is Dan Brown at his best. I love how he took historical events, places, art and turned them upside down into a thriller that left me wanting more. Dan Brown not only wrote a good novel but he also brought up the old argument of Science vs. I have never been to Europe, but would love to visit Rome after reading this book. It was not only a great read, it left me with a desire to learn more about the history of It was not only a great read, it left me with a desire to learn more about the history of art in Rome and the Vatican.
I thoroughly enjoyed it! View most popular tags as: tag list tag cloud. Vatican City -- Fiction. Vendetta -- Fiction. Vatican City. Adventure fiction. User lists with this item 37 Books read items by jbmaxwell updated All rights reserved. Please sign in to WorldCat Don't have an account? Remember me on this computer. Cancel Forgot your password? Dan Brown. Papacy -- Fiction. View all subjects.
User tags User lists Similar Items. Adventure stories Action and adventure fiction Fiction Thrillers Fiction. Antimatter is extremely unstable and explodes when it comes in contact with absolutely anything even air. Nonetheless, antimatter is now being produced at CERN in Switzerland, where antiparticles are accelerated around a mile-long circular tunnel…traveling so fast that they complete the enormous circle over 11, times per second.
Much has been written about the origins of the Great Seal of the United States that appears on the back of the one dollar bill.
Why a pyramid… an arguably un-American symbol? Fascinating and absorbing - perfect for anyone who appreciates a great, riveting read Dan Brown is my new must-read. I love this book. Search books and authors. Buy from…. View all retailers. The bestselling novel. Origin, the spellbinding new Robert Langdon thriller from Dan Brown, is out now. His new Robert Langdon novel, Origin is out now.
Also by Dan Brown. Praise for Angels And Demons. An amazing tale with enigma piled on secrets stacked on riddles Clive Cussler Fascinating and absorbing - perfect for anyone who appreciates a great, riveting read I love this book Harlan Coben.
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